One of the main challenges you face in the summer is juggling writing and rest. The first step is to resist the urge to Write All The Things!. I’ve used a hiking metaphor to explain how your summer writing fits with the writing you do in the rest of the year to help you decide […]
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Why join the Studio in the summer?
You probably think of summer as the easiest time of year to focus on research and writing. You’ve probably been looking forward to it for months because of that. So why would you want to join the Studio? Some people who attend A Meeting With Your Writing regularly during the main part of the year, […]
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How to take a vacation
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · How to take a vacation Just because your work doesn’t always look like work, doesn’t mean you don’t get to take a real vacation. You already deserve this vacation; it’s not a reward for achieving summer goals. In fact, not only do you deserve a vacation, you need a […]
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Just enough structure
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Spotlight On: Just Enough Structure Too much, or too little? Structure is a constant struggle for me. With no structure, I drift without focus and don’t accomplish much of anything. Too much structure and I resist. I spend more time fighting the structure than doing the thing I need […]
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Starting your academic writing year in mid-summer
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Starting your academic year in mid-summer When do academics celebrate the new year? This is a serious question for those of us who live in the northern hemisphere, where the beginning of the calendar year in January is more like the middle of the academic year. It seems like […]
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Cycles of the Academic Year
What if I told you rethinking your academic year to align with your goals and values could help you manage your workload more confidently? Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Cycles of the Academic Year Cycles of the academic year & intensity of work is where I first started thinking about the broader shape of […]
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Thoughts on wrapping up your teaching for summer
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Thoughts on wrapping up teaching for the summer Academic work is cyclical. There are seasons to the work. You need to account for those cycles when you plan. Summer may feel like the research & writing part of the year. If you value teaching and being a good teacher, […]
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Resting & recharging is preparation for the new academic year
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Resting & recharging is preparing for the new academic year I wrote this just before taking a 2 week holiday and mentioned how important it is to prioritize rest at this time of year. Fatigue impairs cognitive function. This is a fact. There is lots of research to back […]
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Where does teaching preparation fit in your summer plans?
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Where does teaching preparation fit in your summer plans? In April I wrote about Writing and Research in the Summer of the Pandemic because I know a lot of academics look forward to summer as a time when they can make that their primary focus. My focus there was […]
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Transitioning to summer
Note: I wrote this just before the pandemic situation started to impact academic workloads in the UK, US, and Canada. I am re-publishing it now as a reminder that things would already have been in transition at this time of year. For more on the specific impacts of the pandemic response on academic life… …head […]
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Cycles of the academic year & intensity of work
I am a wee bit bossy about sleep and rest. In this post I want to talk about something related: intensity of work, what is normal, and the importance of cycles in the academic year. You are tired at the end of the academic year. I am writing in April. Although the exact dates of […]
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Hiking as a metaphor for (summer) writing
As I was updating the script for the Planning Your Summer class, I felt a bit weird about the Juggling section. I mostly ignored it at the time because I couldn’t quite put my finger on the problem. The juggling metaphor has been central to how I developed all the planning classes and it seemed […]
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