Developing your writing practice

I recently heard one of our faculty members compare writing to exercising. In that, they're both hard to do either one consistently. But both are good for you and you need to practice them to develop your skills. She warned that, like shirking your daily run when planning to run a marathon, you'll be in a lot of pain when you try to write a major piece, be it a manuscript or a grant proposal, when you haven't been writing consistently.

I thought this was an appropriate topic as the semester ends, and for many faculty researchers, their daily schedules change for the summer. Certainly, summer is a good time for a little break, but make sure you don't pay for that break with your writing!

Don't wait to be inspired
I'm happy to report that in all of my bad habits, procrastination isn't one. Yet, I must admit that when I have a major writing project on the horizon, I often go through a short spurt of paralysis. I'm not sure how I want to approach the piece, or it feels a bit insurmountable. However, I recognize when I'm doing this and am able to move through it. I do this in one of two ways. If I really am clueless as to my approach, I turn to the literature. You can't write well, if you haven't read the relevant literature and know what you're contributing. The second way is to just start writing. Be careful not to get stuck in the reading where you just keep looking for the next article instead of starting to write.

Do outline and rewrite
As I've mentioned in previous blogs, free-writing can be a good way to get yourself going even if it's really bad in the beginning. However, if you write your first draft completely off the cuff, oftentimes you have a lot of re-working and re-writing to do. Now, you'll always have re-writing to do even if your first draft is awesome. But, if you've written 20 pages without looking back once, who knows what you're working with (including you). By all means, start free writing, but try drafting the introduction of your paper and then working with that to decide what makes sense and what doesn't, what should you keep and what is off topic. Use this initial writing and brainstorming to create an outline for your piece. Look at the nuggets that come out of your initial thinking and writing and decide how you're going to build on those.

Try to write in chunks or sections and make sure you're on track. Having your piece organized in sections makes it easier to re-write and revise your writing. As you finalize your writing, make sure that it flows and those sections fit together. Also, try to avoid correcting your work at a proofing level (grammar, spelling, and punctuation) too early. Stay at a higher level of editing/revising until you think you've got a final draft.

Do consider your writing practice
As you consider your writing practice for the summer, think about what you're doing now. When do you do your best writing? Are you a morning person or a night owl? Try to plan your daily writing around when you're at your best. Also, look at the bigger picture. What is the flow of your week? What days do you have meetings? What days can you spare uninterrupted time to write? Also, be honest about your bad habits. If you procrastinate or get paralyzed on a new project, recognize it and make a plan to get through it. Take all these things into account and make yourself a summer plan. Identify when you'll write and when you'll exercise. :)

Resources 
How to Develop a Daily Writing Practice - Mattan Griffel
16 Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills  - Dan Shewan