I have been trying to get into the spirit of academic writing month or #acwrimo with full knowledge of fast approaching deadlines. I have three book chapters to write – only one of which is jointly authored – along with a couple of papers that need to be edited and submitted to journals. I have actually been fairly prolific so far, unfortunately not on the above but instead a series of blog posts and abstracts for various conferences and special calls looking at various aspects of my embodied academics study and issues around using creative approaches such as the boundaries between research/therapy and data/art.
I could be positive and frame this as a way to clear the decks, and get the creative juices flowing. Or I could see it more negatively as form of procrastination and avoidance of the writing I really NEED to be doing right now. I think in fact, the reality is somewhere in the middle ground. I was and have been stuck on those book chapters, and whilst writing these shorter pieces I am holding the questions in my head of what I want to say and how I might go about it. I am the kind of person who needs to almost pre-write a paper in my head before it can come out. One of my favourite ways of finding this space is to take the dog for a long walk around the countryside and literally just talk it out. However, even though I know this time, space and air is what I need to write, I hesitate to just go for a walk when I am working in the office, for fear of not looking productive. I need to move and engage my body to get my mind working. I know that I would probably actually be more productive if I just had the courage to do this. In the meantime…