The Heat is On Writing

This quarter is all about writing.  I am working on a publishable paper and a dissertation proposal.  Ideas and readings from the last two years are coming together to form coherent and integrated stories.  To help me put it together in this strange new format, I am, of course, consulting "my mother" - the books.

I found several books on amazon.com with friendly titles like:

• Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis by Joan Bolker
• Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success by Wendy Laura Belcher
• How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing by Paul J. Silvia
• The Literature Review: Six Steps to Success by Lawrence A. Machi
• Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article by Howard S. Becker 

There is a graduate student resource center at UCLA that offers workshops on writing the dissertation proposal and uses the book on this list related to that topic.  This is reassuring, otherwise I might have passed it by as too friendly and downright hokey (really? 15 minutes a day?).

Amazon lets you browse inside some of these books so I started to read the last book on this list.  It is written by a sociology professor, Howard Becker, who tries to make the problems of writing "less problematic" and in his book proposes "finding the roots of writing problems and the possibilities of their solution in social organization."  

Becker talks about his own observations of students struggling to write as a result of lack of confidence.  When you can't "write on demand," he argues, your confidence goes down the next time you approach a writing task and "before you know it, you can't see your way out."  

He notes the difference in writing by scholars and grad students from undergrad papers.  There is more at stake for the former group than the latter.  Scholars and grad students care more about the subject and are writing for others that care likely as much.  Our future rests on how peers and superiors will judge our writing.  Yikes!  I wasn't thinking about my writing in quite those terms, but now that he mentions it...

He goes on to say that "problems of style and diction invariably involve matters of substance."  With a year and a half (+) of reading journal articles in my areas of interest and writing papers incorporating all those interests under my belt, I have much better stories to tell.  

He aims to demystify the writing process because he says most students are unaware of the multiple drafts involved before publishing anything.

This book was written as a result of teaching a writing course for sociology graduate students which invariably drew in students from other disciplines who were struggling with the same concerns.  He had been reading the Paris Review Interviews with Writers so he was inspired to ask the class about their writing habits:  "Louise, how do you write?"  She described the type of paper (yellow legal pad) and type of writing instrument (green felt tip pen) and how she had to clean the house before sitting down to write (oh, sister! I let that go a long time ago but apparently this is pretty common among women).  He asked others to describe their particular and peculiar writing rituals too.  He didn't allow anyone to pass.  It was clear that "shameful" disclosure was causing "great tension" in the classroom but by the end, he reports they were all "relieved" and "relaxed" - happy in the knowledge that they were all "crazy" when it came to writing.  He interpreted their "neurotic" writing symptoms sociologically as "magical rituals and charms" to dispel anxiety.

So he asked them, "What are you so afraid of not being able to control rationally that you have to use all these magical spells and rituals?"  They feared two things:

• They were afraid that they would not be able to organize their thoughts, that writing would be a big, confusing chaos that would drive them mad.
• They were afraid that what they wrote would be wrong and that people would laugh at them.

He pointed out to the class that they had shared "shameful" things in class and no one had died.  Interestingly, he writes, "I am no Freudian..." and he's right - sounds like he's using Cognitive Behavior Therapy (which is more Aaron Beck-ian).  He structured the class so that everyone had to bring in a paper for discussion and re-writing (exposure therapy?).  But first he brought in a colleague's "methods section" from a working paper and they ruthlessly edited and rewrote it in class for three hours - asking, "Does this need to be here?  If not, I am taking it out."

Anyway, that is as far as the free preview would allow me to read.  What strikes me about all this is that everywhere I look - from public speaking to writing to asking for what we need to following our dreams - fear and negativity is in the air and we get in our own way.  The baby part in us tantrums and wants to quit or hide and the parent part in us can lovingly or firmly (whatever it takes, baby) wrestle us to the ground until we follow through and put in the hours of practice, however long it takes, to accomplish whatever is in front of us.

Looking at the two most common fears about writing, I reflect on the reason I have written on this blog week after week for the last year and a half.  The purpose of writing on this blog has been precisely to organize my thoughts and digest the material I am learning. Not writing would drive me mad.  I am grateful that this medium exists and appreciate the supportive feedback that I have received.  In the last year and a half, I have been writing or reading for school.  When I got distracted while studying 10-12 hours a day, I would write on this blog.  Writing, writing, writing.  I am ready.  Fear or no fear.  It is time to put it all together.  I am writing because I have been writing.  Amen.