Getting Published

Strategies for Managing Barriers to the Writing Process

“…to develop (Halm, 1997). If motivation is lacking for publishing research findings, finding at least one other person who is willing to share writing tasks can be helpful to getting started.…”

“…Low motivation for writing is often accompanied by feelings of low confidence in one's personal knowledge and skills for writing for publication (Lawrence & Folcik, 1996). Reading widely in one's areas of clinical and research interests can help quell doubts about the soundness of ideas that are being committed to writing, as well as to verify key gaps in knowledge for practice (Halm, 1997). It can be quite self-affirming to read a newly published article in which a statement is made of the form, 'More research is needed on .…”

“…It may be most helpful to start by planning only 10 to 15 minutes to write per writing session and to schedule writing time more frequently, espeaally if difficulty is experienced getting motivated to write or writing is associated with high anxiety (Halm, 1997). If there is high anxiety about writing, it may be important to resist the urge to schedule longer blocks of time for writing until one's per-sonal response to writing has been assessed.…”

“…For example, does procrastination occur in the form of repeatedly jushfymg the need to complete other activities during scheduled writing time? To get started quickly and to avoid initial procrastination, starting by writing whatever comes to mind first may be helpful, no matter how unpolished it seems (Halm, 1997;Muscari, 1998). Some writers also find it helpful to start by writing a possible title for the paper that includes the key concepts to be addressed.…”

“…It is important not to allow these feelings to paralyze the writing process. When feeling anxious or frustrated, it can be helpful to focus on work progress for smaller parts of the project (Halm, 1997;Oermann, 19991, rather than on the pace of work. Benchmark progress against meeting due dates for completing various sections of the paper, but do not become overly concerned if you do not meet the exact due date for a certain section.…”