#12weekarticle

[scratchandwrite]

Getting back in the saddle

So the semester came and went, and I’m now already one week into summer teaching. What has been written since I last posted? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Belcher’s textbook stared at me every day I walked into my study, unopened and accusing. 

Am I disappointed? Yes, but I’m adamant on channeling my energies into doing something about it now. Not writing was a then problem. 

I just re-read my previous post about obstacles. A number of things have changed since then, and I’m finally caught up getting used to the current juggling routine. 

My partner started a full-time job! This is good news all round, not least because of the assured monthly paycheck that shows up in the middle of every calendar month. 

But that meant that we (very quickly) had to find a suitable daycare for the offspring to attend. We were fortunate that there were spaces available in a well-reputed daycare not far from where we live. 

Neither of us want to send the offspring off five days a week. I had already committed to the teaching schedule by the time we found out the family schedule had to change. So we selected the days I would be teaching to send the offspring off to daycare. And that meant that for two days of the work week, I was a full-time mumma. 

It has taken me the entire semester to understand just how much energy goes into full-time parenting (and only for two days a work week at that) while there are teaching, marking and submission deadlines, reading, writing and viewing pressures looming. 

Props, full-time parents. So much props. 

I now have a new deadline to work towards and only one 73-student class to teach over the summer. The obstacles have remained the same: 

Motivational obstacles

Expected interference: Medium

“I will write just as soon as ....”

Emotional obstacles

Expected interference: Low

“I’m not in the right mood to write.”

“I feel guilty about not writing.”

Distraction obstacles 

Expected interference: High

“I really am too busy to write!”

“Teaching preparation takes up all my writing time.”

“My child care responsibilities are preventing me from writing.”

“I have to read just one more book before I can write.”

“My responsibilities at my paying job are taking up all my time and energy for writing.”

Confidence obstacles

Expected interference: High

“I’m beginning to wonder if being a professor is really the career for me and I probably won’t get a job anyway, so what’s the point of writing?”

“I’m so far behind in writing for publication, what’s the point of trying now? I’m not smart enough to do this kind of writing.” 

__________________________________________________________

I wouldn’t have called them distractions before, but categorising my main obstacles this way has made them look less daunting and more manageable. So here are a few ideas to how to deal with these during the next 10 weeks. 

Solutions to Writing Obstacles

I will open my draft, Trello, and Pomodoro tracker the first thing every morning. 

No matter how the day goes, I will do ONE THING to the draft every day until the project is complete.

I will only be able to watch 1 hour of TV after completing 1hour of writing.

I will plan my next writing session at the end of the last one.

If stuck, I'll write a post on Tumblr to get the juices flowing. 

Type a quote from a reading and engage with it

Say what I want to do is this writing session

If all else fails, write down the thoughts of my inner critic until you get bored with this voice and say, "Naw, shit. Things aren't that bad." Then begin writing. 

Or deliberately write badly for 15minutes. 

Or READ for the project instead at the computer.

I will find a writing partner/group to share my writing with. 

See you in the next post!

via https://gph.is/g/Z2mP0Dv

[scratchandwrite]

Overcoming writing obstacles (Belcher, 2009, p. 39)

“This site is perpetually under construction”

Since submitting my thesis, my writing road has barely been traversed. It’s constantly “under construction” - pylons, warning beacons, hurdles, detours, the works. Every single time I’ve tried to get going on a writing project in the past three years, I manage for a hopeful stretch before an interruption blocks any further progress. 

They’re often amazing interruptions. I got sessional contracts across three universities within 6 months of submitting and have continued to be contracted by at least two universities every semester since. I’m an educator; and I love teaching.

I also fell madly in love with and married the love of my life. There is no overstating the joy of feeling loved and loving back, feeling safe, and feeling home. We made a baby - the best and most precious meatball we’ll spend the rest of our lives getting to know. 

