so i'm reading Paul Silvia's book for academics, How to Write A Lot (2007). it's a helpful little book, and although later parts often focus on the subtleties of writing for psychological audiences (his disciplinary background), the first few chapters can be generalized to those working in most fields.
overall, Silvia's message is to write often. citing Robert Boice's research from Professors as Writers (1990), Silvia points out that people who write consistently (as in every day) are both more productive and more creative than those who only write when they feel like it.
Silvia makes no bones about these stats, suggesting that those who he calls "binge writers," those "[s]truggling writers who 'wait for inspiration,'" should, he suggests, "get off their high horse and joined the unwashed masses of real academic writers" (26). Silvia quotes a passage from Ralph Keyes' The Writer's Book of Hope (2003): "Serious writers write, inspired or not. Over time they discover that routine is a better friend than inspiration" (49; in Silvia, 27).
Silvia does acknowledge that establishing a routine is easier said than done, and suggests multiple strategies like setting realistic goals, forming writing groups amongst (dedicated and committed) peers, and maintaining scrupulous ledgers of minor accomplishments in order to track incremental progress, all as part of routinizing the writing process.
if for no other reason for reading it, Silvia's book cites a number of other sources on doing and managing writing in a reference list at the end. however, as a critical and impartial glance at something we all (or I, at least) take too personally, this book offers more than just this.
at the core of it, Silvia's ideas, backed by Boice's research, suggest a craft-based and experiential view of writing. in other words, we learn to write best by writing. the subtleties of the craft—such as learning to organize our thoughts, recognizing that time and not place/space is more crucial to the process, setting realistic goals, and broadening the definition of what counts as "writing" (i.e. it's not just what we do on the page, but all the planning and preparation that goes into it, too)—these subtleties are only learned by doing. while they may be tempered by texts like Silvia's or others, it's ultimately a matter of us learning for ourselves how to order words on a page.
i guess i'm not saying anything new, but perhaps just pointing out that if we're our own best teachers, then that can only extend so far as how we define "ourselves." whether we consider ourselves individuals, atomized and discrete, or social beings, autonomous yet integrated into cultures and subcultures impacts a great deal on how we teach ourselves, the successes we might have, and the overall import (and importance) of our work. this is, of course, all contingent on whether we do start, systematically and with organizational zeal, to write.
