[Writing Practice Series] Two Writing Practice Extremes And Why They Don’t Work [RE-RELEASE EP 183]

If you’ve been struggling with your publication pipeline, chances are you’ve tried one of these methods. While it might sound logical that writing daily or cramming during off-times will help you reach your publication goals, it won’t. I break down why these approaches ultimately fail and how you can build a more sustainable, relationship-based writing practice that supports your academic career.

I hope this episode helps you rethink your approach to academic writing and inspires you to start building a more positive relationship with your writing so you can get your unique message out into the world. 

The Myth of Writing Every Day

The idea of writing every day comes from creative writing practices. It sounds appealing and productive to write every single day, but this method isn’t sustainable and doesn’t align with the goals of academic writing for numerous reasons. Writing daily may help with consistency, but it doesn’t address other facets of academia, like research and data collection. Plus, this approach often leads to feelings of guilt and frustration because it doesn’t account for life’s unpredictability, like sick kids or personal emergencies. You feel like a failure if you break your writing streak. Bottomline: writing every day isn’t sustainable. 

The Downside of Binge Writing

When you wait to write until you have large chunks of time (like weekends or holiday breaks), you are trapped in a binge-and-bust cycle. The problem with this writing method is that after every binge, no matter how productive it was, a bust is guaranteed to follow. That downswing can show up as exhaustion, burnout, or frustration. Binge writing doesn’t allow you to develop the project management skills you need as an academic writer. Instead of pacing your work, you’re just scrambling to meet due dates. Not only does binge writing put you at risk of falling out of love with writing, but it is also one of the top causes of a clogged publication pipeline. 

Why These Methods Don’t Work and What to Do Instead

So, why do scholars keep using these methods when they don’t work? It’s because they seem logical on the surface. Writing every day is standard advice for creative writing, but that’s different from how academic writing works. Binge writing often seems like the only option when juggling other responsibilities. Both methods are ultimately unsustainable. 

Instead, you need a writing practice built around a sustainable relationship with your writing. Foster a practice that allows you to balance life and career demands while maintaining consistent progress without guilt or burnout.

“ The promise or the commitment to write every day is actually not a writing practice. A timer plus a commitment to write every day does not a writing practice make. That’s because it is not resilient. It is not something that you can easily start again without the guilt, without the overthinking, without the sensation that you have failed.”

“You might binge, binge, binge and work right up to a deadline for a grant or something or just work in the time you have. Then you collapse on the other side of it. Whenever you binge, there’s a bust. Those extreme cycles are not going to help you develop your 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 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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