Toward a Trauma-Informed Writing Process (opinion)

""Your writing isn't academic enough." A single sentence from a faculty mentor cut deeper than I expected-because it wasn't the first time my voice had been questioned. I spent decades believing I was not good enough to become a writer. Not because I lacked skill or insight, but because I was writing through a deep wound I didn't yet understand."

"For years, I edited myself into invisibility-performing an academic voice that was praised for its polish and precision but stripped of everything that made it mine. And I am not alone. The Invisible Wounds We Carry In my work as a writing consultant and developmental editor, I hear the same story over and over: Brilliant scholars-often from historically excluded communities-are convinced they are bad writers when, in reality, they are carrying unprocessed writing trauma."

A faculty critique triggered long-standing self-doubt rooted in childhood experiences as a shy Guatemalan immigrant and messages that embodied, cultural ways of knowing do not belong in academia. Repeated admonitions about an academic voice produced self-editing into invisibility and internalized perfectionism and shame. Many brilliant scholars from historically excluded communities internalize deficit narratives and come to believe they are bad writers despite skill and insight. Academic cultures that reward conformity over authenticity make writing emotionally fraught and sometimes physically distressing. Recognizing and addressing unprocessed writing trauma is necessary to reclaim authentic scholarly voice and counter systemic harms.

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