Air & light & time & space : how successful academics write / Helen Sword.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sword, Helen, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Academic writing.

College teachers as authors.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 279 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

Pilot project. eBook available to selected US libraries only

Other Title:

Air and light and time and space : how successful academics write

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, [2017]

Summary:

From the author of Stylish Academic Writing comes an essential new guide for writers aspiring to become more productive and take greater pleasure in their craft. Helen Sword interviewed one hundred academics worldwide about their writing background and practices. Relatively few were trained as writers, she found, and yet all have developed strategies to thrive in their publish-or-perish environment. So how do these successful academics write, and where do they find the “air and light and time and space,” in the words of poet Charles Bukowski, to get their writing done? What are their formative experiences, their daily routines, their habits of mind? How do they summon up the courage to take intellectual risks and the resilience to deal with rejection? Sword identifies four cornerstones that anchor any successful writing practice: Behavioral habits of discipline and persistence; Artisanal habits of craftsmanship and care; Social habits of collegiality and collaboration; and Emotional habits of positivity and pleasure. Building on this “BASE,” she illuminates the emotional complexity of the writing process and exposes the lack of writing support typically available to early-career academics. She also lays to rest the myth that academics must produce safe, conventional prose or risk professional failure. The successful writers profiled here tell stories of intellectual passions indulged, disciplinary conventions subverted, and risk-taking rewarded. Grounded in empirical research and focused on sustainable change, Air & Light & Time & Space offers a customizable blueprint for refreshing personal habits and creating a collegial environment where all writers can flourish.

Contents:

Preface: The house of writing

Introduction: Building the BASE

Part I. Behavioral habits

1. Finding time to write

2. The power of place

3. Rhythms and rituals

Part II. Artisanal habits

4. Learning to write

5. The craft of writing

6. The other tongue

Part III. Social habits

7. Writing for others

8. Writing with others

9. Writing among others

Part IV. Emotional habits

10. The pleasure principle

11. Risk and resilience

12. Metaphors to write by

Conclusion: Raising the roof

Afterword: Beyond the house of writing.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674737709

9780674977631

0674977637

9780674977617

0674977610

OCLC:

981125961