Some of my favorite books.
5 years ago this month, as the world was shutting down, I was depressed and demoralized that I would never achieve my dream of being a published writer. I was almost 30 and felt that I had lost so many precious writing years, especially in regard to cultivating my creative writing. I had felt “compelled” to give up my writing to focus entirely on engineering. Year by year, my creative writing had been pushed further and further aside for work obligations until I had stopped writing all together. I also felt “unscientific” indulging in my passion for creative writing. Many engineers’ dismissive attitudes towards the humanities also didn’t help. The only way I really engaged with creative writing was through my voracious reading habits. Furthermore, I was struggling getting any of academic manuscripts published, which was hurting me professionally. I struggled to get good feedback or mentorship on my writing. Objectively, my writing was ‘good’ as the writing center and my coauthors felt that I was “good” writer. And the science was good and innovative, and I was super proud of my work. But journals and my advisor didn’t like how the concepts were presented and gave me little guidance on how to improve.
I had 0 publications, academic or personal. I was a “good” writer who could not get published.
So, I got to work. I researched different writing platforms extensively. I attended and listened to virtual webinars on academic writing. I took creative writing workshops. I subscribed to academic and literary journals and read them analyzing my favorite pieces. I followed writers that I admired. Began studying how other writers communicated on Substack. I learned how to write a cover letter. I studied scientific communication and feminist scholarship about academic writing. And I began to write. Nearly every day in the past 5 years I have written. On some days it’s hours, but on other days it’s only 15 minutes. I became very disciplined in editing and submitting my work, creating spreadsheets to track my progress (yea data science!!).
The first 2 years were ROUGH. Barely any acceptances, struggles, bewilderment. So, I doubled down, began submitting more aggressively, revising more aggressively. I started to figure out what journals wanted.
By year 3 things clicked into place. The acceptances began rolling in. The more I wrote, the better I got. Stories and poems that I had written first drafts of 10, 15 years previously were getting published after I revised them. Five-year-old manuscripts were getting past peer review.
And you know what? My academic “engineering” writing VASTLY improved by “cross-training” with my essay writing and creative writing. My editing skills really improved. My writing and revision process is much faster than 5 years ago. I learned how to highlight my main arguments, which is what readers most care about**. This justified my long-held belief that the humanities and sciences are intertwined. Getting back into writing also inspired other creative activities for me including learning needlepoint and getting back into ballet classes.
**The “key” in academic STEM writing is to really push your messages and arguments in every aspect of the manuscript-headings, topic sentences, abstracts, conclusions, need to be very carefully curated.
And I’ve learned how to write the public scholarship that I’ve always wanted to communicate but just didn’t know how. I have seen so little firsthand accounts of women’s experiences in STEM that I am grateful that I have the tools to share my experiences.
I now have
5 academic manuscripts published
50 creative writing pieces placed in literary journals, one nominated for a prize
Substack platform where I can publish my public scholarship and communicate with other readers and writers.
And I’m only just getting started! One day I’ll achieve my dream of writing and publishing a book.
Tips for Finding Time to Write
Understand the different tasks involved in writing (brainstorming, writing the first draft, data analysis, revising, polishing/editing, formatting, submission) and how much time they take. Writing the first draft of a story may take days or weeks and require solitude and concentration.
Make use of small time chunks. It’s rare that we have hours and hours to write. Using a half hour here or there can help.
Just do something. Many graduate student writers struggle with this. They get demoralized or overwhelmed working on their thesis. I tell them to just pick one thing to do. This can be a super easy, repetitive task like formatting/inserting references. This could be formatting a figure. Reading a paper. Revising headings. Brainstorming a title. This could be revising 1 paragraph. Just work on something, especially if you are on a tight deadline for submitting.
Understand what conditions work for you. What medium will motivate you to write, when you best write. If you work well in the morning, protect that time. Don’t try to fight your brain’s inclinations.
Sometimes, life conspires against us and we cannot write. We need time to process and decompress, and it’s important to recognize that. I believe that our brains are “working” in the background, and that when your time comes to write, it’ll be even stronger and better than before. You are a writer even if you are not you are currently writing.
Resources for Writers
Write or Die -offers workshops on writing.
Duotrope -submission platform
Submittable -platform for submission
Chillsubs - lists of literary journals
NCFDD -Webinars on academic writing and biyearly writing challenges
Books. Read, read, read and read some more.
As an engineer myself, your story really resonates with me! The creative side of me balances the technical one — together, they feed each other in a kind of osmosis. Thank you for the tips!