How to Write a Lot

My colleague and good friend, Joseph Poulshock, the editor of BeeOasis.com and professor of English Linguistics at Tokyo Christian University, loaned me How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing (Amazon), by Paul J. Silvia. It’s a good read so far (I’m only a couple of chapters into it).

In chapter 2, the author debunks these “specious barriers to writing a lot”:

  • Lack of time
  • The need for more research
  • Lack of a good working environment
  • The need for inspiration

Here are a few of the key points I took away from it.

(1) Schedule your writing. Don’t try to find time to write, and don’t wait for the inspiration to hit. Instead, schedule time to write. Regularly. There are very, very few successful writers who don’t make and jealously keep appointments with themselves to write. Silvia humorously, but no doubt seriously, gives this advice (p. 15):

If you don’t plan to make a schedule, gently close this book, clean it so it looks brand new, and give it as a gift to a friend who wants to be a better writer.

(2) Schedule your “non-writing” writing. Let “writing” include every part of the writing process, from research to manuscript submissions. As long as you are doing something that you must do for your writing to be published, then you probably need not worry that this will become an excuse to put off the hard work of actually writing words, sentences, and paragraphs.

The key point here is that you need to schedule the “non-writing” part of writing as much as the actual writing. And by scheduling it, too, you will free yourself from constantly wondering when you’ll “find” time for it (and from beating yourself up for not finding the time after all).

Time_Saving_Truth_from_Falsehood_and_Envy.jpg

Time Saving Truth from Falsehood and Envy (François Lemoyne, 1737)

(3) Write first, and write free. Try morning writing appointments whether you’re a morning person or not. But whenever you schedule your writing, just do it. Don’t first check your email or your friends’ status updates. Do what you can to free yourself from online and offline distractions from start to finish. Another good line (p. 22):

The best kind of self-control is to avoid situations that require self-control.

Is there anything new here? If you’re any kind of a writer at all, then probably not. Then where is the value in it? Good question.

For me, I think the benefit of reading a book like this comes primarily from acknowledging and affirming — and sometimes rejecting — certain ideas and disciplines together with Joe, who loaned me the book. Silvia’s book would still be helpful without that, but the added accountability makes it more enjoyable and effective for me.

How about you? Any stories of writing success (or failure, for that matter) by adopting these and/or other work habits?

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