I’m looking at the summer as a chance to focus on some professional development goals. One of them is to increase the time spent writing. I’m launching into a few major writing projects – a chapter for a book and co-editing an entire book. I am also working with a few folks on revising articles to student affairs journals. I’ve been forced to be in a writing mode, but I’m not sure I’m in the writing mood. While I have written a lot, I’ve had a hard time launching into the identify of a writer. In fact, it’s the reason why I decided I didn’t want to be full-time faculty: the idea of producing and producing research requires a certain approach to life, and it’s an approach I have not been able to adopt.

There are numerous things that paralyze me about writing: is the topic worth examining? Is there actually a gap in the literature that needs filling by what I am producing? Have I reviewed every bit of existing research (I may have had the longest reference list in student affairs dissertation history)? Will the editorial board understand the topic, the reasons for my approach to the research, and value my work’s contribution to our field? I’ve had enough rejections and a few of those rejections made sense and a few did not; however, rejection about your writing is a judgment of how you spent your time. Rejection means that the hours and hours spent were for nothing – at least that’s how you look at it if publication is the primary goal.

I’ve viewed writing as an important part of increasing my competence and confidence in student affairs work. Sometimes writing is just a good practice for student affairs professionals. It helps us examine a literature base and propose ideas about how we can work differently/smarter/better.  I’m a decent writer, and an even better editor – I’m a great last author on your collection of three other authors. I’ve used writing to explore and apply concepts and share ideas/thoughts/knowledge. However, as I look ahead to the next two to three months I am going to have to adopt the identity, get in the writing mood, embrace the idea of spending time on fewer projects so that I can spend more time on editing paragraphs. It’s going to require me to change my view of writing.

And I wonder how I will be better off when I am “done” with these projects. What about me and my approach to my work and the world will change?