Two Writing Practice Extremes And Why They Don’t Work

In today’s episode, I discuss the flaws in following extreme writing practices and share an alternative method that will help you improve your relationship with writing, unclog your publication pipeline, and avoid burnout.

If you are an academic struggling to stick to a daily commitment to write or are overwhelmed with a list of unfinished publications, this episode is for you! There is a better way to write. Tune in to learn how!

Extreme Writing Practice #1: Write Everyday

The “write everyday method” is not an actual writing practice. It’s not about developing a profound and positive relationship with your writing. Instead, this “method” is all about frequency and commitment. Writing every day is built on the motivation of the streak. It is not resilient, so it is hard to get back into writing when you eventually stop. 

Creative writers are encouraged to write daily, but scholarly writing is different. When you are working creatively, everything comes from your head. Comparatively, academics need time to research and organize data as part of their writing method. As a result, creating a goal of writing every day is not sustainable and will not help keep your pipeline flowing. 

Extreme Writing Practice #2: Binge Writing

If you need to catch up on publications, it is really tempting to go into overdrive and binge-write an article. However, on the other side of that writing marathon is burnout. Binge writing as a writing practice does not work for these reasons:

• You never hone writing project management skills
• The bust cycle is inevitable

Sustainable Relationship-Based Writing Practice

Extreme writing practices are unsustainable and doomed to fail. I want to share the alternative: a sustainable relationship-based writing practice. The core of your writing practice should be focused on creating a positive relationship with your writing. If you are ready to learn how to do this, please sign up for the Navigate waitlist! This professional development program for academics is specifically designed to improve your relationship with writing, unclog your publication pipeline, and optimize working hours. 

“Scholarly writing is not moved forward simply by putting words on a page or simply by saying that you’re going to write every day because you need to select an artifact or you need to read a source – I consider those things writing but the people who write everyday for a certain number of words do not usually count those things as writing. So as an academic you’re writing practice needs to be deeper than just doing it every day.”

“Extreme writing methods sound logical. Maybe you have been binge writing because you might not know that there’s another way because that’s the way you’ve been doing it for so long. The only writing time you had was on the weekends or on the holiday break and so that’s the only way you’ve been able to make it work so far. And while you might be moving forward, at some point both of these writing practices are going to break down. Instead you need to create a sustainable relationship-based writing practice.”

We’ve opened the waitlist for our next cohort of Navigate: Your Writing Roadmap®. Check out the program details and get on the waitlist!

Continue the conversation:

• • Our 12-week Navigate: Your Writing Roadmap® program helps tenure-track womxn and nonbinary professors to publish their backlog of papers so that their voice can have the impact they know is possible. Get on the waitlist here!
• • Cathy’s book, Making Time to Write: How to Resist the Patriarchy and Take Control of Your Academic Career Through Writing is available in print! Learn how to build your career around your writing practice while shattering the myths of writing every day, accountability, and motivation, doing mindset work that’s going to reshape your writing, and changing academic culture one womxn and nonbinary professor at a time. Get your print copy today or order it for a friend here!
• • Want to train with us for free on your campus? Now you can when you recommend our Scholar’s Voice Faculty Retreats to a decision-maker on your campus! Download the brochure with the retreat curriculum and both in-person and online retreat options here.

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