When to write
There is never a set time to write.
You can’t plan it – you should but plans sometimes are turned upside down by
distractions and procrastination. Therefore, just dare yourself to pick up the
pen and scribble. Then write. Write frequently. Write once a week. Write once a
month. Write once a day. Write once every three days but to write, you have to
read. You have to think. So, read, think, write and repeat.
“Writing is like a 'lust,' or like 'scratching when you itch.'
Writing comes as a result of a very strong impulse, and when it does come, I,
for one, must get it out.”
C. S. Lewis
Writing Tips
Before calling it a day
– write down your reflections and ideas
After a week of reading
– make a summary during the weekend
Be spontaneous – write after
breakfast, before bedtime, in between tea/coffee sips, while on the
bus/train
Schedule a writing date
How to write
There is no rule on this. Either
you are a Leonardo da Vinci or a Pablo Picasso. Either you write like Charles
Dickens or tweet like Trump. Either you write in prose or write to rhyme your
words. Either you write in abstract form or in simple language. Your writing is
a style unique to yourself. Let your writing express how you talk to yourself.
Write at your own pace. Do not rush. You can scribble down all that comes to
you. Or you can list down points you want to discuss. There is no general
method to this. You will only know when you begin. You will only get better if
you write frequently.
“It is perfectly okay to write garbage – as long as
you edit brilliantly”.
C.J. Cherryh
Writing Tips
Start small: write a
paragraph or write two or three sentencesWrite between 50 - 200
words daily
Be bold: write a full/partial
draft chapter/paper every two/three months
Work with an outline
Write along the borders
of your research plan
Use a white board to map
out your thoughts
What to write
Write what you want to write but
have a strategic plan. Your writing has to get you somewhere. It has to get you
to an answer to your research question. So, write what you have to. But not all
that you write will be thesis material. Write what it takes you to understand the
topic and to draw insights from it. Write on everything you read. Write
summaries of each paper you read. Write of the ideas you get from all that you
read. Write to ask questions. Write about the history of the scholarship area
from whence you derived your idea. Write about how the scholarship has
developed. Write about what scholars have said. Write about what the scholars
have not said. Write about why you think your writing will contribute to more knowledge.
Write to tell your story.
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
Benjamin Franklin
Writing Tips
Write about the what, how and why.
·
What is your research
question?
·
How are you going to
address it?
·
Why is there limited
scholarship addressing your research question?
Write on the importance
of the school of thought you are relying on to support your thesis
Write out your
methodology
Write a historical
background
Write out your
viewpoints on a particular scholar’s argument
Why write
Your writing shows your growth as a
scholar. Your writing is your compass to assess your growth. With it you
measure your knowledge. Writing is how you communicate your thoughts. It is
your greatest invention. Writing is giving life to your thoughts, your ideas.
Writing is the doorway to wisdom. You live a new life with every page you
write. Writing is a process of discovery. You will not know the content of your
draft– until you write it. Writing is listening to yourself, on paper. When you
write, you are telling a story.
“Telling a story is
speaking out anew
what you always knew you knew
but didn’t know you knew it
until you heard yourself saying it
and in the telling of it, you,
the teller, become the listener too.The teller and the listener
together both discover
the process of finding out
what the story is all about
as one draws the story out of the other
and the story tells itself from cover to cover.”
Ken Chawkin
Draw inspiration from:
The Eagle – she targets her prey
and dives in.
The Cheetah – she measures the
distance to capture her prey and makes the bold dash. It does not matter
whether or not she captures her prey, what matters is that she made the move.
"Write while the heat is in you. … The writer who
postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a
hole with.”
Henry David Thoreau
Do not be like:
The Vulture – who waits to feed on
carcass and left overs.
The Pig – who wastes time digging
through crap that does not benefit it.
The Queen Bee – who sits and grows
fat while others work.
“If you want to be a writer, you have to
write everyday. You don’t go to a well once but daily.”
Walter Mosley
The
joy of writing:
§ When your grammar improves
following your constant thesaurus checks to avoid repetitive language
§ You can actually brag on
paper with the use of words such as ‘epistemology’, ‘hermeneutics’, ‘solipsistic’.
§ You have good reason to
justify your support for one scholar over the other.
§ You are making a strong well-reasoned
point.
“The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in
reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one
book.”
Samuel Johnson
