#12DaysofWritingTips On the 12th day of Christmas, Take a break. Walking away from your writing can refresh your thinking and your motivation. Return to the work with renewed enthusiasm in 2024! Best wishes to you all for happy holiday season!

#12DaysofWritingTips On the 11th day of Christmas, listen to the cadence of lyrics in a holiday song. Your academic writing uses cadence, too. Techniques like the rule of 3, alliteration, parallel structure, & compound verbs all use pattern/ rhythm to strengthen meaning. Try it!

#12DaysOfWritingTips On the 10th day of Christmas, consider your writing process. When/where do you write? How do you begin? How do you seek feedback? How do you feel? Understanding our habits can empower change. @helens_word's quiz can help you reflect: writersdiet.com/base/base/

#12DaysOfWritingTips On the 9th day of Christmas: Confront your punctuation fears! E.g., do you fear the semi-colon and avoid it in case you get it wrong? If so, you're missing out on opportunities for nuance in your writing. This quick lesson can help: youtube.com/watch?v=xHa5tW…

#12DaysofWritingTips On the 8th day of Christmas: Go zombie hunting. Look for places in your draft where you've used a zombie noun as your subject, thus robbing your prose of energy and clarity. Great clip here to refresh your memory: youtube.com/watch?v=dNlkHt…

#12DaysofWritingTips On the 7th day of Christmas: Write it like you'd say it! Just for a moment, let's drop the jargon, the academese, the flowery stuff...and say what we mean. Feels good, doesn't it? Now, where might that work in your next manuscript?

#12DaysofWritingTips On the 6th day of Christmas: Remember to read not only for content; try also to notice how the piece is written. Develop your writing repertoire by taking note of other writers' apt metaphors, striking images, and elegant phrasings.

#12DaysofWritingTips On the 5th day of Christmas, build up someone else's writing confidence. Email an author to say you loved their unusual title; tell a graduate student how much improved their paragraphs are; thank a co-author for sending such a strong draft for feedback.

#12DaysofWritingTips On the 4th day of Christmas, try altering your habitual sentence style. Tend towards long sentences? Write a short, snappy one -- it will grab the reader's attention. Prefer short sentences? Try blending some together, so that an idea develops.

#12DaysOfWritingTips On the 3rd day of Christmas: Review a piece of writing and note your go-to verbs. Try to change every other one to something more robust. E.g., Change "Burnout is prevalent..." to "Burnout threatens..."

#12DaysOfWritingTips On the first day of Christmas: Reread the best thing you ever wrote, and remind yourself that YOU CAN DO THIS.