Real Academics Blog

Dear Real Academics, Learning how to ask for and provide useful feedback revolutionized my writing and my teaching of writing. But, first, let me explain what useful feedback is not. What Useful Feedback is Not: An Illustration I was an English major for half of my college student life. In fact, my first Ph.D. program was in English Literature though I promptly realized it was not practical enough for me so I left with an M.A. I tell you this biographical information because I was steeped in the world of writing for a very long time; and, yet, I knew little about useful feedback or how to provide it to others. My college writing process looked something like the following: I would be given a writing prompt with a deadline. After I turned in my work at the end of the term, I would receive a letter grade at the top of my paper with a ton of comments on the sides in red ink. Consequently, when it was my turn to provide grades to large sections of undergraduate introduction to literature ...

Dear Real Academics, Happy writers can be productive writers. Happy productive writers are aware of two important things: (1) Their time. (2) Their creative process. [Note: I provide a ton of resources in this post just because I was so excited to make all these connections and share them with you! Be sure to check out any that look useful to you]. BACKGROUND I recently watched a fascinating video interview with Dr. Ken Atchity -- author, professor, screenwriter, producer, literary manager -- which affirmed and solidified the above two points for me. His book, A Writer's Time: Making the Time to Write , is on my short list for reading now: (paid link) Ken mentions two types of productive people: the unhappy ones and the happy ones. The unhappy productive person can be the typical Type A workaholic and/or the stereotypical depressed creative. The happy productive people, according to Ken, -- get this -- are AWARE of their creative process and know how to manage it. I could ...