A colleague recently encouraged me to undertake to write a blog post series.  The essence of his idea?   Reveal how those who regularly turn out quality research and writing over a period of time do it. He suggested it might be valuable for readers to know how one might organize the applicable research, deal with research assistants, write, etc.  He indicated his belief that I am qualified to undertake this task (which was/is both flattering and daunting at the same time).  He concluded with the following observation:  "I'm sure that you work harder than many people, but my guess is there's more to it than that."

I recognized immediately the value of his suggestion.  Many of us struggle with keeping the scholarship leg of the three-legged academic stool for law faculty roughly as long as the teaching and service legs.  But what enables law faculty not only to survive this struggle, but also to consistently produce worthy scholarship?  And am I really qualified to speak on this?  

Because I do think the topic is meritorious and because I respect the colleague who made this suggestion, I am going to give the topic a shot.  This post offers my preliminary reflections.  They may or may not represent reality for others.  Perhaps (regardless) my thoughts will sponsor other productive ideas.

First, I do work long hours.  Those who know me well know this well.  My husband has said that he believes I work longer hours in law teaching than I did in private practice (and I worked long hours in private practice).  I admit that, although my doctor has indicated it's not good for my health, I do not always get eight hours of sleep.  But I want to be clear that my short nights of sleep, when they happen, are largely my choice.  That choice is made because of the heartfelt passion I have for my work.  (The key is to not let things go to an extreme . . . .)

And that passion, for me, is the absolute essential, non-negotiable core of my personal scholarly productivity: I love researching and writing, and I write about what I love.  (Oh, boy.  That sounds so corny.  But it's true.)  

How do I know that is the single most important factor in my ability to research and write on a consistent basis?  Honestly, it's because "the love" wasn't always there.  

When I first set out in law teaching, I was almost 40 years old.  I was reasonably confident in my abilities as a service-oriented lawyer by that point.  And I had a basis for thinking that I could be a good teacher.  But I was pretty insecure in my abilities as legal scholar.  That insecurity largely stemmed from somewhat under-informed preconceived notions about what "good legal scholarship" looks like.  In the beginning, I was putting pressure on myself to conform my writing to specific norms that were uncomfortable for me, and I was pursuing topics in ways that felt contrived.  

As a result, my first pieces of true scholarly writing took three years to generate (although the first two came out at once).  And I think it's fair to say that those early articles never would have been published at all if it hadn't been for the advice of a number of dear colleagues–many of them from my own faculty–who counseled me to loosen up a bit and say what I really wanted to say in the way that I felt was best to say it.  Although it took me a while to take that advice, once I accepted and adopted it, the joy was there.  It was a breath of fresh air.

That joy continues to be my main driver.  It's hard to describe, but it comes from a feeling that I am part of a wider scholarly conversation about business law–a true community of business law scholars.  We build on each other, learning and teaching as we go.  That activity makes me happy.

I will stop here for now, but I do have other thoughts on this topic.  Specifically, in a later post or posts, I will plan to address some of the more brass-tacks building blocks of sustained productivity, including organizing research, dealing with research assistants, and facing writer's block.  I need to take time to formulate my observations on those matters more completely, however.  So, stay tuned for a "Take II" post!  In the interim, feel free to suggest additional aspects of this issue that I can tackle in this series of posts.