Groundbreaking ideas...

In the current academic environment, many young scholars are expected to publish rapidly. It was slightly different when I started my career. Back then, even though there were emphasis on publication, the pressure was not as immense as now. As a young scholar, writing was always very challenging and often heartbreaking. I would spend hours writing something only to be questioned by others about the importance or novelty of my work. Perhaps, due to my inexperience, I was unable to articulate the importance of my work to other scholars (other researchers, reviewers). Many days I decided not to write because I have received some extremely heartbreaking reviews. Many times, I have been told that I am writing about mundane, ordinary things, nothing new, nothing groundbreaking. Such comments slowed down my writing but somehow, I never stopped writing. Eventually, I started getting my work published. I somehow got better at presenting my ideas, arguments, highlighting the strength of my paper etc. I am not saying that I write perfectly now but I can see how much I have improved. Anyway, the point I wanted to make when I started this post is that: yes, we all want to present groundbreaking ideas in our papers, but, that does not always happen for most of us. That, however, is not the reason to stop writing. Writing is a skill which can be learnt and improved. So the more you read, write, discuss your ideas, the better you get a writing. It is easier for some people but eventually you will learn the art of writing too...