[Writing Practice Series] Everything You Learned About Academic Writing Is Wrong [RE-RELEASE EP 152]

These misconceptions—like believing you need to “binge and bust” your writing or that you must write every day—are often a result of how we’re socialized in academia. I’ll explain why these methods are unsustainable for professors, especially once you’re juggling teaching, research, and life responsibilities. Instead of focusing on speed or rigid daily writing routines, I’ll share strategies that help you find a writing flow that works for you without burning out or feeling like you’re falling behind.

If you’re ready to challenge these outdated writing myths and create a more sustainable and effective writing practice, this episode is for you. I’ll guide you through rethinking your approach to writing, showing you how small, strategic changes can boost your productivity and impact in the field. By creating a writing process that aligns with your unique needs and goals, you’ll be able to make meaningful progress in your publications and feel more confident and in control of your academic work.

#1 Binge & Bust Writing Method –

Many academics carry over the “binge and bust” writing method from graduate school, where they cram to meet due dates, only to crash afterward. This writing practice is unsustainable for professors. Instead, find a balanced, long-term writing routine that follows the ebb and flow of the semesters.

#2 You Should Write Every Day –

The “write every day” mantra, popularized in creative writing circles, doesn’t work for most academic writers, especially those in scientific or data-driven fields. Focusing on consistent, goal-oriented writing—rather than daily output—is a more effective approach.

#3 There is a Standard Speed, and You Are Too Slow –

Your writing speed doesn’t matter as much as predictability. Learn how to track and understand your writing process to set realistic expectations and reduce stress.

#4 Time is Your Biggest Obstacle to Writing –

A lack of time is often cited as the biggest obstacle to publishing articles. However, the real issue is a lack of alignment between your writing and your personal and professional values. By creating an academic mission statement and aligning your tasks with your goals, you can better manage your time and writing projects.

#5 Teaching is Your Biggest Obstacle to Writing –

Teaching can feel like an obstacle to writing, but a well-structured teaching schedule can support writing productivity. By aligning teaching responsibilities with research goals, you can integrate both into a cohesive academic career.

“The only speed that matters is your speed, and actually the thing you need to learn as a professor or as a researcher, once you are post PhD and when you’re in the world doing the work trying to get the publications out there that influence your field, speed is not as important as predictability so what you need to do is you need to learn how to predict how long it takes you to do things and the only way that you can really do that is by practice and observation.”

“We need to be very deliberate about the boundaries around our time and make real choices about how we are spending the most precious resource that you have, which is your time. So you will create time to write by developing your ability to align your activities that you do in your career with your academic mission and your values.” 

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

CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION:

1. 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!
2. 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!
3. If you would like to hear more from Cathy for free, please subscribe to the weekly newsletter, In the Pipeline, at scholarsvoice.org. It’s a newsletter that she personally writes that goes out once a week with writing and publication tips, strategies, inspiration, book reviews and more.

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