Start your New Year out WRITE
It’s that time of year again –the time of year where you’re working hard to eat better, be more organized, work hard in school, lose some weight, or whatever else you resolved to do. But by this time, the newness and excitement that comes with a new year may be wearing off. In fact, sadly, if you’re like me (and many other people), by mid-January you might be ready to give up on your goals, insisting that you’ll try again next year.Perhaps you feel the same way about your writing at the beginning of each new term you start –a sense of newness, anticipation, tinged with a little intimidation or nervousness as you face those writing projects on the syllabus. Perhaps you are anxious when facing a blank computer screen for that first paper of the semester. At this point, you may feel like just giving up on your writing goals –saying that you’ll just try again in your next course.
Plan Ahead
Planning ahead allows you to set expectations and goals, and
it can help keep you on track with your workload. Your syllabus is posted in
your classroom, so be sure to look ahead and plan out your papers and large
projects. Take your personal calendar and mark in it what days your papers are
due. Then work backwards. Determine how long you will need to complete it, how
many days you’ll want set aside to revise it, on which days you will start your
research, and so on. If you plan on making appointments with the writing
center, be sure to plan a few days for the 2-day turnaround time and a day or
two for revisions!
Get in a Habit
To avoid writing anxiety, get in a habit. Set aside a
certain time each day for writing and make it routine—even if it is only a few
minutes here or there. Consistency will help you to get in a habit of writing,
and this will allow you to make progress each day, avoiding the last-minute panic
on the day that your paper is due.
Set Reasonable Goals
If possible, don’t write your whole paper in one sitting.
Instead, break down assignments or papers into more bite-sized chunks. This
allows you to set miniature and short-term goals for yourself and keep yourself
motivated. Perhaps one day you will do the research, the next day you will
organize your outline, the next day you will write the body, and the final day
you add the introduction and conclusion before you revise. Look at your
syllabus and the assignment rubric to determine what areas or parts of the work
you might be able to use as dividers. Or set yourself time-goals. For example,
perhaps you will work for one hour on this paper, then take a break to do
laundry, go for a walk, or read a Facebook post, then work for 30 more minutes.
Setting expectations like these gives you reachable goals and criteria for success.
While there are multiple
ways to fight the inevitable writer’s block that often comes with the
anxieties of new classes or a new year of writing, these three steps can help
set you up for a successful start to your writing year. Remember to plan ahead,
making writing a habit, and set yourself reasonable goals. Your New Year’s
writing resolutions don’t have to fizzle out after a couple weeks (like your
exercise goals). Instead, you can start
the year off right, and WRITE.
Want a few other strategies for academic success in 2016?
Check out the Academic
Skills Center’s resources on success strategies.
Rachel Willard is a Writing Instructor and Coordinator of Student Communications. She loves hearing others' stories. She enjoys people-watching at airports and shopping places that use the grammatically correct "10 items or fewer" signs for the express checkout lanes.
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My goodness this is my fear of working on my master's degree.
ReplyDeleteI hope this post has helped you work through this fear -- or at least start to!
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