Writers of Mason: Sue-Ming Yang

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“If you say, ‘I’m going to set aside a whole day, one day a month, or one day a week to do writing,’ chances are that you won’t be able to be very successful. This is  because the first hour or two you’re going to have to warm up and try to figure out where you left [off], and then you have to sort of rethink everything again, maybe look for some literature, and do something, and then when you finally get into the writing part, you’re exhausted. And so the recommendation that I learned from the writers workshop is very helpful:  no matter what, just write no more than one hour a day. And stop…when you still feel like you can keep going. because they say that will make it easier for you to start the next day. So when you have an easier beginning, your confidence in your writing is going to be higher, so it’s going to be easier… It’s sort of like latent learning: where you stop it doesn’t mean that…the idea is not brewing in the back of your mind. And then when you stop, the idea is going to be more mature in the back of your mind when you start writing the next day.” 

Sue-Ming Yang is an Assistant Professor of Criminology Law and Society.