Write like Romans

Tolkien wasn’t published often in graduate school. He wrote few papers, although those he did publish, for example Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics, were highly influential. He had a low quantity, high quality body of work.

Why are we judged by the quantity of publications we have under our belts as students now? Our legacy as writers won’t be buoyed by a mound of crap. Why encourage grad students to devote their energies to spitting out as many pages as burgeoning carpel tunnel will allow?

Allow minds to relax; peruse what they can, and in time choose something which sparks interest. The papers produced then would be varied, creative, and few. Few, which is good because there would be more quality and less bull to wade through. We’d have less reading that was more useful to our academic and intellectual unfoldment.

Even more importantly our own sense of identity and self-worth will be greater as writers.

The Romans were one of the most successful civilizations in human history. Their power spanned millenia and the territory they controlled was vast. Yet their workday was surprisingly short. They would rise around sunup, go to the forum where they would conduct their business. Around noon, there would be a siesta to escape the hottest part of the day and to eat lunch. after that, they would take an hour or so to wrap up their affairs and call it a day. This data was taken from information found at Pompeii.

How did the Romans accomplish so much with so little time?

They were efficient, they worked hard when they were supposed to, and they took time to come home and be with their families and, most importantly, to relax.

Why can’t we live like Romans? Let’s do good quality work, and less of it. After all, one needs time to be human every day.

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