When Things Aren't Going So Well

Despite this profusion of good advice and handy though stupid tricks, you'll still find yourself stuck or stalled sometimes--unable to get into a good rhythm, your articles rejected. You might go through a bad spell of a month or even a year or two. Now it's time for a deep re-evaluation. The problem is likely to be one of deep motivation. Maybe you aren't doing the kind of scholarly writing you really want to be doing? Write out the following sentence: "What I really want to be working on is ?????" Then fill in the blank. Now figure out why you're not already writing about what you want to be writing about.