The Belcher Method: Writing 10 Minutes a day

While still in graduate school and writing my research project, I encountered a workbook entitled Writing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success, authored by Wendy Laura Belcher. Belcher is a professor of African literature at Princeton University. Her book has changed my relationship and thus my experience with writing.

The Belcher method – as I’d like to call it – aims to make writing an integral part of one’s daily life by writing 10 minutes a day. As Belcher succinctly puts it: ‘If one does not write on a regular basis, one will get better at not writing’ (2009:5).

By writing 10 minutes a day, we do not only put our work at the front and centre of our minds, but it will also save us from fatigue, stress, and dread when writing for long hours a day. No matter how busy we are, we always have 10 minutes a day that we can allocate for writing.

My New Obsession: Isabel Allende Novels

Isabel Allende’s body of work was already in my reading list for quite a while. And since I started reading her work, I immediately became a fan. I am inspired by the stories she tells and I am so impressed on ways in which they tell them. She writes he prose beautifully.

Her works are originally written in Spanish. Unfortunately, because I do not speak Spanish, I am unable to read her work in the language it is originally written. Maybe someday, I will take it upon myself to learn Spanish and to read her works in Spanish.