Thread by @raulpacheco

Having now finished reading "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott, I am now ready to write the thread I was thinking of, comparing memoir-type writing advice books.

So buckle up, grab a coffee/tea/strong beverage of your choice, because I. HAVE. THOUGHTS.

I started reading books on "how to do a PhD", "how to become a successful academic" type of books only recently (2017-ish?) I recall that I used to write research methods books during grad school, but I only read few books on "how you can finish your thesis in 15 minutes or less"

I've returned to this genre not only as a reader, but also as an author, and I'm now writing and finishing my own TWO BOOKS (one in Spanish, one in English - and yes, they're both being written in each language independently ).

What I now realize is that I was wrong before.

In the before times (before August 30th, 2020), I was alredy reluctant to suggest ONE book about writing or about the research process, of the many that I have already read.

I was like "ok, fine, if you want a list of some of the best books, read this" raulpacheco.org/2019/08/which-…

After reading "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott, whose approach mirrors Brene Brown and mine (on being gentle, kind, empathetic and drawing from your emotions to shape your research and improve your work), I thought again about the entire "which book is best for me".

My answer now:

As I said in another thread, reading Lamott has transformed me, and it has awakened something that might have laid dormant before:

There are books that INSPIRE you to write.

There are books that TEACH YOU how to write.

And we all need a combination of all of these.

In my case, I need to read books that inspire my analytical thinking (on waste and discards, on water, on activism and social movements, on protest, on methods). Those are to me the THEMATIC BOOKS. I need to read how OTHER scholars I respect write about the subjects I care about.

These are just a few Thematic Books I have used to inspire my scholarly research and writing.

You will notice an abundance of Ostrom (Lin and Vincent) thematic books. The Ostroms have inspired my thinking since my early days as a graduate student and continue to do so nowadays.

Then you have the “This is How To Do Research and Writing” type of books. I call these DEVELOPMENTAL books.

These books show you how to plan your writing, set schedules, develop a writing practice, organize your research, find books, survive academia.

And then you have the “sit down on the porch/curled up on your couch”, memoir-type books on writing that tell you insights from published authors on their writing process.

I call these INSPIRATIONAL books. The ones that you read and think “damn, I want to write, sounds fun”

Of course, you will find inspirational, pithy quotes in Thematic and Developmental books, surely. No typology is perfect and no categorization is without its flaws.

But the main insight I gained in reading Lamott yesterday and answering a query on which was the best book...

... I am now more convinced that there is no authoritative, definitive guide to academic writing (or research or writing) because we all need different components of the process.

You will learn different things from reading my work on water than you would absorb from others.

There are MANY excellent books that will teach you A METRIC TONNE of stuff that you NEED to learn.

But sometimes you will find yourself staring at a wall, or devastated that you got a rejection from a journal, or simply stuck with your writing.

So you'll need INSPIRATION.

It IS true that academia is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration.

But you WILL need that 5% inspiration. You can't draw from an empty well.

That's why I always say that IN ORDER TO WRITE, YOU NEED TO READ.

Read, read, read.

And then read some more

raulpacheco.org/2018/01/legiti…

Last year, I wrote a synthetic memorandum on a few lessons that I had learned about writing in general, academia and scholarly writing in particular (which you can read here raulpacheco.org/2019/07/a-synt…)

Reading back my own writing, I realize that I've learned a lot this year.

I also found different patterns from various "memoir-type" writers.

Stephen King and Henry Miller write more forcefully: "sit your butt on the chair every day for X number of hours until you get Y number of pages done".

I find Lamott much gentler: "you may need a system".

Also funny - the first time I read John McPhee’s Draft No. 4 I HATED IT with all my guts.

I was like “stop writing as though this is a memoir, damn it, I want tips on how I can write 2,500 words every day and finish a book in 6 weeks damn it”

NOW I appreciate it.

Many of you ask me if I write book reviews. I don't. I mean, I do (and they're published in peer-reviewed journals), but what you'll find on my blog is a set of Reading Notes raulpacheco.org/resources/read…

Doctoral (generally speaking, grad) and undergrad students as well as supervising faculty might find my reading notes of books on "how to do academic work" useful raulpacheco.org/resources/reso…

Of course, everyone wants to write (or read) “THE Authoritative Book on How to do Academia”. But think of learning about scholarly life as a lifelong syllabus:

You write syllabi because your students need to be exposed to a variety of ideas and learn bits and pieces from others

So no, I don’t think I can point you to THE best book on writing. I can give you some ideas on what to look for in a book and share with you pearls of wisdom I have distilled from each one.

But you’re going to have to invest in building a small library of books on these topics.