Once again it’s been a while since I’ve last written a blog entry. Most of it has to do with other things going on in my life that I’m just not going to blog about. After all, this ain’t no exhibitionist blog-journal.

There was a time when I kept a really big whiteboard in my room. I’d use the board to write down ideas and help me provide some kind of structure to whatever kind of project I was in the midst of planning. Anytime I used that whiteboard, writing and doing projects in general seemed to come along much more easily. Unfortunately I’ve been plagued with a bit of a writing block for quite some time. The latest thing I’ve been able to write, an article on Rampway about the Belt Line, is a bit shorter than I imagined it would be. Needless to say, I didn’t use the whiteboard or any other method of planning out my article.

This blog entry is, on a related note, unplanned and unstructured. So if the writing here seems a bit haphazard, then I guess that’s just too bad.

Recently I began researching the topic of tacit knowlege and came upon an article in the Journal of Higher Education. This particular article, Writing Blocks and Tacit Knowledge (link only accessible from an on-campus computer), more addressed the issue of writing blocks than tacit knowledge. Specifically, while the article speaks a great deal about the causes of writing blocks among academic researchers, the principles stated in the article are more widely applicable. (The author of the article, Robert Boice, seems to have quite a collection of published works.)

Boice concludes his article with the presentation of what he calls the IRSS model to approaching blocks. The model is based on the four components of the more general field of tacit knowledge:

• Involvement. In school, students who get involved in learning and in campus activities stay in school and excel. In writing, the more successful writers get involved in writing as an act of discovery. Boice also noted that faculty members known to be “quick starters” were more likely to make time for regular writing, no matter how busy their respective schedules; sought advice and collaboration for writing; and expressed curiosity about the process of writing and publishing.
• Regimen. This can also be referred to as task management. Put yourself on a schedule where you have some time away from distractions and interruptions. Also, make sure to make way for balance and moderation. Don’t put too much of yourself into any particular activity. The most productive writers limit writing to little more than a few hours a day. Teachers would do well to teach less about product and process (the finished product and the process of constructing good syntax) and teach more of the habit of the regular practice of writing.
• Self-Management. This involves getting rid of the sort of “negative self-talk and maladaptave expectations” that lead to blocking. Easier said than done, I know. If you feel convinced your writing won’t be accepted or is just bad in general, you’re probably less likely to write. If you can recognize when these feelings overcome you, you can replace those thoughts with something more positive, like elephants. That’s, of course, unless you’re afraid of elephants. But seriously, look back at maybe something you’ve written in the past where you got a good grade or good feedback.
• Social Networking. When you’re still in the formative stages of a major paper, try to elicit some useful feedback. Even better, try to develop or join some social network of writers and collaborate within that network. Blocking can result from keeping your writing as a private endeavor; criticisms and rejections come as a suprise once the finished product is released for public scrutiny.

As far as how I will take this advice for blogging, writing articles, papers, etc., I’m not sure. But at this point just in having read the article and taken from it what I have, I do feel a bit more motivation to write now. Maybe this bit of info can be helpful for others who read here, too. In any case, I’ll likely be dragging my whiteboard back out fairly soon.