Becoming the Writer You Already Are

by Michelle R. Boyd

Becoming the Writer You Already Are helps scholars uncover their unique writing process and design a writing practice that fits how they work. Author Michelle R. Boyd introduces the Writing Metaphor as a reflective tool that can help you understand and overcome your writing fears: going from "stuck" to "unstuck" by drawing on skills you already have at your fingertips. She also offers an experimental approach to trying out any new writing strategy, so you can easily fill out the parts of your writing process that need developing. The book includes a number of helpful features: Real Scholars’ Stories provide insights into overcoming writing barriers; Wise Words from other scholars capture the trials of writing as well as avenues through those trials; and finally Focus Points highlight important ideas, questions, or techniques to consider. The book is ideal for dissertation writing seminars, graduate students struggling with the transition from coursework to dissertation work, scholars who are supporting or participating in writing groups, and marginalized scholars whose write struggles have prompted them to internalize the bias that others have about their ability to do exemplary research.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2022

Reviews

[Christa · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could give this book 10 stars, I would. One of the best books about academic writing out there; I can’t recommend it highly enough, especially for junior scholars. Boyd’s tone is conversational and supportive, and she provides concrete reflective prompts that guide the reader towards exploring what writing feels like and means to them—an aspect of academic writing that is often overlooked. Deeply engaging with Boyd’s prompts and ideas is an incredibly empowering and freeing experience. I already want to read this book again!

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I’ve read about writing, period.

[Viola · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book as it is not as patronising as some of the other
literature on academic writing. It is also *not* one of those “10 things you must do to publish if you don’t want to perish” type of guides (or Twitter threads!).
Throughout this book, Boyd is very compassionate with the reader and points to the many inequalities and pressures in academic life. Her framework of the writing metaphor invites us to reflect on what the writing process looks and feels like for us (giving examples such as curating an exhibition) and she then guides us to map the stages of that metaphor to the stages of our own writing process. I love the idea and have come up with a metaphor draft (roughly based on detective work) but haven’t totally figured out yet whether my metaphor might be too abstract - I.E. I think I am mapping out a whole research project rather than a specific writing session. This is something I will have to reconsider - and Boyd does encourage us to treat the writing metaphor as a “living thing”. I found this book uplifting - especially given its focus on owning our writing process and approaching writing from the mindset that it is our right as a scholar to spend time on writing. I hope that this book will make a positive difference to my practice although I cannot deny that I do also feel some of the doubt that she acknowledges in some of her retreat attendees, but here’s to the hope that this advice is different from the other academic writing guidance I have received and consumed.

[Nausheen · Rating 5 out of 5]

"What I am saying is that uncomfortable, unpleasant feelings are an unavoidable part of being a writer. And you are mistaken if you believe that the writing struggles you face are proof that you are 'just not cut out' for this work. Instead, quite the opposite is true. The research tells us that, when you have those feelings, 'you are not being weak-willed, thin-skinned, oversensitive, underdisciplined, or lazy. You are reacting to a subconscious awareness of a potential thread' (Bane, 2012, p. 27)."

[Brigitte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not a scholarly writer who tends to get stuck, so some of what she says in this book didn’t apply to me. But I enjoy reading books about scholarly writing, and I think this one is so useful in terms of reflecting on your own writing process. I especially liked the metaphor workshop and some of the reflective questions peppered throughout the book.

[Gi V · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly helpful book for anyone under pressure to write. This was required reading for a course I took this summer in preparation for my graduating paper.

[Noa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this for one of my last classes before dissertation time -- and it was healing. I didn't realize how emotionally knotted I was in my habits around writing. It made me really want to cultivate a healthier relationship with writing production and to be much more forgiving and hopeful towards myself. I'm still working on the things the author wrote about -- all of the things are reoccurring behaviors essential in process and so there isn't really a point when I will be "done" working on them, which is nice because the outline of the elements as well as the behavioral tendencies (and many, many examples from other writers) makes the path toward improvement more clear.