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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Accountability vs Community
I’ve been reading Rowena Murray‘s Writing in Social Spaces, and it has helped me articulate something that underpins a lot of my work. Community is important to your ability to do this work. This got long, if what you really want are suggestions for creating writing community, jump here. When I talk about A Meeting […]
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Using all 3 types of writing time
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Using all 3 types of writing time Writing is a core activity for academics. Writing, as far as I’m concerned, encompasses anything that moves your projects forward. I advocate establishing a writing practice, while making writing a priority when you plan the rest of your schedule. Finding and protecting […]
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Coming back to a neglected project
In any given session of A Meeting With Your Writing it is not uncommon for someone to be coming back to a project they haven’t looked at in a while. Summer and sabbatical are also times when you might revisit abandoned projects with a view to getting some of them finished. You don’t need to […]
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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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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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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 […]
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The value of experiments
There are better and worse ways of doing things, but there is rarely One Right Way that works for everyone. Whatever it is that you want to do, you need to decide the best way for you. Researching your options can help narrow things down, but there comes a point when you need to experiment. […]
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Small steps yield big results
Whether it’s the New Academic Year or the New (Calendar) Year, you probably have some New Year’s Resolutions! It is tempting to set big goals. However, every big goal is achieved by a set of very small steps. Small steps are much less overwhelming than big changes. A post from Peter Shankman on Why Inspirational Quotes […]
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Are deadlines helping or hurting?
“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” ― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt In a coaching session, a client mentioned how she’d missed a bunch of deadlines for a co-authored paper and needed to set new ones. I sensed that the whooshing noise was not comforting for her so […]
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