Write No Matter What: Advice for Academics

179 Pages·2017·0.59 MB·English

by  Joli Jensen

Write No Matter What
.........................................................
Tricks of the Trade
Howard S. Becker
Writing for Social Scientists
Howard S. Becker
The Craft of Research
Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb,
Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, and
William T. FitzGerald
From Dissertation to Book
William Germano
Getting It Published
William Germano
From Notes to Narrative
Kristen Ghodsee
Writing Science in Plain English
Anne E. Greene
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers
Jane E. Miller
The Chicago Guide to Communicating Science
Scott L. Montgomery
Going Public
Arlene Stein and Jessie Daniels
The Writer’s Diet
Helen Sword
A Manual for Writers of Research Papers,
Theses, and Dissertations
Kate L. Turabian
Write

No Matter What
.........................................................
A d v i c e f o r A c a d e m i c s
.........................................................
Joli Jensen
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2017 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or
reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission,
except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews.
For more information, contact the University of Chicago Press,
1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2017
Printed in the United States of America
26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 46167- 0 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 46170- 0 (paper)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 46184- 7 (e- book)
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226461847.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Jensen, Joli, author.
Title: Write no matter what : advice for academics / Joli Jensen.
Other titles: Chicago guides to writing, editing, and publishing.
Description: Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2017. | Series: Chicago
guides to writing, editing, and publishing | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016048009 | ISBN 9780226461670 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780226461700 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780226461847 (e- book)
Subjects: LCSH: Academic writing.
Classification: LCC LB2369 .J46 2017 | DDC 808.02—dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn .loc .gov/ 2016048009
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992
(Permanence of Paper).
In memory of my father,
Donald D. Jensen
(1930– 2003)

Contents
.........................................................
Acknowledgments ix
Preface xi
Part I. Writing in Academe 1
1 Letting Go of the Dream 3
2 Demystifying Academic Writing 7
3 Craftsman Attitude 10
Part II. Using Tools That Work 15
4 Three Taming Techniques 17
5 Securing Time 22
6 Securing Space 27
7 Securing Energy 32
Part III. Challenging Writing Myths 39
8 Draining the Drama 41
9 Demons In for Tea 43
10 The Magnum Opus Myth 47
11 The Impostor Syndrome 52
12 The Cleared- Deck Fantasy 56
13 The Hostile Reader Fear 60
14 Compared with X 63
15 The Perfect First Sentence 67
16 One More Source 71
Part IV. Maintaining Momentum 75
17 Follow the Lilt 77
18 Beginnings and Endings 82
19 Finding the Lost Trail 86
20 Effective Feedback 93
21 Handling Revisions and Rejections 97
22 Working with Stalls 105
23 Relinquishing Toxic Projects 109
24 Back- Burner Projects 114
25 Breaks, Summers, and Sabbaticals 121
Part V. Building Writing Support 129
26 Overcoming Isolation 131
27 Creating Faculty Writing Groups 137
28 Building Campus Writing Support 142
Conclusion 149
Afterword: Writing for the Public 151
Bibliography 159
Index 163
viii
Acknowledgments
.........................................................
The University of Tulsa has given me the institutional support I
needed to create and direct the TU Faculty Writing Program. In par-
ticular, I want to thank Denise Dutton, director of the Henneke Center
for Academic Fulfillment, for her encouragement, advice, and admin-
istrative skills, as well as Provost Roger Blais, Dean Kalpana Misra,
Lauren Wagner, and Janet Cairns.
My departmental colleagues Mark Brewin, John Coward, and Ben
Peters have graciously accepted my increasing commitment to faculty
writing, and Ben’s enthusiasm for this project has been particularly
encouraging.
The seeds of this book go way back. I thank the graduate students
I worked with in the Radio- TV- Film Department at the University of
Texas, as well as undergraduate students in the TU Honors Program,
for sharing their writing struggles with me. This book began thanks to
a passing remark from historian Ed Linenthal, visiting from Indiana
University. He told me I should turn a class handout called “Myths
We Stall By” into a book. Never underestimate the power of an en-
couraging word.
I have received many encouraging words during the writing of this
book. In particular I want to thank my TU colleagues Jennifer Airey,
Susan Chase, Lynn Clutter, Lars Engle, Eduardo Faingold, Randy
Fuller, Al Harkness, Brian Hosmer, Jennie Ikuta, Holly Laird, Peggy
Lisenbee, Lee Anne Nichols, Kristen Oertel, Kirsten Olds, Teresa
Valero, Kate Waits, and Helen Zhang for their support, along with the
TU colleagues I consulted with in confidence. Outside of TU, Rabbi
Marc Boone Fitzerman, CSU Writes! founder Kristina Quynn, Ray
Blanton, Karen Christensen, David D. Perlmutter, and Sue Redwood
have offered valued encouragement.
Thanks also go to Vitae, the Chronicle of Higher Education’s online
career hub, especially to editor Gabriela Montell, for the chance to
circulate some of these ideas in essay form.
The University of Chicago Press has been an ideal home for this
ix