Becoming an Expert Writer: A Holistic Guide to Writing for Publication
By Dana Lynn Driscoll
Copy edited by Don Donahue. Designed by Mike Palmquist.
In Becoming an Expert Writer, Dana Lynn Driscoll explores the core concepts that create publication expertise. Informed by groundbreaking studies of successful emerging and expert writers as they seek to publish their work, this research-based guide illuminates the often-invisible dimensions of writing for publication. Driscoll describes strategies that move beyond conventional advice, allowing writers to craft a holistic process and relationship with their work. Each chapter integrates empirical research with reflective and practical activities, guiding writers from idea generation and flow to identity development and mentoring. The result is a transformative resource for developing sustainable, meaningful, and expert writing practices.
Table of Contents
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Foreword, Anne Beaufort
Chapter 1. Tacit Knowledge, Threshold Concepts and Writing for Publication
Section I. Writing is Always Happening: Developing an Expert Writing Process
Chapter 2. Fostering Invention and Creative Idea Generation for Publication
Chapter 3. Drafting in the Writing Process: Composing Styles and Writing to Learn
Chapter 4. Having an Optimal Writing Experience: Cultivating Flow States
Chapter 5. Revision, Refinement, Resubmission, and Writing for Publication Trajectories
Section II. Writing and the Self: Cultivating an Expert Writer
Chapter 8. Academic Productivity and Tools for Time Management
Chapter 9. Involving Others in Writing for Publication: Mentoring, Collaboration and Writing Groups
Conclusion. The Future of Writing Expertise and Writing for Publication Studies for Researchers
Appendix B. Chapter by Chapter Data Analysis
Web Appendices and Resources
The following materials are available for download.
Web Guide for Using Becoming an Expert Writer. Written for faculty, writing centers, writing groups, and individuals mentoring emerging scholars, this guide provides suggestions and insights for the different ways this book can be used to support emerging scholars in doctoral education and beyond.
Sample Syllabus, Schedule, and Major Assignment. This document includes materials that can be adapted for your use in a graduate-level writing for publication course.
A Time Audit Chart and a Time Audit Sheet. These spreadsheets can be used in conjunction with the time audit activity described in Chapter 8.
About the Author
Dana Lynn Driscoll is Professor of Writing and Founding Director of the Center for Scholarly Communication at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She has published widely on writing for publication, learning theory, writing transfer, expertise development, and supporting advanced writers in a range of disciplinary fields, including those in technology, science, and medicine. She teaches doctoral courses in writing for publication, quantitative and qualitative research methods, writing centers, and composition pedagogy in the doctoral program in Composition and Applied Linguistics at IUP. She has been the recipient of numerous field-wide grants and awards, including the 2023 Best WAC Article Focused on Research award and the 2012 International Writing Center Association’s Article of the Year award.
Publication Information: Driscoll, Dana Lynn. (2026). Becoming an Expert Writer: A Holistic Guide to Writing for Publication.. The WAC Clearinghouse; University Press of Colorado. https://doi.org/1010.37514/PRA-B.2026.2753
Digital Publication Date: February 2, 2026
Print Publication Date: TBD
ISBN: 978-1-64215-275-3 (PDF) | 978-1-64215-276-0 (ePub) | 978-1-64642-834-2 (pbk.)
DOI: 10.37514/PRA-B.2026.2753
Contact Information:
Dana Lynn Driscoll: ddriscol@iup.edu
Practices & Possibilities
Series Editors: Aimee McClure, Clarke University; Aleashia Walton, University of Cincinnati; Jagadish Paudel, Clemson University; and Mike Palmquist, Colorado State University
This book is available in whole and in part in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). It will also be available in a low-cost print edition from our publishing partner, the University Press of Colorado.
Copyright © 2026 Dana Lynn Driscoll. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License. 236 pages, with notes, illustrations, and bibliography. This book will be available in print from University Press of Colorado as well as from any online or brick-and-mortar bookstore. Available in digital formats for no charge on this page at the WAC Clearinghouse. You may view this book. You may print personal copies of this book. You may link to this page. You may not reproduce this book on another website. For permission requests and other questions, such as creating a translation, please contact the copyright holders.