Writing Consistently.

While part of my job is to do research and academic writing, I am a creative writer at heart. I have read lots of books about writing. A few I recommend to everyone - creative, academic, or other types of writers include: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, Strunk and White's Elements of Style, A Year of Writing Dangerously 365 Days of Inspriation and Encouragement by Barbara Abercrombie, and On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King.

I also HIGHLY recommend that everyone - especially as they start writing their dissertations - read Do the Work by Steven Pressfield. This book is more about creative work and art in general, but has so many real applications to doing academic writing. Especially for those of us who struggle with self-confidence. It is a very short book and one that is worth re-reading multiple times throughout the process.

There are many things I have highlighted in this book. Here is just one that, I hope, encourages you to consider this resource:

Suspend All Self-Judgment

Unless you're building a sailboat or the Taj Mahal, I give you a free pass to screw up as much as you like.

The inner critic? His ass is not permitted in the building.

Set forth without fear and without self-censorship. When you hear that voice in your head, blow it off.

This draft is not being graded, (Pressfield, 2011, p. 38).

So now. Write something.