Specious Barriers to Writing OR Are You Sure That's The Problem?

Jim, a participant in my ABD group, was kind enough to summarize this material from his current reading.

There are two things interesting about this to me:

1) The “specious barriers” themselves — we tell ourselves all kinds of stories that may or may not be well-grounded, don’t we?

2) That Jim knows one way to work on the dissertation is by paying attention to how he works and thinks about working on the dissertation. That is to say, it’s not just the creating the content of the project; it’s also about the process of creating.

Anyway — now onto Specious Barriers!:

 I’m happy to list the specious barriers to academic writing that Paul J. Silvia describes in his book, How to Write a Lot:  A Practical Guide to Academic Writing (Washington, DC:  American Psychological Association, 2007).  He discusses “specious barriers” in Chapter 2.  The whole book is entertaining and insightful, and written in an engaging yet straightforward style.

Specious Barrier 1:  “I can’t find time to write,” also known as “I would write more if I could just find big blocks of time.”

Specious Barrier 2:  “I need to do some more analyses first,” aka “I need to read a few more articles.”

Specious Barrier 3:  “To write a lot, I need a new computer” (see also “a new laser printer,” “a nice chair,” “a better desk”).

Specious Barrier 4:  “I’m waiting until I feel like it,” aka “I write best when I’m inspired to write.”

In Chapter 2, Silvia spends time dismantling each of these barriers and provides useful suggestions for how to move past them.  In a concluding section of the chapter, he notes bluntly that “This book cannot help you unless you accept the principle of scheduling, because the only way to write a lot is to write regularly, regardless of whether you feel like writing.”

So —- which are your personal favorites?

 When I was writing my own dissertation, it was definitely door #2 for me.  Natural curiousity created a kazillion links to explore — and there were probably some less than positive reasons as well, but we don’t need to go there. ;-)

I have evolved, however, to a certain leaning to #1 and #4.

Note how these are in direct competition. If you don’t have a lot of time, you can’t really be waiting for the muse to arrive.

So I am now a creature of timer use, doing little sections of things at a time, the queen of  the 15-minute work life.

How about you - your biggest challenges and/or your best solutions?