From the author of Stylish Academic Writing comes an essential new guide for writers aspiring
to become more productive and take greater pleasure in their craft. Helen Sword interviewed one
hundred academics worldwide about their writing background and practices. Relatively few were
trained as writers she found and yet all have developed strategies to thrive in their
publish-or-perish environment. So how do these successful academics write and where do they
find the "air and light and time and space " in the words of poet Charles Bukowski to get
their writing done? What are their formative experiences their daily routines their habits of
mind? How do they summon up the courage to take intellectual risks and the resilience to deal
with rejection? Sword identifies four cornerstones that anchor any successful writing
practice: B ehavioral habits of discipline and persistence A rtisanal habits of craftsmanship
and care S ocial habits of collegiality and collaboration and E motional habits of positivity
and pleasure. Building on this "BASE " she illuminates the emotional complexity of the writing
process and exposes the lack of writing support typically available to early-career academics.
She also lays to rest the myth that academics must produce safe conventional prose or risk
professional failure. The successful writers profiled here tell stories of intellectual
passions indulged disciplinary conventions subverted and risk-taking rewarded. Grounded in
empirical research and focused on sustainable change Air & Light & Time & Space offers a
customizable blueprint for refreshing personal habits and creating a collegial environment
where all writers can flourish.
