TOP 10 SECRET TIPS:
AND THE REST OF THE STORY…
Pick Your Partner Carefully. The partner can be a colleague, significant other, mentor, student, friend, mime, a literate pet, or all of the preceding. It’s even better if both of you are struggling writers. Hunt down a partner like Dog the Bounty Hunter. However, before you proceed with adoption, you also might want to run a thorough background check on your candidates to make sure they don’t have rap sheets as long as your dream book or are currently listed on the international terrorist watch-list. Be careful.
You need someone who is dependable and committed to helping you dig out of your writing hole and sustain a regiment of regular writing. It approximates a “writing boot camp” to train you to write on your own. Once you’re ready to graduate camp with the usual mortar board and robe, you will be more prepared to fight your writing battles.
Commitment. The writer-partner showdown is what Simon & Garfunkel sang about: “Hello, darkness, my old friend.” As noted in Tip 10, you must commit to write in writing (What else?) with specific, realistic goals in daily and weekly “to-do” lists to make this work. Record how much time and what you write.
Your partner can reward your successes with celebratory activities or evil gifts, such as a hot fudge sundae (unless you’re still on Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig). He or she may also extinguish failure with severe beatings or grace. Be very selective in who you pick as your partner.
Writing Clubs. You can also seek out writing clubs or groups at your institution or through your professional association. There are also many online writing groups through LinkedIn and other networks. These groups may serve in lieu of or in addition to your accountability partner.
Whatever form of accountability you choose will be only as effective as your commitment to write. How serious are you about writing more and better? Only you can answer that. We both know you can do it.
HAVE A SPECTACULAR WRITING CAREER! Let me know if you have discovered another technique to improve your writing.
BTW I am in the process of revising this entire blog series to transform it into a journal article. It will be formatted a little differently, but will be easier to read, plus it won't appear in all of these dopey colors. Those professionals who do not read my blogs might glance at the article. Ya never know. I look forward to hearing how you did the same with your blogs or writing morsels. My blogs turned out to be drafts for the article, which, of course, is also a draft right now. Have a wonderful weekend!
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
TOP 10 SECRET TIPS
10. WRITE EVERYDAY. In the movie Finding Forrester, fictitious Pulitzer Prize winning novelist William Forrester (played by everyone’s fave James Bond, Sean Connery) gave the following advice on writing to his talented 16-year old mentee Jamal Wallace, whose secret passion was writing:
“You write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is to write, not to think. If you try to write the perfect page one, you’ll never get to page two.”
What to Write: You need to force yourself to write responses to e-mails, texts, tweets, comments to blogs and online discussions, etc. Search for every opportunity to write. Even better, create them by formally mapping out a writing project, such as the following:
• blog
• section of an article
• piece of a chapter or report
• chapter in an accreditation self-study
• portion of a speech or lecture
• jokes for an article, presentation, or stand-up gig
• scene for a play or screenplay
• scene for a TV movie of the week with geezer-like Tom Selleck
• any chunk of a manuscript
Chunking: Think about your writing in short bits, pieces, and chunks, not total papers. They’re easier to complete. What ever you commit to write should be part of your “to-do” list every day. It should be important and urgent, category A, on your list. Your writing is high priority.
Chunk writing keeps the writing juices and other fluids flowing and your brain neurons-synapses firing, unless, of course, you’re on crystal meth. The more frequently you write, the more you improve your ability to express your thoughts grammatically and mechanically, plus there’s more flowing and firing to boot. You’re honing the art and craft of your writing.
(Up Close & Personal: I’ve been writing for hundreds of years. However, one of the best exercises I have found to stimulate my creative writing bodily fluids to keep pouring out all over my PC was to commit to writing a 200–300 word blog almost every day. This August 1 will be my 1st Blogiverary. I’m aiming for 180 blogs. I really look forward to writing a blog every day, except when I can’t think of anything. Mine is a professional blog, but you can write a social blog or whatever you’re willing to write. I strongly recommend creating a series of blogs on a single topic, as I am doing on “writing.” It’s much easier than writing on a completely new topic everyday. Whatever works for you, do it. Just write.)
(Application: Writing blogs is an extremely effective method to build students’ writing skills. The blog keeps your writing fresh and forces you to stretch mentally and produce something of value for your readers. That’s a significant challenge.)
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
Here are strategies for the final two categories of weeds:
4. TIME: Tackle each time-management weed and make the necessary adjustments in your schedule. Think carefully before scheduling or attending meetings that aren’t mandatory. Minimize social networking on the job, except where necessary for class. Identify the time-eaters that contaminate your “to-do list” and eliminate them.
5. ENVIRONMENT: Everyone knows the old adage, “People who live in glass houses are transparent!” OOPS! Wrong adage! That has nothing to do with this category. I meant the adage, “The grass is always greener.” Well, when you’re using a weed metaphor, this adage works. If you can’t take out the major weeds in your department, take yourself out of the weeds and consider greener pastures and a more fertile environment to nurture your professional gifts. MOVE!
I hope you’ve been able to whack a few weeds over the past week that will add zip to your professional productivity. Let me know if anything worked and if you used techniques that I didn’t suggest. Please share what you’ve learned about whacking.
HAPPY WEED WHACKING!
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
SYMPTOMS OF CUTS
How have the departmental cuts and changes affected you? How are you feeling the pinch? What’s changed in your daily modus operandi?
Do you feel like
• your comfort zone has been disrupted?
• you experience more disappointments and rejections than usual?
• there are delays in your timetable that throw off your “to-do” list?
• you are under more stress and pressure than before?
• there are challenges to your character with new temptations?
How are you responding to these hits and difficulties? You have a choice in your response: either “negative and destructive” OR “positive and constructive.”
How do you want to leave this island when the rescue team arrives? Better or worse for the experience than when you entered? Or like the end of Lost, totally confused!
Whether you have experienced this professional drought or these limitations previously or any of these metaphors is irrelevant; it’s how you respond to this one that matters. You can be a role model for your colleagues and set a positive example OR drag them down with you. It’s YOUR CHOICE! Consider your options in my next blog. You can weigh the negative responses against the positive ones and then decide your course.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
