Link to a great post on getting unstuck

I found a fantastic post by Ana Canhoto, a professor who also blogs about writing (and other topics as well). In it, she spells out some wonderful strategies for moving past being stuck (or feeling stuck, perhaps is more accurate).

Please do check it out by clicking here.

To Show and To Tell, by Phillip Lopate

Its certainly not a secret that in a world without children (and of course I am not wishing for such a place) and other middle-aged responsibilities, I would go back to school for an MFA in Creative Nonfiction. Since that may remain in the domain of dreams unrequited, I read a good deal about the craft of literary/creative nonfiction.  Not only to I love the genre, but I also find my own personal education in creative nonfiction professionally invaluable. For instance, understanding the nature of personal narratives has help me work on two edited volumes which privileged the narratives and voices of undocumented and detained immigrants.

I frequently find books which focus on craft extremely helpful to my scholarly writing. After all, regardless of our discipline, regardless of which discourse community to who we speak, we all are ultimately trying to tell "true stories."

I want to recommend a book to you that I have been reading the last few days, "To Show and to Tell" by Phillip Lopate. It is a fantastic book, and itself represents the best the genre has to offer. Throughout, the author carefully weaves vivid scenes with profound insights, insight that at times are conflicting, contradictory, puzzling, and mostly, powerfully and tragically human. 

Is that not what the best academic writing seeks to do?   We want to speak about truths; not easy, true or false, paint by the numbers truths, but truths with multiple textures, paradox, and nuances. We frequently chide our students (or at least I do)  for reducing complex human problems to single variable solutions.

Scenes and knowledge, or scenes and insights, considerations, and random, idiosyncratic connections that are all our own; these are our special contributions.

Extend this to social science research; scenes are our data, and the ruminations of the personal essayist are our theoretically, yet personally driven analysis.  Keep this metaphor in mind when next work on findings and implications sections of your articles.

And make sure to check out this book, or some of the other creative nonfiction books I am going to be providing insights from- this is where my reading is taking me.  It is healthy to take a giant step off the narrow path of our own disciplines.

If you were to have one book.....

If you were to have a book on one topic related to writing or faculty life, what would it be? What would be the kind of book that would be meaningful for your career that you have not yet found? Describe it to me, what would it feel like, what would it do?

Write ten times!

Its been a long time since I issued a "challenge" to my readers (shoot, I have been gone for so long, I don't really have many "readers" anymore!!).

Regardless, here is a challenge. Write for five minutes, ten times in a day.  That's it! You will need to start early enough that you can get to ten separate writing sessions. You have to do "something" else after each session, before you restart, for it to be a discrete session.

Writing in Russia?

A bit more than a year ago, I did a series of writing workshops on Russia. Since then, a large portion of my readership (thank you Blogger Stats) are from there. I assume some of the wonderful colleagues that I met are the ones reading my blog! I would love to hear how all of you are doing! Are you using any of the techniques we explored? Which are working? Which are not as helpful?  Let me know, and invite me back!!

Meaning and pleasure

I have been re-reading Robert Boice's work. If you have not read his work on faculty development and writing, you really need to. If you are going to read one author on writing productivity, he is the one you should read (yes, I am including myself in the list of those who should be passed over if you are going to only choose one author on the topic!).

In any event, in some of his empirically and theoretical work, Boice notes that it is hard for authors to maintain consistency over the long haul when they continue to say they dislike to write. It is hard to maintain your good writing happens, use accountability systems, and make progress over time if you "hate to write." He stresses the importance of challenging cognitive patterns that lead to not liking to write (or at least telling ourselves that).

I have also explored the cognitive barriers, or belief systems, that lead one to assert that they do not like to write. But what if you just "don't like to write," and this preference cannot be attributed to irrational beliefs. Don't we all have preferences for how we spend out time?

Can we really "learn" to enjoy writing?

I am going to play with this notion in some upcoming posts, anchoring my qualified "Yes, but..." on the relationship between notions of "meaning" and "pleasure."

Contribute to Our Edited Book!!!

Well, I have mentioned the power of narrative several times in this blog, and here is one example. Colleagues of mine and I are working on a new book, Introduction to "Criminal Justice: A Narrative Based Approach." The goal is to us narratives as a tool for creating an evocative text that comes alive through people's stories.

If you have ever been the victim if a crime, ever have committed a crime, or have worked within any part of the criminal justice system, and might be interested in telling your story, please contact me. 

It would be a great opportunity to try your hand at a different kind of writing; not your typical research-based article. All stories will be anonymous.

Thanks!!!