Every once in a while, I have to stop following someone on twitter. It does not happen often and is never for posts about political opinions or disciplinary differences that I do not care for, or other such disagreements. I try to allow space for such the diversity of ideas.
Yet, when I read scholars pontificating about writing or writing productivity, in an authoritative tone seeming to imply expertise about such, and when they clearly have written very little, I just have to disengage.
There is a huge recycling of myths about the scholarly writing process that I find a wee bit offensive. Also, when someone tries to position themslves an expert on psychosocial barriers that blocks scholars in their writing, but they really have not worked through such things themselves, and are not trained in helping people change, I just lose patience.
I do not mean to sound snippy or snide, or like a know-it-all. For twenty years, I have viewed myself as student of what it means to write and publish- I still have much to learn. Heck, that is why I am studying for an MFA in Nonfiction at the age of fifty-two!
However, I have learned a few things from my years of writing and publishing, and from working intensively with other scholars as a mentor or coach.Yet, I am also not one to "suffer fools lightly." As such, it is best for me to just "step off" at times.
The lesson here, to the degree that I have one, is watch the advice you are taking. Make sure you critically evaluate where advice comes from, and the impact that preforming such advice has had on scholars, over time. Over a long period of time. The goal is to develop sustainable practices.
And this post I end, with....
IMHO
Yet, when I read scholars pontificating about writing or writing productivity, in an authoritative tone seeming to imply expertise about such, and when they clearly have written very little, I just have to disengage.
There is a huge recycling of myths about the scholarly writing process that I find a wee bit offensive. Also, when someone tries to position themslves an expert on psychosocial barriers that blocks scholars in their writing, but they really have not worked through such things themselves, and are not trained in helping people change, I just lose patience.
I do not mean to sound snippy or snide, or like a know-it-all. For twenty years, I have viewed myself as student of what it means to write and publish- I still have much to learn. Heck, that is why I am studying for an MFA in Nonfiction at the age of fifty-two!
However, I have learned a few things from my years of writing and publishing, and from working intensively with other scholars as a mentor or coach.Yet, I am also not one to "suffer fools lightly." As such, it is best for me to just "step off" at times.
The lesson here, to the degree that I have one, is watch the advice you are taking. Make sure you critically evaluate where advice comes from, and the impact that preforming such advice has had on scholars, over time. Over a long period of time. The goal is to develop sustainable practices.
And this post I end, with....
IMHO
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