When I started A Meeting With Your Writing, co-working groups for academics were practically unheard of Shut Up and Write didn’t exist yet. The most popular “accountability group” for academic writers, The Academic Ladder, didn’t include co-working. There is now a proliferation of options, both specifically for academics, and more generally. It is common to describe […]
Read More »As little as 15 minutes a day for research & writing is worthwhile
Many academics struggle with finding time to do research and writing. And yet it is research and writing that will make the difference when you are applying for jobs, going up for promotion, being evaluated for grants, and so much more. You don't need to find much time at all. 15 minutes a day could make a big difference.
Older posts in this category were edited and recategorized in June 2015. Re-edited and retitled July 2025.
Tracking “streaks” to establish & maintain habits
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Tracking “streaks” to establish & maintain habits Note: Although I might provide some specific examples, what I say here applies to any habit you want to establish or maintain. That might be a work habit, like writing regularly. Or it might be self-care habits, like not working on weekends, […]
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The power of 15 minutes a day
This is an excerpt from Finding Time for your Scholarly Writing (A Short Guide) which was published in late March 2018. In the Short Guide, I expand on the concept of 3 types of writing time. This excerpt is from the chapter on how “Short Snatches” of time can help keep your motivation going. One of […]
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Writing is NOT a reward for getting your grading done
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Writing is not a reward for getting your grading done Grading is dispiriting at the best of times. There is too much of it to do, to a very tight deadline. And despite the occasional brilliant paper or clear demonstration that students are getting it, there are too many […]
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Developing A New Practice: One Year Later
I’ve been preaching the value of establishing a regular writing practice. If you are writing regularly, you will produce journal articles, books, and whatever else you need to produce. Establishing a regular practice is hard, but research shows that as little as 15 minutes per day can be effective. You can find 15 minutes. I’ve […]
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Finding your way back to writing
I had a query via the contact form on my website that said, in response to the prompt “What’s on your mind?”, not much, need help to figure out! If that isn’t the tip of an iceberg I don’t know what is. Both for the person who sent the email and in the sense that […]
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The benefits of working small
In another post, I asked: “How could you experiment with working in a relaxed state?” — Is working at or just beyond your limits really effective? I proposed that the ways in which my yoga teacher has been encouraging us to work within the comfortable range of movement and not stretch our muscles to their limits, […]
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Developing A New Practice: An Update
In my Planning Classes, I talk about how you learn to juggle by tossing one beanbag from one hand to the other. Your goal is form and consistency. Once you have that, you can add more beanbags, change from beanbags to something else, and do something that looks much more like juggling. You can’t juggle […]
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How much writing can you do in term time?
When I say “You can write during term time”, I don’t mean you can write for an hour or more a day. A privileged few have the teaching and service load that makes that possible. Most people would find that a challenge. Similarly blocking off a whole day every week for research/writing is challenging for […]
Read More »It IS possible to write during term time
The academic year has cycles. There are periods, like the summer, when there are more opportunities to make writing your priority, even dedicating full days to intensively work on a writing project. Most academics look forward to those parts of the cycle. And there is something really important about the kind of work that sort […]
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Developing A New Practice: How I Do It
You are probably worried about being able to write high quality academic prose, to get it published, to write and publish enough of it, and so on. You may look at my advice to write for 15 minutes a day and think that is never going to help you with that. What useful writing can […]
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Developing A New Practice: Getting Started
Do you want to be an academic who writes regularly? In December, 2014, I decided that I wanted to be someone who practices yoga regularly. I’ve done enough yoga to know that it is good for me to do it regularly. I have a teacher locally that I really like. But I had fallen out […]
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