It takes courage to admit our struggles, especially our writing struggles. Somehow we think others can write effortlessly, while we must be wrong in some way: not our process—us, fundamentally. If you find yourself in this story, please know it is not about you, as a person. Your process does not support what you need. Perfectionism loves to strike at us this way, coming in sneakily through the cracks.

Instead of feeling the pressure to write a lot for productivity's sake, how about we just write to bring ourselves some stress relief? That feeling you've gotten something off your chest, been able to lay your burden down for a bit, processed through some pressure or idea or nascent thought—this is something writing can bring us.

Are you struggling to make progress on your writing (or other projects) right now? Start intentionally badly. Write something awful for 5 minutes.

When students take a literature class, they often expect the familiar routine: read, analyze, write essays, repeat. But what happens when we shake it up and ask them to step creatively into the voices of the historical figures they’re studying? The results, as I’ve discovered in my teaching, can be transformative.