from The Chronicle of Higher Education – July 27, 2017

All too often, when we see colleagues who aren’t writing, we look away. If they’re assistant professors, we shrug as their tenure clock ticks — they’ll either make it or they won’t. If the writer’s block comes after tenure, we ignore that, too (except maybe in their annual reviews), until we finally dismiss them as “deadwood.”

Writing-stalled faculty members tend to cope with their frustrations in ways that end up being ineffective, or even destructive. Instead of writing, they throw themselves into teaching and service. They get unnecessarily embroiled in departmental politics. Or they create a flurry of research-related projects that won’t meet tenure-and-promotion criteria no matter how creatively framed.

Some blocked writers try to reduce their shame by disparaging a more prolific colleague. They may devote themselves to deploring the shortcomings of their students, departments, field, and university. They may claim they are more responsive to their students — and doing more valuable service — than their “too-busy-with-writing” colleagues. Alternatively, some writing-stalled academics may avoid both teaching and service by proclaiming their need to focus on research — which somehow never gets written.  Read more