Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Reconnecting with the desire to write I was talking with a client about writing and motivation recently. We started with “It’s really hard to write with a gun to your head.” which strikes me as a pretty widespread problem. Whether that metaphorical gun is the REF, the tenure process, […]
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Surviving and thriving in uncertain times
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Surviving and Thriving in Uncertain Times Uncertainty is stressful. Things are always uncertain. We have limited control over the future. My approach to supporting academics focuses on identifying the things you can control, while being flexible enough to change track if necessary. The most important component of this approach is […]
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Do you suffer from Imposter Syndrome?
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Do you suffer from impostor syndrome? That’s one of those faux-medical terms for a Very Real Thing. You feel like you don’t really belong, you aren’t really qualified, and at any moment someone is going to find out and your whole life will come crashing down. It’s related to […]
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Be an amateur.
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Be an amateur I’ve been thinking about the term amateur. I’m particularly drawn to the origin — “French, from Italian amatore from Latin amator lover”. I note that prior to the 19th century, usage is merely: “A person who is fond of something; a person who has a taste […]
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Process vs Product
I have an ambivalent relationship with goals. I know they are important but I find setting specific goals with an output and a deadline stalls my work rather than motivating it. I see that a lot of you struggle with similar issues in your writing. This post uses a long analogy to my own process […]
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Confidence must come from within
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Confidence must come from within It’s easy to think that external validation will help build your confidence. Getting that paper accepted. Getting that grant. Having someone more established in your field cite your work or compliment you on it. It won’t. Like Groucho Marx, who famously would not want […]
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Why questions are useful in feedback
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Why questions are useful in feedback As I was preparing the first iteration of my class on Dealing With Reviewer Comments, I asked some friends and colleagues to recommend resources for dealing with feedback. That’s how I discovered Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process. Lerman developed this process for artists, […]
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Your vision guides the writing and the revision
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Your vision guides the writing and the revision You’ve worked really hard on this article. The subject is important to you. You have something important to say. It feels urgent. This vision you have for the paper is extremely important. You know what you want to say even if you […]
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Goals and magical thinking
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Goals and Magical Thinking You will not be surprised to learn that I read blogs which provide business advice and decided to hire a business coach to help me with my career. Naomi Dunford at IttyBiz wrote a series about goal setting back in 2013 (it’s no longer available […]
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The cardinal rule of time travel
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · The cardinal rule of time travel Last week I talked about how helpful my Magnificent Metaphorical Time Machine is. Travelling forward in time can help you see the outcome you want, without worrying about the messy and difficult process of actually getting there. However, there is a cardinal […]
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Making progress on projects
There are two basic ways to approach a writing project. You figure out what the final product will look like and make a plan to achieve it. You start writing. I am reminded of a passage in Alice in Wonderland: “Cheshire Puss,’ she began, rather timidly, […] ‘Would you tell me, please, which way I […]
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Writing for the people who will like your work
It strikes me that many academics spend a lot of time and energy worrying about the people who will hate their work. Even before you’ve written the article, you are imagining someone criticizing it, probably in a particularly mean and hurtful way. No wonder you have trouble writing. Write for the people who are eager […]
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