While helping a client with her application for promotion, I was reminded of a conversation I had with a senior colleague when I applied for a promotion many years ago. “The promotion committee will be looking for a trajectory in your research.” I checked the guidelines for promotion from my client’s institution. Sure enough I […]
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Attending to correspondence
I love serendipity. Shortly after I talked to a client about email in her relationship with research collaborators, this appeared in my TweetStream from a Romantic literature scholar I follow: “Attending to correspondence” sounds so much more pleasant than “answering e-mails,” so that’s what I’m gonna call it. #passthescones — tricia matthew (@triciamatthew) March 11, […]
Read More »How to make it easy for YOU
This post complements others about establishing a writing practice. I’ve been using my yoga practice as an analogy. One of the key questions I asked myself when establishing a home yoga practice was “How do I make this easy?”. Some of the elements of my answer: The smallest possible amount (10 minutes to start) No extra […]
Read More »Developing a new practice: An update on my yoga practice
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 flaming […]
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Beginning of term chaos is temporary
It doesn’t matter if this is your first year in the job or your 20th. The beginning of term is chaos. This is temporary. It will only last a week or two. Then you will settle into the normal rhythm of term time. Adjust your priorities During beginning of term chaos you can temporarily suspend some […]
Read More »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 »What does Reading Week mean for you?
Many universities now have a Reading Week or mid-semester break in one or both semesters. (It may or may not be called Spring Break.) This means no (undergraduate) teaching. Students tend to disappear so probably little or no advising either. It is a break from the usual term-time routine. So what can you do in this week? […]
Read More »It IS possible to write during term time
It’s hard to write during term time. But it is possible. Let’s take a closer look at what your term looks like Some of your work is scheduled. You know that you will be teaching that class every Tuesday at 2 p.m. (or whatever) for the next 10 weeks or so. You’ve probably also scheduled […]
Read More »End of summer panic
As the long summer break nears an end and the beginning of the academic year looms larger on the horizon, you may have a tendency to panic about your writing and research. You wonder whether you’ve done enough over the summer. You fear that you won’t get to it at all once teaching, student advising, […]
Read More »Writing summaries and abstracts
In my last post I talked about writing an abstract as a way to begin a project. In this post I’m going to talk about writing an abstract or summary after you’ve completed a project. Remember: An abstract is like maple syrup It takes 30-40 litres of sap to make 1 litre of maple syrup. When […]
Read More »Why writing an abstract is so hard
A common way to start a new project is to decide to give a conference paper. You’ll have a deadline to get some of your thoughts on paper. You’ll get some feedback from others at the conference. You might even get to talk to some people in depth over lunch about it. You just need […]
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Using the supports you need
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Using the supports you need One of the things my yoga teachers are constantly reminding us about is that using supports is not a sign of weakness. Sometimes, in order to get the benefit of a pose, you need to use a block or a strap or modify the […]
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