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Trevor Day: writing in the bones
Show notes
After a career as a marine biologist, Trevor washed up in London to discover a love of teaching and an aptitude for writing, which became something of a compulsion. Just as writing has become a fundamental part of his own identity, so he is also committed to helping students develop that writerly part of their own identities too, to think holistically about what they are writing and who they are writing it for. This kind of deep thinking about purpose is what he terms ‘writing in the bones’ - a part of who you are and its own motivation. By engaging in dialogue with ourselves around writing, we can unpick our strategies, build our confidence, and support others to do the same. Trevor’s advice for writing is valuable for everyone: start the process with the freedom and looseness of creativity, to figure out what you already know and play with ideas, and then refine through criticality. The outputs of writing are important, but that process of becoming a writer has benefits that reach far beyond any single piece of writing. How about you: would you call yourself a writer?
The resources we mentioned
Brande, D. (1981 [reprint]) Becoming a writer. Jeremy P Tarcher
Elbow, P. (1998) Writing without teachers. 2nd Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hickman, D.E and Jacobson, S. (1997) The power process: An NLP approach to writing. Anglo-American.
Nicol, D. (2021) The power of internal feedback: exploiting natural comparison processes, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 46:5, 756-778,
DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2020.1823314
Sword, H. (2012). Stylish academic writing. Harvard University Press.
Zinsser, W. (2016). On writing well: The classic guide to writing nonfiction. New York: Harper Perennial.
And the book we talked about
Day, T. (2023). Success in academic writing (3rd ed.). London: Bloomsbury.
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By LDProjectShow notes
After a career as a marine biologist, Trevor washed up in London to discover a love of teaching and an aptitude for writing, which became something of a compulsion. Just as writing has become a fundamental part of his own identity, so he is also committed to helping students develop that writerly part of their own identities too, to think holistically about what they are writing and who they are writing it for. This kind of deep thinking about purpose is what he terms ‘writing in the bones’ - a part of who you are and its own motivation. By engaging in dialogue with ourselves around writing, we can unpick our strategies, build our confidence, and support others to do the same. Trevor’s advice for writing is valuable for everyone: start the process with the freedom and looseness of creativity, to figure out what you already know and play with ideas, and then refine through criticality. The outputs of writing are important, but that process of becoming a writer has benefits that reach far beyond any single piece of writing. How about you: would you call yourself a writer?
The resources we mentioned
Brande, D. (1981 [reprint]) Becoming a writer. Jeremy P Tarcher
Elbow, P. (1998) Writing without teachers. 2nd Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hickman, D.E and Jacobson, S. (1997) The power process: An NLP approach to writing. Anglo-American.
Nicol, D. (2021) The power of internal feedback: exploiting natural comparison processes, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 46:5, 756-778,
DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2020.1823314
Sword, H. (2012). Stylish academic writing. Harvard University Press.
Zinsser, W. (2016). On writing well: The classic guide to writing nonfiction. New York: Harper Perennial.
And the book we talked about
Day, T. (2023). Success in academic writing (3rd ed.). London: Bloomsbury.