Getting more writing done
Writing is hard. That’s it, there’s nothing more to say about it. Even as I sit here trying to write an article about how you can write more, I find myself staring at the blank space on the computer screen worrying about choosing the PERFECT words to make you think that what I’m writing here is worthy of your time. Since starting to write the article I have checked my email at least twice, been on Facebook once, read one my favorite blogs, and gone to the restroom, and have only just written 158 words (most of which will be deleted by the time I hit publish on this article).
For me writing, and particularly academic writing, is hard because it forces you to give up some measure of control over what people think about your thoughts. When someone else reads your work, rather than listens to your talk, there is no chance for you to adjust your presentation. They get to make up their mind all on their own 😱.
As I start writing, these fears swirl in my head and make writing about as much fun as going to the dentist. Now I am not going to lie and say one day I woke up and had the answer for how to write more. It’s taken me time and more pain to get more writing done. But here are some ways that I have come to think about writing that have made it less daunting for me.
First, and perhaps most importantly I do very little “writing”. I “edit”. This was a tip my PhD supervisor gave me. He said, “Just get your ideas down on paper and then edit them until you are happy enough to send them to me.” This relatively straightforward shift in thinking alleviated so much pressure. I no longer needed to find the best words/sentence/phrasing the first time I sat down to write something. Step one was just to fill in the blank space with words that could be changed (breath a huge sigh of relief).
Second, you must give yourself time to do the editing. Now even as I finished writing the previous sentence, I could hear your eyes rolling into the backs of your heads, as you shout, “But Meagen you don’t understand how TERRIBLY busy we are, there is no way we have the time to edit our writing.” Academic writing is a slow process and to develop a manuscript that has even the slimmest chance of being published demands that you edit, and edit, and edit, and edit … You get the idea.
Third, you need to fall out of love with your words. When we finally get something written down, we often have tremendous admiration for our words and thoughts. However, for editing to be successful we need to get into the practice of seeing our writing from the perspective of the reader. Remember your reader HAS NOT and WILL NOT read your source material. In fact, even if they have read some of the material you have used for your manuscript, they will not have the same thoughts about that material as you.
According to Steven Pinker a psychology professor from Harvard, failing to understand that our readers do not know the things we know is the root of most bad academic writing. We mistakenly assume that our private knowledge and skills are second nature to everyone. For example, my partner assumes that because he can easily multiply 4-digit numbers in his head, everyone can. However, as I have explained to him time and time again this is not the case. The same thing goes for the vision of your project that you have woven in your mind. Unless you tell me everything that you have thought through carefully, step by step, I don’t know what you know.
The primary purpose of writing with the academy is communication. We want people to see and understand the research we have done. If people don’t read our work clinical practice can’t change, policies aren’t written, and patients suffer. But as anyone who has played the telephone game as a kid knows communication is tricky, so you have practice, practice, and practice some more before your successes outnumber your missteps. And remember if you don’t write it down, we don’t know what you know. Happy writing 🤓.
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