In academic life, writing is both the engine and the expression of our scholarly identity. It is how we clarify our thinking, share our findings, and contribute to our fields. And yet, many accomplished academics — at all stages of career — find themselves stuck.
Not blocked entirely, perhaps. But slowed, stalled, or spiralling in avoidance.
Stuckness rarely announces itself all at once. It accumulates. At first, it’s a few overdue revisions. Then an outline that never becomes a draft. Eventually, it becomes a quiet sense of shame. We stop mentioning the book proposal we meant to submit. We defer conference abstracts because we “need more time.” We spend our writing hours editing administrative emails instead.
The causes of writing stuckness are complex, but the most common explanations academics reach for— lack of motivation, competing demands, time pressure — are incomplete, and yes, mostly inaccurate. Time, in particular, is the false culprit we most often reach for. Motivation is completely misunderstood.
We tell ourselves that a sabbatical will fix it. Or that we’ll get back on track over the summer. Or after marking season. Or once this new role settles down.
The problem, of course, is that the “perfect time” never arrives. And even when it does, the writing doesn’t flow. Because the real issue isn’t time or motivation— it’s lies in 4 particular domains of writing.
Many of us developed our writing habits under the intense conditions of a PhD, where binge-and-bust cycles were normalised, perfectionism was expected, and we often wrote in isolation, without models or support. Those patterns don’t vanish with graduation. Instead, they come with us into full academic posts, where expectations only increase and time only contracts.
Getting unstuck, then, requires more than setting a word count goal or blocking out Friday mornings. It requires stepping back to examine the architecture of your writing practice — the habits, beliefs, and strategies, the practices, and craft that underpin (or undermine) it.
In my work with academic writers, I’ve seen again and again that progress begins not with productivity tools, but first with diagnosis. What kind of stuck are you? Do you reach for motivation or time as your standard explanation? Structural? Emotional? Cognitive? Each has different roots — and different remedies.
That’s why I’ve developed a short, live training focused specifically on this question: How do we get unstuck?
The session provides you with a personal writing action plan where I give you my 4 part diagnostic tool and how to tackle stuckness. It’s practical, evidence-informed, and intentionally low-cost — because I believe this kind of clarity should be accessible to all academics, not just those with institutional coaching budgets.
Stuckness thrives in silence. But once named, it can be shifted.
If you’re ready to shift it, too — the training might be a good place to begin.