Welcome back to part two of our series, where we’re exploring the essential traits of successful and sustainable academic writers. If you missed part one, we discussed the importance of time control in academic writing, particularly through the practice of time tracking. Today, we're diving into the second characteristic that sets successful academic writers apart: developing a writer’s identity.
In today’s blog I’ll explore what it means to have a writer’s identity and how it influences not only your productivity but also your long-term success as an academic writer.
What is a Writer’s Identity?
At the core of becoming a successful academic writer is the ability to identify yourself as one. This might sound simple, but it’s more profound than you might think. The way you define your role as an academic—whether you see yourself as a researcher, a writer, or even just a teacher—has a direct impact on how much time and energy you allocate to writing.
When I work with my coaching clients, I often explore the question: how do you describe yourself, both to yourself and to others? When meeting new people or networking, do you introduce yourself as an academic, a professor, or a researcher? Or do you lean more towards titles that focus on teaching or administrative duties? How you label yourself informs your approach to writing.
For instance, if you see yourself as a researcher or intellectual, writing naturally becomes part of your identity. It’s central to your role and, therefore, something you make time for. But if you define yourself primarily as a teacher or someone more involved in the bureaucracy of the institution, writing may not feel as vital. In fact, it can feel like an afterthought—something you only do when time permits.
Why Identity Matters in Academic Writing
The importance of a writer’s identity cannot be overstated. When your identity is rooted in writing, you naturally prioritise it. But if your academic identity is detached from writing, it becomes much easier to push it aside in favour of other tasks, such as teaching or administrative duties. This is where many academic writers fall short—they may not see writing as central to their career or even as something they are paid to do. For example, someone on a teaching and research (T&R) contract might fail to see themselves as a professional writer, despite writing being a crucial part of their job description. In this case, writing becomes relegated to something they do in their spare time, rather than as a core responsibility of their academic role.
This disconnect can be exacerbated by the institutional environment. Many academic institutions appear to reward service-oriented tasks like answering emails or attending meetings, but these activities do little to support your career as an academic. It’s writing, not service work, is what gets rewarded in academia.
Building and Nurturing Your Writer’s Identity
Creating a strong writer’s identity is about integrating writing into the fabric of your career and how you think about yourself. But how do you build and nurture this identity? The first step is examining your current environment—your personal academic ecosystem. Are the things around you supporting your writer identity, or are they draining it? For example, teaching responsibilities that align with your research can feed your writing identity. Collaborations that spark new ideas and research opportunities can also support it. Likewise, mentoring or coaching can provide valuable time to reflect on writing and refine your skills.
On the other hand, an ecosystem that starves your writing identity might include excessive service roles, which tend to be meeting-heavy and consume time better spent on writing. Teaching overload, especially when it’s unrelated to your research, can also starve your writer identity. And let’s not forget the "overhead tax"—the administrative work that comes with grants and projects. If 90% of your time on a project is spent managing logistics rather than doing actual research or writing, it’s time to reassess how that project fits into your academic career.
The Professional vs. Hobbyist Writer
In my work with clients, I’ve observed a stark contrast between those who see themselves as professional writers and those who approach writing as a hobby. This distinction can be a hard pill to swallow, but it’s an important one. Professional writers view writing as a non-negotiable part of their job. They schedule time for it every week, and they approach it with purpose and intention. In contrast, hobbyist writers wait for inspiration or write only when there’s time left over. They treat writing as optional, and often the quality of their work reflects that.
Here are a few key differences between a professional and a hobbyist academic writer:
The professional writer schedules writing as non-negotiable, while the hobbyist waits for inspiration or fits it in when time appears.
The professional writer sees writing as central to their job, while the hobbyist sees it as optional or a side activity.
The professional writer builds systems for accountability and structures for success, while the hobbyist works in isolation and secrecy.
It’s important to ask yourself: are you treating writing as an integral part of your career, or are you allowing it to take a backseat to other tasks? If you’re honest with yourself and find that you have more hobbyist traits, don’t worry—you’re not alone. Many academics face this challenge, and the good news is that it can be changed.
The Path Forward: Developing a Writer’s Identity
To develop a strong writer’s identity, you need to schedule your writing time and treat it as non-negotiable. Build systems and support structures to help you stay accountable. And most importantly, view writing as the central part of your academic career, not as an afterthought. You need to do deep mindset work, usually with a coach or mentor to re-wire your thinking, because it is quite difficult to change entrenched thought patterns alone.
The more you commit to your writer’s identity, the easier it will be to prioritise writing and develop a sustainable writing practice. And once writing becomes a core part of who you are, you’ll find that it’s no longer a struggle to make time for it - the habit builds itself. Eating cake is a core part of my identity, and I have zero trouble finding time to do it. Writing will become a natural and essential part of your day - just like cake.
In the next part of this series, we’ll discuss the third characteristic of successful academic writers: the importance of writing first.