How We Write: Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blank PageSuzanne Conklin Akbari This little book arose spontaneously, in the late spring of 2015, when a series of conversations emerged -- first in a university roundtable on graduate student dissertation-writing, and then in a rapidly proliferating series of blog posts -- on the topic of how we write. One commentary generated another, each one characterized by enormous speed, eloquence, and emotional forthrightness. This collection is not about how TO write, but how WE write: unlike a prescriptive manual that promises to unlock the secret to efficient productivity, the contributors talk about their own writing processes, in all their messy, frustrated, exuberant, and awkward dis/order. The contributors range from graduate students and recent PhDs to senior scholars working in the fields of medieval studies, art history, English literature, poetics, early modern studies, musicology, and geography. All are engaged in academic writing, but some of the contributors also publish in other genres, includes poetry and fiction. Several contributors maintain a very active online presence, including blogs and websites; all are committed to strengthening the bonds of community, both in person and online, which helps to explain the effervescent sense of collegiality that pervades the volume, creating linkages across essays and extending outward into the wide world of writers and readers. Contributors include: Michael Collins, Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Alexandra Gillespie, Alice Hutton Sharp, Asa Simon Mittman, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Maura Nolan, Richard H. Godden, Bruce Holsinger, Stuart Elden, Derek Gregory, Steve Mentz, and Dan Kline. |
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academic writing accountability group Agnes Martin argument assholes better blog blog post chapter co-author collaboration collaborative writing colleagues conference papers course creative deadline Derek Gregory desk disability dissertation writing distracted draft Dropbox early editing English essay experience Facebook feel finished Franks Casket goals group going Google Calendar graduate school graduate students Huntsville I’ve IBM PC clone idea Jeffrey Cohen laptop learned literature look manuscript means medieval Medieval Allegory medieval literature meeting metaphor Michael Collins Middle English morning move never paragraphs piece productive prose published revision schedule sense sentences social media someone sometimes space started STORAGE SYSTEM structure style Suzanne Conklin Akbari talk teaching TECHNOLOGY there's thesis things thought tion University week words writ writing a dissertation Writing Lockdown writing practice writing process written wrote