TAKING WRITING BLOG MEDICINE. YUCK!: This blog comes to you from Kodiak, AK, home of MONSTER brown bears, buckets of salmon, the Boston Red Sox, and the world-famous University of Arkansas Fighting Irish. It’s about 9,367 miles, give or take a foot, directly northeast of St. John’s Wort.
I am taking some of my own writing blog medicine. I feel like one of the kids in Mary Poppins. SUPERCALAFRAG… “Don’t even think about typing that full word!” With a total flight time of 15 hours, of which 9 hours was in flight on 3 different planes with a layover of 4.5 hours in Anchorage, I had a choice to make:
A. get a fishing rod and go catch salmon
B. write my guts out on the flight and in the airport
C. waste the writing opportunity to watch a made-for-flight movie, which was never released or bombed at the box office
D. engage in other boring, unproductive activities, like dreaming of catching a salmon in my mouth. Wait! That’s what the bears do.
E. A & B
F. C & D
G. all of the above
Guess which one I picked. WROOONG! I choose the lox. Of course "B": I had to write or I would have been “Hypocrite Blogger of the Week!” What a knucklehead! Why did I have to include airports and airplanes on my list of venues to write. (NOTE: The aircraft of choice for the flight from Anchorage to Kodiak was only slightly bigger than a #2 pencil.)
TOP 10 SECRET TIPS:
Unlike my previous blog which gave you a belly full of pointers related to your heart and spleen, this one does not deal with any internal organs. It is a noninvasive blog that focuses on external organs. Hold onto to your spleen, heeeere we go.
5. ADOPT A MENTOR OR COACH TO REVIEW DRAFTS
Who do you know that’s “been there, done that”? Solicit feedback on your writing from anyone who can and is willing to provide constructive criticism. You don’t need put-downs and sarcasm. Your writing mentor can be anywhere in the world. He or she can be an incredible support and sounding board to improve your writing conceptually and mechanically. A copy editor would be even better if you can find one who can review your work regularly. These reviewers can provide valuable input on any writing piece before you submit it for publication or post anything on the Internet.
(Up Close & Personal: After 35 years of writing, I still send my article and book manuscripts out for review to colleagues before submitting them for publication. I also request reviews on several blogs before they’re posted. My writing is not good enough for me to go it alone. I still make mistakes and, probably, always will. Constant feedback from colleagues and editors is the best input to continue to grow as a writer. That growing is a lifelong process.)
My next blog will examine Tip 4: think draft. Not beer, silly. I’m referring to your manuscript and even e-mail.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
WHY WRITING?
I receive occasional requests from junior faculty and students, usually on my LinkedIn professional network, for tips on writing and publishing. It seems everybody has to write, especially professsionals in all fields. No one can escape. Writing-wise, it’s kinda like “No Professional Left Behind!.” People are talking less and texting and typing on social media networks more than at any time previously. They’re writing more, but not necessarily at a high level of quality.
Just about everybody (meaning, colleagues) I talk to about writing has problems writing. Most are not satisfied with the quality and/or quantity of what they write. They feel they can produce more and always do it better. But it’s tough to do.
There are buckets of books, online writing groups (academic and nonacademic), workshops, and other resources that can help you in your writing quest. So why do I need to throw my blog into the writing ring? Because I know you love my metaphors and I might be able to contribute some new tidbit of advice that might shoot your writing to levels beyond your wildest imagination, or maybe not. I thought I’d give it a whirl, plus, my blogs are free and occasionally funny. The other options are neither.
WHAT THIS BLOG DOES NOT COVER
If you’re interested in publishing pointers, fawgettaboutit. Two previous blog series dealt with writing and publishing for professional journals (4/22—5/9/10) and books (9/18—10/5/09). This blog is also not about grammar and mechanics. Spelchek and copy editors do a great job with that.
WHAT THIS BLOG COVERS
It’s about strategies to improve the quality and quantity of what you write professionally, but also personally. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a research, theoretical model, lit review, historical, commentary, or even murder mystery piece, OR a blog, e-mail, social media comment, article, chapter, or book. These are generic suggestions that work, I think.
TOP 10 SECRET TIPS PREVIEW
Here’s the list that will be addressed in the next few blogs:
10. WRITE EVERYDAY
9. WRITE EVERYWHERE YOU CAN
8. WRITE FOR A NICHE
7. WRITE WITH A PURPOSE AND OUTCOME IN MIND
6. WRITE ON TOPICS ABOUT WHICH YOU ARE PASSIONATE
5. ADOPT A MENTOR OR COACH TO REVIEW DRAFTS
4. THINK DRAFT
3. PROOFREAD THOROUGHLY
2. MINIMIZE DISTRACTIONS AND INTERRUPTIONS
1. FIND AN ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER OR WRITING GROUP
Read any, all, or none of the upcoming blogs on these tips. If you just get 1 or 2 ideas from this series, it will have been a total waste of my time. I’m shooting for 3. Let me know my hit rate and any comments or suggestions, as usual. My next blog will examine how to WRITE EVERYDAY.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
We now resume Weedland after all of your 4th of July celebrations. Put your beer, som'mores, and sparklers away. Hunker down. It's time for the weed of evil relationships. It's one of the toughest weeds to kill.
3. RELATIONSHIPS: Disassociate yourself from the cynics, pessimists, and complainers who will just drag you into their mire of weeds. If you keep company with weeds, you can begin to adopt weed-like characteristics yourself.
Instead, hang with colleagues who will feed and water your efforts regularly. If you can’t identify these people in your department, search for these colleagues outside your institution—at conferences, other universities, airports, places of worship, shopping malls, the grocery store, playgrounds, caves, or forests. You need to surround yourself with people who are supportive to keep you focused and motivated.
