Post by Dr Emmanuel Nwosu, a former FHS Writing Lab consultant.
I have to raise my hand from my location in Cape Town to say that, during this lockdown, I am one of those who think that the world is turning upside down and we don’t know where this “ship” of coronavirus pandemic will get us to. Initially I was confused, overwhelmed, scared, cautious, avoidant of the new reality, and unmotivated to work. I guess my initial reaction was because I am not your typical adventurous personality (I only take the risk if it is worth it, or there is no other option, whatever that means). It takes a bit of time to come out from the shell and realize that nothing will change anytime soon. Therefore, it is important to ride the wave; wherever it takes us to, we will see.
I shared a bit
of my response to current realities because I think some of you – our clients –
could relate to it. Probably others responded differently because of
differences in personalities. This brings me to a point I would like to quickly
address in this newsletter. I said earlier that it is important to ride the
wave and see where it goes, but should we then ride this wave haphazardly
without a guide or plan of action? My response is, “NOT EXACTLY”. What we probably
need are sketched-out plans that could be iteratively modified to suit current
situations. We are dealing with a moving target and we can’t know that
the immediate plans are the perfect plans.
Is this not the
strategy we often discuss with you each time we meet in workshops, face-to-face,
and online consultations? Now, talking about our writing, we need to be kind towards
our drafts and not get too attached to them because it can always change
depending on current realities. Remember our moving target. It is in the
process of allowing these drafts to “transform” that we can produce an academic
piece of high quality. It is also in the process of the changes that happen to
these drafts, that we develop skills and get comfortable with using those
skills within short notice.
Often, the
feedback we get from colleagues, supervisors, writing consultants, etc. can break
our hearts because, it puts in the bin everything we have toiled on through
sleepless nights while trying to craft meaningful thoughts. Yet, if you summon
courage again, pick up your sword – your writing tool – and give yourself
another shot at crafting those ideas with greater motivation, you can never
tell what will come out of it. Probably something better than what you already
had. Critical feedback may be what you really need to produce a quality piece.
So friends,
while we are on this lockdown, I encourage myself (first) and you to pick up
our swords and give it another shot. It may not come right the first time, but
trust your instincts and inspiration. If you were able to produce the initial
piece, you can do even better now if you try.
If you are like
me, writing and beating submission deadlines are the last thing on my mind in
the current reality, yet we can draw a silver lining from important anchors.
Recently, I have decided to hook up to some key anchors which I hope will carry
me through these uncertain times. It may not work for all of you, but this may
be an opportunity to develop your own “anchor” to hold you through the
turbulent times in which we have found ourselves. Here is a quote from Martin Luther King Jr,
“Keep
moving, for it may well be that the greatest song has not yet been sung, the
greatest book has not been written, the highest mountain has not been climbed.
This is your challenge! Reach out and grab it… but there is something we can
learn from the broken grammar of that mother, that we must keep moving. If you can’t fly, run; if you
can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk, crawl; but by all means keep moving.”
I highlighted
the last sentence because the emphasis for me is to continue moving at whatever
pace you can.
Before I
forget, I was going to share with you my anchor in these turbulent times, so here
we go:
1.
Maintaining a routine: I have tried in
these days to be more disciplined and wake up at specific times and start the
day at an exact time (Don’t ask me if I keep these routines! I just know that it is do-able).
2. Take advantage of your inspiration: I have come to consider the writing process as an art. Like most artists will tell us, there will be that moment when a bright idea hits you. BOOM! I try to seize those moments and write whatever inspiration I have gained because they may never come back again. Maybe that inspiration won’t make it into the final piece, but it is better to have it on paper (or personal computer) just in case you need it in future. Every inspiration comes with ripple inspirations whenever you relook at them again, and I don’t want to miss those ripples!
3.
Develop Skills: Be deliberate about developing some skills that will move you
forward when the lockdown is over. I have seen that this singular anchor keeps
me motivated each day to keep trying to improve and take more calculated risks,
because I don’t want to come out of the lockdown the same way I went in.
Now it is your
turn, what are the anchors that you will develop to keep you through
this turbulence and help you to stay focused, sane, and more adaptable? Please
feel free to share with us if you have any, or you have concerns or requests on
fhs.writinglab@gmail.com.
Wishing you all
of the best and safety.
Yours truly
Emmanuel Nwosu
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Emmanuel Nwosu is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town. In addition to his research, Emmanuel is interested in science communication, especially within the public domain. He is passionate about writing and communicating academic research in a simple and clear way that most people will understand. Being aware of his own initial challenges in the academic writing journey, he is driven by the desire to support science writers who are complete “newbies” and those who wish to improve their academic writing skills in order to communicate their research effectively. Hence, academic writing consulting gives him the opportunity to help scientists communicate research effectively and to bring science back to the public domain.
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