I have seen a ton of people struggling with the writing process recently, especially early graduate students. In particular, when they first begin academic writing with the tedious process of citing every fact they are offering to substantiate their larger argument, they tend to cling to these sentences like a kid clings to their parent’s leg while being scared by circus clown. This makes the editing process extremely difficult because such a huge part of this entails rewriting and cutting.
I call this the Gollum approach to academic writing. For those who need a little refresher, Gollum was the character in the Lord of the Rings books who is constantly pursuing the One Ring – obsessed, controlled, and overcome by its power. Gollum constantly refers to the ring as “My Precious,” and he will do anything to again possess it. In an unintentional way, that is the way a number of my students approach their academic writing, where every sentence written becomes My Precious, and they Rick Astley (“Never gonna give you up”) their written words (not to mix metaphors)
Now, I understand the source of this angst. When you can spend an hour writing one paragraph, it can be extremely difficult to either edit or cut given the investment of time and energy. Also, graduate school can cause so much intellectual insecurity that sometimes cutting feels like failure. I do not want to dismiss these mental hurdles, but also want to offer a slightly different approach to this work: The Bob Ross method.
Bob Ross, for those who don’t know, was an incredible painter with iconic hair. Sidenote: That was a perm and not his natural curls. He got a perm before his very first show, and when it took off, the producers said he had to keep the hairstyle throughout its run. I know, this news can be devastating to some who grew up watching Bob Ross on public television, and I think I just threw this in here so you can join me in this WTF moment. I digress…
Bob Ross was not just a painter, but his style drew people in because he would constantly say in a peaceful, soothing tone, “We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.” No matter what happened on the canvas, there were no mistakes. If he did not like the direction his painting was going, he could always change course, no problem.
Most importantly, he NEVER beat himself up no matter how the painting was turning out, and he adored the work he was producing and would constantly refer to “happy little trees” or “happy little bushes.”
This is the mental model I encourage folk to utilize instead. Adore your work and the “happy little paragraphs” you are producing. Know that you will have “happy little accidents,” but keep writing, keep editing, keep going. Make sure the voice in your head mirrors Bob Ross’ soothing tone as it will help drown out the little Gollum on your other shoulder sowing seeds of doubt in your head.
This last part is extremely important because it never works to tell yourself not to think of somethings because, cognitively, this will make you think of said issue even more. George Lakoff, the UC Berkeley cognitive linguist, offered a famous example where he would say, “Don’t think of an elephant,” knowing full well that an image of an elephant would persistently remain in your head. To not think of a pink elephant, you have to offer an alternative image such as a blue bunny and focusing on that image will make the elephant fade away. By the same token, you cannot get rid of Gollum by saying you do not want to think about him. You have to replace him with something else.
Hence my simple advice – think deeply about Bob Ross and Gollum will fade into oblivion. It is obviously easier said than done but working on this mental shift is an important first step.
Peace,
NC c/s
PS I found this image of Cruz from Blood in… Blood Out as Bob Ross, and it made me chuckle. It seemed appropriate (or tangentially related) given today’s subject. Enjoy!
Thanks Nolan for the delightful, sound advice. Reminds me about what you shared with me about Carlin’s take on writing humor, perhaps not as drastic.
So good, loving the Bob Ross model 💜 going to share with my students too, they’re gonna love it ✍🏽🌟