Linus

"It's reassuring to believe that circumstances are against you and that you would write a lot if only your schedule had a few more big chunks of time to devote to writing," says Paul J. Silvia, one of the psychologists who received the Berlyne Award. In How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing, Silvia helps me see that this barrier, like most false beliefs, persists because it's comforting. I opened this book at random during my recent visit to City Hall Public Library, and could not stop myself turning page after page.

Why do I find this book nifty? A good question. Not that I aspire to be prolific in publication, but that I am writing less productively.

That admitted, I must further confess the shame I feel when caught napping (and with the dream of a big block of time such as spring break). Admit it – we've all indulged in the dream of waiting for the spring break, waiting for inspiration, and on and on and on. Put simply, there is a good chance that my manuscripts, study proposals, book chapters, manuscript reviews, and even reference letters for my interns, will never be finished because of the time wasted in the cozy dreams. The way we bask in such oddly soothing dreams is difficult to quit, much in the way that Peanuts character Linus clings to his security blanket.