When I’m supporting academics to write and publish, I draw on a number of books. Maybe it’s an ‘academic thing’. After all, we do love a reference. But there is so much good advice out there already that it would seem foolish (and selfish) not to point people to it. Or to pretend that what I’m suggesting is all my idea!
There are some classics that I’ve used for years… Joli Jensen’s “Write no matter what”, and Paul J. Silvia’s “How to write a lot”, and Helen Sword’s “Air and light and time and space” were three books that helped me, and that formed the core of my initial training.
Then there are others that I’ve found along the way… Eviatab Zerubavel’s “Clockwork Muse” for example. And Roger Kneebone’s “Expert”, which was a paradigm shift for me in terms of thinking about writing as a craft.
And then there are ‘bits’ of books that are really useful, particularly to make key points. The chapter on ‘Shitty first drafts’ by Anne Lamott in “Bird by bird” is great for people who really don’t believe anyone writes as badly as they do. And for those who believe that no-one else has the same quirky writing habits, there are some of the examples in “Process” by Sarah Stodola.
More recently, I’ve been adding things on habit change. Oliver Burkeman’s “Four Thousand Weeks” is brilliant on prioritising and motivation. And for academics who struggle to write because of caring responsibilities, there’s Julie Phillips’ “The baby on the fire escape”.
Over time, I’ve built up quite a library. I add to it regularly. I have high expectations of some of the books I’ve recently added. For example, I’m thinking at the moment about how to introduce some aspect of ‘content’ training… so I’m looking forward to reading Pat (we’re not worthy!) Thomson’s “Refining your academic writing”.
I take the library to the training, and I show people. Again, maybe it’s an academic thing. We do like to show off our libraries. Or maybe it’s just that I know that academics like the freedom to browse. Who’s to say what’s useful. Maybe there’s something in one of the books that I won’t specifically mention, but that someone on the training really needs.
Besides, the library isn’t exclusive in this case. My experience suggests that books about academic writing are generally very affordable, so people can often buy a copy of any that are really useful for themselves. I’ve not spent more than £15 on any of the books I’ve got, even new. But £15 is still £15, so I take the books so that they can check them out thoroughly, and decide whether to invest.
So when, the other day, I heard about a new book, I went looking…. and recoiled in horror. It was £80. £80!!
And I felt sad. And curious. And outraged… all at the same time.
I can’t believe that whatever is in the book is four times better than, say, Phyllis Creme and Mary Lea’s “Writing at University”. Or, 16 times better… if you’re prepared to buy their book secondhand.
And yet, somewhere inside me, I’m thinking… “I wonder what it says to justify that price… Hmmmm”.
Surely, the author and the publisher can’t have gone through the entire, lengthy process of proposing, drafting, polishing, editing, printing, marketing… without some hope of selling a few copies.
So I’m going to do some digging… and see how much I can find out about what’s in it.
In the meantime, enjoy any of the books that I’ve mentioned. They’re all fantastic.
The Garage of Books 