Research and writing is a love-hate kind of thing; at least it is with me. Most of the time I enjoy it but sometimes it feels like pulling teeth. How do you push through the obstacles and finally create things that are publishable? How do those really prolific scholars produce so much stuff? Like many other things in life they just put one foot in front of the other–however, they do it everyday.
An example of this can be seen on John Anderson’s blog in his reproduction of the IVP interview with John Goldingay. Here is Godlingay’s description of his writing process:
So I had no detailed maps, and no array of books really, because I wanted to let the Old Testament itself set the agenda. So I started reading it! And set myself to writing seven hundred words a day. Then when I had done my own reading and thinking and writing, I went to the books. That’s the way I tell students to write their papers, too.
When you think about it 700 words per day is not that much. But, if you put down 700 really good words per day it adds up quickly and this is why Goldingay is able to produce three HUGE Old Testament theology books in a relatively short amount of time. So, here are just a few tips on how to make writing a part of your daily scholarly life:
- Put a few hours a day of writing time into your calendar and design your day around this time. Write in a place where there are limited distractions.
- Set an average goal of the amount of words you want to write per day–I normally don’t let myself stop writing until I have at least 500 words but by the time I get around 1200 my brain is usually fried and I need to stop.
- Some days your writing time will be mostly editing, compiling proposals, stuffing envelopes, going over page proofs, or researching. This is fine because all of these things contribute to the goal of getting your writing published. However, try to spend just a bit of time actually writing.
- Writing takes practice so don’t get discouraged if it starts out slowly–practice makes perfect.
- Keep a dump file for every writing project and don’t be afraid to use it. A dump file is a file that you create to store all the stuff that you don’t use in the final version of the article or book. Instead of deleting paragraphs that you are not happy with, cut and paste them into a dump file–you never know if you might want to come back to it later. Also, some ideas are great but they just don’t fit a specific project. David Aaron once told me that as he was writing a book he dumped an entire 40 page chapter that he had written because it just didn’t fit the flow of the rest of the book. Expect that a lot of the stuff you write will never be published–much of the stuff you write you will never send out for review either and that is okay.
- Read Scot McKnight’s reflections on writing in pages 22-28 of The Professor as Scholar.
What are your suggestions?
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A really important question. I think good writing is such an important part of good scholarship (which is part of the reason I started a blog). I’ve found that I have two modes when I’m writing. Most of the time I’m on a forced writing mode where I am determined to get some writing done. That’s when I’m in front of the computer with my references and notes out. The other mode is when I’m just reading and thinking and and the concepts tie themselves together in my head. I have to immediately stop and write down what I’m thinking or the organization will disappear. That’s when my best writing comes out.
My dump file is usually the page I begin my projects on. It starts off as general ideas and random thoughts that may or may not contribute to the organization of a project. I call it my “Ideas to Develop” page. As I’m researching and gathering these ideas and sentences and topics I will set down the most concrete and developed ideas on another page where the organization and the serious writing will take place. Things that don’t ever get used or get cut go back to my Ideas page, and random thoughts never get lost this way.
I will generally start a project with no clear conclusion or thesis in mind, but with a vague idea for a direction. As I’m researching and writing I look for proximate and distant conclusions that can be developed from the groups of ideas I’m putting down. I have to settle on one, but in the interim other ideas for projects will spin off.
A friend of mine also told me that the most important thing was to write every day. He said you can’t help but improve as a writer if you’re reading and writing every day. I’ve tried to follow that advice ever since, and I think it’s made me a much better writer. (Whether or not that comes through on my blog is another story.)
Some of your advice tracks that presented in more detail in the book by David J. Silvia, How to Write a Lot. I do keep a dump file too, but I call it the “heap.”
Sorry, it’s Paul J. Silvia.
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I call my dump file “Swiss cheese.”
And, yes, read and write every day, somehow or another.