Write More, Publish More, Stress Less! Five Key Principles for a Creative and Sustainable Scholarly Practice by Dannelle D. Stevens

Abstract

Reviewed by: Write More, Publish More, Stress Less! Five Key Principles for a Creative and Sustainable Scholarly Practice by Dannelle D. Stevens Yan Gao Dannelle D. Stevens. Write More, Publish More, Stress Less! Five Key Principles for a Creative and Sustainable Scholarly Practice. Sterling, VA: Stylus, 2019. 295 pp. Hardcover: $36.28. ISBN 1–62036–517–0 Writing and publishing are crucial to the development of a successful academic career. Whereas writing and publishing are essential skills in academia today, they are seldom taught explicitly in graduate school. Write More, Publish More, Stress Less! Five Key Principles for a Creative and Sustainable Scholarly Practice is a book that helps academic writers to gain and practice skills and dispositions to write and publish in academic fields while reducing stress associated with writing. This book is divided into 12 chapters, progressing from a focus on the five academic writing principles as foundations toward applying those principles in a variety of forms, which include: keeping a research journal; writing book reviews, conference proposals, journal articles, and books; and responding to a revise-and-resubmit request. The concluding chapter provides strategies on setting up a writing program on campus. In chapter 1, the author helps readers learn more about themselves as writers by eliciting the continuity of readers' writing experiences and identifying writing blocks. She presents principle one as "knowing more about yourself as a writer leads to greater insight; awareness; and positive, sustainable changes in your academic writing practice" (p. 3). At the end of this chapter, the author develops strategies to help writers overcome five writing blocks: perfectionism, rules, procrastination, writing anxiety, and impatience. Chapter 2, "Understand the genre of academic writing," as the title suggests, acknowledges that academic writing is a genre that has its own features. This chapter offers five strategies to illustrate [End Page E-37] the typical text structures and patterns found in academic writing. The author first emphasizes the importance of the underlying structure of academic writing. She suggests that using structures, conventions, and other recognized patterns helps writers not only to be better communicators within their discourse communities but also to fit the expectations of reviewers. The author then offers some strategies in heightening writers' awareness of the academic writing genre. For example, analyzing textural structures using the structure analysis (TSA) templates (provided in the appendix); clarifying your purpose using a purpose statement template; and making rhetorical moves using common academic writing phrase templates. These strategies embody the second principle: "Understanding that academic writing is a genre orients the writer to identify patterns and structures that facilitate expression and foster communication." (p. 17) Chapter 3 provides practical strategies to help writers achieve principle three: "Be strategic as you develop your writing manuscripts to create a sustainable writing practice" (p. 42). The three sets of strategies include time management strategies, specify and track writing goals and tasks, and organize and store manuscripts. Each set of strategies also contains tips for writers to create a supportive environment for writing and maintain a continuously mindful writing practice. For instance, allocating writing time on your calendar for the whole week, how to name files on the computer and practical ways to say "no" to other demands, etc. Chapter 4 brings to the fore the benefits of being social as an academic writer, "because the foundation of academic writing is a 'conversation.' Writing groups can be a haven for conversations about writing that reduce isolation and anxiety … and increase productivity" (p. 67). After discussing the pros and cons of writing groups, the author provides different types of writing groups such as traditional feedback groups, pop-up writing groups, and presents the advantages and disadvantages of each type. In the end, the author offers the best practice on how to start and sustain writing groups based on her own experiences of attending and organizing them. Chapter 5 highlights the need to be creative in thinking and writing academic works. The author first defines the meaning of "creativity" in the context of academic work, and then offers three sets of strategies to help writers "explore creative elements in academic writing to generate fresh connections and move academic writing from the formulaic to that...