Reflections on Writing
The Editors of the Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly are excited to announce the launch of a new opinion-style series of pieces: ‘Reflections on Writing’.
We are inviting authors to think about their own writing practices. To ask, for example, why do I write? How do I write? Where do I write? How do I carve out the time and space to write? How do I improve my writing? How has my approach to writing changed? Who has influenced my writing practices? What is the value of writing in the contemporary scholarly context?
These are among the questions many scholars ponder wherever they are on their scholarly journey, but seldom articulate to an audience, let alone publish, or even have an opportunity to publish. This new series seeks to develop dialogue around these and other related questions.
The Editors of the NILQ believe that such a dialogue is all the more pressing given the very many constraints put on colleagues in academia at different points in their careers. So, we have invited scholars to write up their thoughts on these — and other — questions. Authors have been given the freedom to select their leading question or prompt for reflection, and to express their thoughts however they wish within the broad remit of the series.
The inaugural contribution to the series, entitled ‘How the academy negatively affects writing practice’, by Professor Mariana Valverde of the University of Toronto, was published on 12 February 2025. In the piece, Mariana reflects on how her experience on community newspapers early on in her career taught her much about the craft of writing and how to meet deadlines, which she was later able to draw on when she began her doctoral studies.
In the second contribution, Professor Shaun D Pattinson, Durham University, offers five guiding thoughts for those at the begining of their academic law publishing journey, gained from his own experience of rejection and acceptance.
In the third article in the series, Professor Barbara Prainsack, University of Vienna, explains how her method of writing a predetermined number of words each day changed her mindset and made writing something to celebrate.
In the fourth article in the series, Professor Graeme Laurie, University of Edinburgh, examines the idea of 'stuckness' — by asking the question, why don't we write? — and recommends would-be authors to develop and hone their own personal Research Voice as they build up a portfolio of academic work.
The fifth contribution to the series is from Professor Duncan Sheehan, University of Leeds, who describes the academic's job as 'a writing job'. His starting points are intellectual curiosity and the desire for understanding. But he also stresses the communitarian aspects of the process, the need for patience and good time-management and, last but not least, the ability to say 'No'.
In the sixth article in our 'Reflections' series, Professor Tamara Hervey, The City Law School, examines the process of co-writing – producing a joint piece of work in which a single 'voice' 'speaks' to the reader and the authorship is completely intertwined. She explains how working with one or more colleagues can strengthen the finished version, whether it be a chapter, article or even a book, by bringing together different 'positionalities', 'life experiences' and 'ways of seeing the world'.
All contributions to this series will be published on an advance open access basis as soon as they become available. So please check here to see the latest additions.
Look out for further contributions in the near future!
The company of long-distance co-writing
Tamara Hervey
Academic writing: craft, scholarship and finding the time
Duncan Sheehan
Why do we get stuck in academic writing?
Graeme Laurie
Don’t write on Fridays! My reflection on reading and writing
Barbara Prainsack
Writing for publication: inspiration and perspiration
Shaun D Pattinson
How the academy negatively affects writing practice
Mariana Valverde