Pick profs or others who will build you up, not tear you down; who are ENCOURAGERS, not discouragers. The encouragers can provide constructive feedback, but hopefully it will be delivered with tender loving care and compassion.
You should also do the same with colleagues and students. Encourage and spur them on toward achieving their goals. Get out of yourself and help others. Isolation is deadly and can stunt your growth.
Also, find one or more MENTORS for your teaching and research who can show you the ropes and guide you through the professional rocky terrain with your gas-guzzling SUV. Again, they may be in your institution or anywhere in the world. Their old-sage advice can be invaluable along your academic journey. They can help your young-sage self grapple with the challenges you will encounter.
The next blog will suggest strategies for the final two categories of weeds, in case you haven’t accumulated enough weeds from the preceding blogs. I’m here to help! Don’t thank me yet. We’re almost done. Then you can shower me with weed poison or smack me with your baseball bat.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
Somehow in all that we do as professionals we find creative ways to foul things up—make dumb decisions with disastrous consequences. These decisions occur in our classroom, office, sports stadium, home, and just about every other venue we frequent. They typically involve relationships with colleagues, students, friends, family, and animals.
Why do these bad decisions keep happening? Haven’t we learned anything from our past mistakes? Maybe, but we still are able to discover new ways or repeat old ways to botch up critical relationships in our lives.
Why do we make bad decisions?
Here are 4 reasons or conditions under which we make the WRONG decision:
1. When we’re tired and impatient. We get frustrated waiting for others to take action or we are just tired mentally, physically, and/or spiritually. Making an important decision at a time of weakness is unwise. We always need to act from a position of strength. Our impatience may prompt us to jump the gun and make the wrong decision.
2. When we feel we can do it alone. We may be under the illusion that we are in control, but the information we have available may be inadequate, inappropriate, or inaccurate. Pride may interfere with our willingness to seek counsel to obtain the best information for the right decision.
3. When we rely on bad advice from someone we trust. There are people in our lives who can steer us in the wrong direction, unintentionally or intentionally. When we place our faith and trust in colleagues, friends, and family members, we can receive bad advice. Sometimes it’s difficult to discern who has the expertise that will guide our decision-making and who has our best interests at heart.
4. When our reasoning is faulty. Frequently our reasoning behind a decision can be faulty, unwise, imperceptive, and difficult to untangle. Again, we can get into trouble without realizing it because our thinking is off-track and incorrect. A fresh brain examining the same situation can provide valuable insight into the right decision.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Make decisions from a position of sound mind, body, heart, and soul.
2. Be patient when you depend on others before making a decision.
3. Seek a mentor, coach, or advisor who can provide appropriate and independent guidance for the decision. Do your homework thoroughly before picking this mentor. You may need more than one.
4. Don’t hesitate to obtain advice anytime on any decision from an appropriate advisor.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
While the substantive foundation of the mentor-mentee relationship is the experience, knowledge, skills, and/or wisdom of the mentor, it’s the unique personal connection or chemistry between mentor and mentee that is critical to the success and longevity of the relationship, regardless of the communication form. That element is essential for most all in-depth, meaningful relationships; it’s not essential for superficial, fly-by-night, or popular, short-term, illicit celebrity relationships.
What Happens When the Chemistry Is Missing?
If the mentee is (a) intimidated, frightened, or uncomfortable in any way in the relationship, (b) gulps down an anti-nausea medication before each meeting, or (c) simply ends up with a mentor resembling Freddy Krueger or Dog the Bounty Hunter, the relationship is DOOMED! In other words, it’s dead in the water or some other fluid, regardless of the substantive expertise the mentor could provide. The emotional intelligence, especially interpersonal skills, of both mentor and mentee is a crucial determinant of the chemistry. That’s why relationships are non-formulaic and often quite messy.
I strongly recommend that you consider the “chemistry” in the matching strategy you use to build the relationships in your program. Of course, you must also take into account the substantive content and demographic characteristics of the participants.
I recently completed a manuscript that described a technique for matching mentees with mentors that addresses all of these criteria. It’s now in review. I’ll let you know when it’s available at later date. Stick around my blogs. Your comments are always welcome.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
Formal mentorship programs typically involve faculty-student and senior faculty-junior faculty pairings to facilitate the academic and career performance of the mentees. They have taken on a myriad of formats at institutions throughout the universe. They’re popping up everywhere. The emphasis in most programs is on the mentor and the various roles he or she can play in fostering the development of the mentee.
What’s so special about the relationship between a mentor and mentee? After all, it’s just the pairing of a wiser, more experienced, sage-type professor with a newbie or less experienced, sageless junior faculty member or a student. The mentor’s primary function is to show the mentee the academic ropes, albeit the teaching, research, or clinical nuts and bolts—to serve as a human advisor-career version of CliffsNotes®.
WROOOONG! It’s a bit more complicated, like friend and romantic relationships. This blog dissects the relationship to reveal its most basic innards or components. Each relationship is unique.
Components of the Mentor-Mentee Relationship
There are at least six major components of each mentor-mentee relationship that make it different from every other mentoring relationship:
1. mentor’s role, which can be teacher, counselor, advisor, sponsor, resource, and/or advocate,
2. frequency of communication via face-to-face, e-mail, TM, and/or phone,
3. mentor’s expertise,
4. academic interests of the pair,
5. length of the relationship, and
6. chemistry of the relationship.
All of these factors contribute the uniqueness and success or failure of each relationship.
Among the components of the relationship, the one often overlooked in the pairing process is the personal chemistry. It is a critical determinant of the success of the relationship. My next blog will explore this component.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