Writing obstacle #2: Teaching preparation takes up all my extra time” (Belcher, 2009, p.26)

As grateful as I am for lucking out on getting some work every semester, I’ve allowed it to morph into writing obstacles. 

Also, I haven’t yet embraced the theoretically liberating concept of contract work. Having been a (multiple-staff-card-carrying) member of the precariat for the past decade-ish, I am not a fan. 

The amount of work that goes into preparing, teaching and marking for different units, across three different disciplines, across up to four different universities is enervating, to say the least. By the time I’ve squared work away for the day, there is just no juice left in this buggy. 

Writing obstacle #12: My childcare responsibilities are preventing me from writing” (Belcher, 2009, p. 32)

We’re not ready to send the meatball to childcare just yet (current pandemic or otherwise), so we share childcare responsibilities equally whilst juggling individual work responsibilities (this is where we have been exceedingly fortunate for those flexible hours afforded by contract work). 

Meatball time is the best time. 

That notwithstanding, it takes us a few days to watch a full-length feature film for fun because we can’t stay awake even if we have two hours to spare once bub has bedded down for the night. 

Writing obstacles #7 and #11: I have to read just one more book” (p. 28) and “I’m not in the right mood to write” (pp. 31-32)

 And I keep putting off the writing until that break in the semester, the end of the semester, the window between marking floods. But when that time comes round, I wait for the motivation to write to strike. And when it does, I spend it reading all.the.things. And soon, another semester kicks up again. 

Clearing the way: Proposed solutions to #distraction obstacles

But I want to write. I want to publish. And a few things have to change. 

Following Belcher’s “Designing your writing schedule” (2009, pp. 19-25) exercise, I drew up a schedule centred around bub’s needs. Crucially, we’ve also tried to fit in time for us to nurture our passions. And now that we’ve done that, reasonable blocks of time, at least on paper, have been illuminated. 

I’ve scheduled my writing time when my mind is at its sharpest in the very early morning. I’m going to write something every day for the next 12 weeks, regardless of whether I feel like it.

I’ve re-structured my days so that my research needs are met throughout certain days before I turn to teaching prep and grading. I’ve also anticipated the weeks of the marking floods so that I won’t be overwhelmed and can make the necessary tweaks to the daily schedule if necessary. 

I’ve limited my teaching prep to an hour for each of the four units I’m teaching, and I’ve only taken on 10 hours of face-to-face class time per week this semester. 

And instead of reading all the things before doing any writing, taking copious notes, I’m going to follow Belcher’s advice to “read and then write an actual paragraph, however loose, about what [I] have read.” (2009, p. 28)

This feels good. It might even help me overcome my #confidence obstacles.

[scratchandwrite]

Those who write in regular, unemotional sessions of moderate length completed more pages, enjoyed more editorial acceptance, were less depressed and more creative than those authors who wrote in emotionally charged binges.

(Boice, 1997, p. 435, qtd. in Belcher, 2009, p. 21)

[12weekarticle]

The second edition of Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success was the top-selling university press book in the country last week. 

[12weekarticle]

Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks is the go-to book for writing academic journal articles.  It lists solutions to 46 academic writing obstacles. The answers can be found in the book and at https://wendybelcher.com/writing-advice/solutions-common-writing-obstacles/

[12weekarticle]

Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks is the go-to book for writing academic journal articles.  It lists solutions to 46 academic writing obstacles. The answers can be found in the book and at https://wendybelcher.com/writing-advice/solutions-common-writing-obstacles/

[12weekarticle]

Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks is the go-to book for writing academic journal articles.  It lists solutions to 46 academic writing obstacles. The answers can be found in the book and at https://wendybelcher.com/writing-advice/solutions-common-writing-obstacles/

[12weekarticle]

Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks is the go-to book for writing academic journal articles.  It lists solutions to 46 academic writing obstacles. The answers can be found in the book and at https://wendybelcher.com/writing-advice/solutions-common-writing-obstacles/