Welcome to juniorprof

Seven ways to figure out whether you're a junior prof:

1. You spend a lot of time avoiding committee meetings
2. You've hidden from a student by diving under the desk
3. Achieving a personal life is on your list of things To Do
4. You still haven't given up on the idea of Free Food
5. Your real expertise lies in exploring the local happy hour scene
6. You're always working on your "Book"
7. You spend more than 8 hours a day contemplating alternate career plans

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Writing through Metaphor

A good metaphor can do wonders for whatever project. With my book, I like to imagine that I am tending to a garden: weed a bit here; plant seeds there; add some tasteful flowers; layer some mulch; contemplate sticking in a half-grown tree. Metaphors provide a sense of process, a rhythm that can sustain long months of revisions and re-revisions. But I'm in dire need of a new one to help me get started with a review essay that was due, like, yesterday. I think I hate review essays. Any advice?
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 3, 2009 at 3:55 PM

    I agree, metaphors are good to think with (as Lakoff and Johnson pointed out in their classic _Metaphors We Live By_). They can also be useful for thinking about teaching. I once attended a teaching seminar in which participants were asked to share their metaphors for teaching and students. Everyone else spoke of nourishing flowers, tending gardens, etc. -- and all I could think of (and didn't dare say) was, "What about a swarm of angry wasps buzzing about my head?!" Would I say this, now that I have tenure? Hm....

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 12, 2009 at 5:50 PM

    What about making a soup metaphor? Add a little salt, a little more garlic, a splash of red wine... on the other hand, its a lot harder to add salt to the soup, than it is to take it out.
    The garden metaphor is so useful because a big part of writing is weeding and pruning! Also, letting go, when you cant always control the weather, even if you have a sprinkler system.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)