Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Imperfect notes for perfectionists One of the Academic Writing Studio team told me about a great book they’d read that they thought might be helpful for many of our people. Jeanette has been part of the team for a long time. Perfectionism is something many academics struggle with. You […]
Read More »Developing a Practice
Your academic life is more than a string of articles published, classes taught, and meetings attended. You write because this is how you articulate and develop your ideas. You publish to communicate those ideas to others. Posts in this category help you develop the practices you need to do the work you love well without burning out or compromising your values.
You Need a Writing Practice is a good place to start to investigate the Writing subcategory.
Juggling 101: Elements of a good plan is a good place to start investigating the Planning subcategory.
Motivating yourself to finish the damned book!
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Motivating yourself to finish the damned book Do you have a book project that’s been in progress for a long time? You are not alone. Over the years I’ve helped several mid to late career scholars who are weighted down by the unfinished projects they have lying around. Like […]
Read More »
How do I know when my book is ready to submit?
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · How do I know when my book is ready to submit? You are almost finished with your book! You plan to submit it to your publisher in a couple of months. You’ve been working on it for a long time. You’ve not only got a full draft but you’ve […]
Read More »
Creating A Satisfying Academic Career – Part 2
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Creating A Satisfying Academic Career This post is Part 2 of a series on Creating a Satisfying Academic Career. In Part 1, I introduced the idea of “creating” a career based on the opportunities available and provided some reflection prompts to help you figure out what is important to […]
Read More »
Burnout – A personal experience
This post is a different format than usual. Typically I write something and then record an audio version. However, when I invited Myriam Houssay-Holzschuch to share something about her experience of burnout, she preferred an interview. The text is an edited transcript of the interview. The audio has also been edited. Myriam and I talked […]
Read More »
How to make your argument clear
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · How to make your argument clear I’ve invited Lisa Munro to write about the craft of writing and she’s chosen to focus on the central element of all scholarly writing: the argument. Boldly stating your argument requires confidence! That’s not always easy. I particularly like how she provides a […]
Read More »
You can get better at resting
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · You can get better at resting As I return from a week of annual leave, I have a few thoughts on rest I’d like to share. I talk about rest a lot, not just because it’s necessary but also because it is objectively difficult. I hope these musings help. […]
Read More »
You don’t have to start with an abstract
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · You don’t have to start with an abstract Do you use conferences as a way to start new writing projects? In my experience it’s a pretty common practice. You are working on some research. You need to transition into the writing phase. A conference offers an impetus to make […]
Read More »
Do you hate writing conclusions?
“I really hate writing conclusions. I am writing something now and I am very tempted to write the following as my conclusion: I wrote, I argued, it has finished. You can stop reading now. Thank you.” — (via Bluesky January 2024) This is a very common sentiment. I have seen it numerous times on social […]
Read More »
Do you struggle with planning?
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Do you struggle with planning? The Anti-Planner is the brain-child of Dani Donovan, an artist who’s been working on support materials for ADHD and other neurodivergent types for a while. It’s designed principally for people with ADHD, but it seems to be useful regardless of what brain type you […]
Read More »
How grading has ruined peer review
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · How grading ruined peer review “Academics should not be terrified of one another’s judgments, just as students should not be afraid of their teachers. … we need to imagine things as they might be otherwise; in this case, a world where evaluation of others isn’t part of the daily […]
Read More »
Making December less overwhelming
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Making December less overwhelming I’m publishing this at the beginning of December. It will be shared alongside the regular monthly review and planning prompts in my newsletter. The prompts talk more about reviewing and planning your writing. You can access those here. Planning December is different from other months […]
Read More »
