Hybrid Pedagogy’s Jesse Stommel and our very own Charlotte Frost rethink academic life and writing productivity in this on-going series of hints, tips and hacks.
STOW YOUR INNER CRITIC. When trying to get words on a page and early drafts or plans written, just use the ‘splurge technique’. What we mean by that is, ignore your critical and analytical side and just put everything out there onto paper or screen, whichever, and don’t stop until you run dry of ideas. Try to see this as a useful part of the writing process and try even harder not to read any of this material as you write it – just get it out of your head! It might even be worth imagining exam conditions and giving yourself a time limit to get it all down. When you’ve finished, which is when you’ve got nothing left to write down at this precise moment, you might even like to just close the document and walk away. If you really did turn off the critic inside it’s very likely you have part of your article right there in a raw form and in greater abundance than if you’d pondered every word. Hmmm, we can’t help thinking you’ve been a bit soft on yourself there. How about some tough love over here.
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