Most of us can imagine the academic who effortlessly turns caffeine into written words and might actually be a machine. It’s easy to think that everyone else is finding it easier to write than you do. But most academic writers don’t enjoy the writing process every single day. They often find that committing their research to paper is an unnecessarily slow and painful process.
Tune in to hear Dr Sharon Zumbrunn, author of “Why Aren’t You Writing?: Research, Real Talk, Strategies, and Shenanigans,” share some of the many psychological, emotional, and logistical hurdles that can get in the way of the very human process of writing.
This webinar combines discussion of the research underpinning the ways academic writers often sabotage their success with practical strategies designed to help participants write more with less pain.
Dr Zumbrunn carries out an entertaining and perceptive deep dive into how we sabotage ourselves with unreasonably high standards, psychological blockages and needless self-criticism – and then offers realistic solutions.
In the webinar, you will learn…
- Strategies for gaining more control over your writing process
- How to recognize the psychological, emotional and logistical barriers sapping your motivation as a writer
- How to rid yourself of the anxiety that comes from what you ‘should’ be doing
- The important difference between ‘adaptive’ and ‘maladaptive’ perfectionists
- How to harness the Japanese concept of ‘Ikigai’ to map your writing goals effectively
Dr Zumbrunn concludes the session by suggesting a series of easy practical tasks designed to help reset our negative thoughts and approach serious academic writing with renewed enthusiasm.
The presenter
Dr Sharon Zumbrunn is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and the co-director of the Motivation in Context Research Lab at Virginia Commonwealth University. As a ‘feelings-and-learning’-ologist, she spends a whole lot of time thinking about and studying writing motivation and self-regulation. She has published several research articles on the writing context, writing self-efficacy, writing attitudes, perceptions of feedback, and writing strategies. Importantly, she self-identifies as a struggling writer ... depending on the day.