I had a question from a client a couple of weeks ago that I suspect resonates with many academic writers. In The Scholarly Writing Process, I talk about the importance of identifying the audience for the article or book you are writing. You don't need to do this right at the beginning, but knowing … [Read more...] about How to stop writing for your harshest critics
Communication vs Validation: why are you publishing?
I’ve created an audio version of the post so you can listen to it on your commute, or while you’re cooking, or whatever. It does not contain the "Need more help?" section. Listen here: The primary purpose of publishing, even scholarly publishing, is communication. If you centre the … [Read more...] about Communication vs Validation: why are you publishing?
Stop worrying about recycling
Back in 2011, Aimée Morrison wrote a post on Hook & Eye Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, in which she discussed the question What I've been really thinking about lately is this: how much reusing and recycling of our work is appropriate here? This is a common concern, especially among early career … [Read more...] about Stop worrying about recycling
Writing for the people who will like your work
It strikes me that many academics spend a lot of time and energy worrying about the people who will hate their work. Even before you've written the article, you are imagining someone criticizing it, probably in a particularly mean and hurtful way. No wonder you have trouble writing. Write for … [Read more...] about Writing for the people who will like your work
Book proposals
Someone on Twitter mentioned book proposals in response to my post on planning. This is a good example of getting stuck in the plan (and then possibly getting stuck with the plan), so I thought I'd talk more about it. What is a book proposal for? The obvious answer is that it is the means by which … [Read more...] about Book proposals
