Source
r/Professors•
unrealkarenmiller

Tips to get yourself to write

Hi all! I am an early career faculty member, and I am having a hard time finding the time/motivation to write. I am in the behavioral sciences, and at my university, we are expected to publish publish publish!

I actually enjoy writing academic articles, but I’m having a hard time motivating myself to do so now. With my teaching load, research, departmental committees, university committees, reviewing expectations, etc. (to say nothing of family responsibilities), I just don’t have the bandwidth at the end of the day. I’ve tried utilizing a student worker for the menial duties, but they were, honestly, a turd (lovely person but just weren’t suited to the expectations/college in general).

My question is, what helps you get into the mode to write? Any tips on structuring time? ANYTHING. Thank you!

Posted Nov 4, 2022, 1:40 AM UTC · edited

1113
LatterCoffeeTT, Social Sciences (Canada)•

Schedule yourself writing blocks and be inflexible about them. You are not available for committees, reviews, grading, coffees or anything else during that time, that time is already allocated.

14
upholdtavernerAsst Prof, CS, R1 (US)•

Second this, but would add: it's not easy. Even in high research environments, few people seem to understand that we need time to actually do the work of producing research, and constantly pull on that time.

10
unrealkarenmillerOPAsst Prof, Psyc, R1 (US)•

Great suggestion! I don’t do well with saying “no”. It’s time for me to put my foot down!

6
BananasonThebrainAssoc. Prof, STEM, R1 (USA)•

schedule it! it really does work to have it in your calendar. And be precise with your expectations - like "8-8:45 write intro paragraph 2"

8
unrealkarenmillerOPAsst Prof, Psyc, R1 (US)•

Thank you! I also like the suggestion of relatively short periods of time to write. I have “write intro” on my weekly to-do list, but it always gets pushed to the bottom. I will have to add it to my daily calendar with specific timeframes.

Oddly, I find doing all the requisite research/lit searches easy to complete— now just to compile and paraphrase!

3
SpCommander•

I second this. Having a schedule and having a clearly defined, even if small, goal are both huge game changers.

3
LWPops•

Scheduling in the AM whenever possible worked for me. For about three years, I had a class schedule and service load that allowed me to be free, three days a week, until 10:30. My diss became my book largely in that time.

A year later I got tenure and I was pretty much busy all day, so I started waking up earlier, before the wife, before the kids. I couldn't focus on writing to save my life at the end of the day. Writing in the early AM was the solution for me.

5
gasstation-no-pumpsProf Emeritus, Engineering, R1 (USA)•

And some of us had the opposite schedule—with the most productive hours in the evening. Each person needs to find their own mental schedule, which sometimes takes some experimenting.

5
LWPops•

Definitely! I thought I was a night person until I had to switch things around....

3
baileyes74•

Do you have an estimated number of articles per year for this write, write, write goal?

3
EconomistPunterAssoc. Prof., Economics, R2/R3•

Find topics you love.

I do work in the minimum wage, cannabis, and opioid spheres. Biggest motivation is because these topics fascinate me.

2
unrealkarenmillerOPAsst Prof, Psyc, R1 (US)•

Thank you! My writing is for academic pubs and are all centered around my research, so it is a topic I love. Maybe the expectation is reducing my love?

1
another-rainy-day•

I find it a great motivator to send off an abstract to a conference somewhere. When I have to give a paper, I can’t put off writing the paper, and when I have a paper written, I’m already halfway to an article, and can’t wait to get it finished so I can send it to a journal.

2