Creating a Satisfying Academic Career with Jo Van Every

There are good reasons you have multiple writing projects on the go. However, too many active projects means progress is slow and you start to wonder if you can do this job at all. In this track, I explain why that is and what to do about it.  To download the free workbook, Finish More By Doing Less , subscribe to my newsletter and also get the Monthly Review email to help you acknowledge your pro...

Planning is hard. It's especially hard when you have ADHD.  In this episode, I talk to Christine Weddle, an ADHD coach, about how we think about planning, and what kinds of things work for folks with ADHD. Because we all have things we want to get done.  Christine has some FREE daily planning pages you might find helpful: https://lightspiritcoaching.com/daily-guides/ To find out more about Jo...

In this episode, Jo talks with Emily Doucet about the process of creating a draft of your book, article, or whatever.  Emily is a developmental editor and recently developed a course for scholarly writers to support the creation of an early draft of your manuscript. We talk about what a first draft needs; why thinking of it as a "shitty first draft" can be unhelpful; and what kinds of wo...

Of all the responsibilities you juggle as an academic, writing is perhaps the most frustrating. It’s very important to your career and your identify, but it’s also incredibly difficult to find time for, especially during teaching terms. I recommend establishing a regular writing practice. Listen to all the posts mentioned within this, via Soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/jovanevery/sets/you...

It is tempting to use the last week before teaching starts again for One Last Push on your writing projects, risking undoing all the resting and recharging you've also been doing over the summer. In this track, I discourage you from doing this and suggest what you can do instead. Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/end-of-summer-writing-panic/ For more advice, support and perspective...

Do you prefer to write in longer, intense, sessions?  Does some of the advice out there make you feel like you shouldn't?  You don't have to become someone you are not.  In this track, I talk about how this kind of session might work for some people, how to check that it really IS working for you, and how to make sure you get writing done even though this kind of time is more difficult t...

One thing making it hard to find and protect time for writing, is being available to students and others.  This track helps you set boundaries that serve everyone, including you.  Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/being-available-with-limits/ For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter   To find out how...

Autonomy and flexibility are high on the list of things that attracted you to academia in the first place.  And yet, in order to really have those things you need to be extra good at setting and negotiating boundaries.  Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/flexibility-autonomy-boundaries/ For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jo...

As you progress through your academic career, you accumulate projects that you didn't get around to finishing.  Conference papers you meant to turn into articles. Articles that got stalled and abandoned. That kind of thing.  You don't have to finish all of them, but you also don't want to just abandon them.  In this track I suggest away to approach that pile of UFOs, make some initi...

Is perfectionism making it hard to you to write at all?  This is a bit of a pep talk that might help with that.  Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/do-good-work/ For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter   To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writi...

A response to a query from someone who had a book contract and a sabbatical to work on it and was feeling overwhelmed and uncertain about how to proceed.  Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/sabbatical-book-contract-overwhelm/ For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter   To find out how short chunks of ti...

Most academics anticipate summer writing.  Many find it difficult to keep writing when things get busy again in the autumn.  In this track, I propose rethinking your goal for your summer writing in a way that sets you up to keep writing when the kind of time available changes.  Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/dont-finish-articles-summer/ For more advice, support and perspectives like...

Have you stopped writing altogether?  Would you like to get back to it?  In this track I reassure you that it is normal to stop writing sometimes and help you figure out how to ease back into a writing practice.  Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/when-you-stop-writing/ For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/ne...

Some thoughts on "accountability" and why it might be counterproductive to doing the kind of creative work that academic research and writing is.  My hope is that these thoughts may help you reflect on your own practices to determine what might work (better) for you.  Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/you-dont-need-accountability/ For more advice, support and perspectives like...

Inspired by something I read about the difficulty of work-life balance when your work is aligned with your purpose, I propose that what feels like a struggle with work-life balance might actually about the balance among the various kinds of work you do in your academic career.  Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/work-life-balance-in-academic-careers/ For more advice, support and perspect...

Are you letting the public perception of academics as "having the summer off" constrain how you do your research and writing, especially in the summer?  Are you also finding it hard to take a real vacation?  Let your neighbours think what they like!  Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/when-your-work-doesnt-look-like-work/ For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sig...

Summer is an ideal time to write in intensive blocks.  In this track, I suggest planning your time as writing retreats and explain what that might look like.  Read the retitled post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/schedule-writing-retreats/ For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter   To find out how short chunks o...

If you are struggling to find and protect time for your writing, you are not alone.  Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/why-finding-time-for-writing-is-hard/ For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter   To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing C...

In this track I tease out the differences between hobbies and jobs to help you be more confident about making sure to protect time for your research and ensure that your research has the potential to benefit someone other than yourself.  Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/treating-research-like-hobby/ For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newslet...

Some thoughts on how and why you might use accountability, deadlines, and goals to motivate you to write. I include excerpts from some responses to these thoughts by Pat Thomson and Rachael Cayley.  My goal in publishing this is to help you reflect on your own practices and adjust them so that you open up the possibility for joy in your writing as well as getting the writing done that you want and...

Originally written for Hook & Eye blog (RIP) in response to one Aimeé Morrison's posts, in this track I talk about the ways in which you might present or publish your work for different audiences in ways that overlap and why that isn't necessarily a problem. Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/stop-worrying-recycling/ For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign...

It is difficult to determine when an article, book, or other output is actually ready to submit. It is not uncommon for it to feel "not quite finished". In this track, I talk about how that feeling of "not quite finished" is not a reliable guide and propose considering "good enough" instead.  Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/good-enough-or-finished/ For mo...

One of the reasons it's hard to know when a specific piece of writing is good enough to submit for publication is that writing it will have generated new questions.  Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/research-produces-more-questions-than-answers/ For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter   To find...

An interview with Lee Skallerup Bessette about the book Of Many Minds: Neurodiversity and Mental Health Among Faculty and Staff in Higher Education , which she has co-edited with Rebecca Pope Ruark.  We discuss the trap and the promise of higher education for neurodivergent folks, and the ways that contributors to the book navigate that. Read the edited transcript on my website here . Get Lee &amp...

A guest post from Hannah de Keijzer , book coach and non-fiction editor, about recruiting your office space and physical habits to help you get into focus more quickly and work more effectively.  Like me, Hannah works with a lot of writers who are squeezing writing in amongst other professional and personal responsibilities. Writing at home can make it easier not to be distracted by other work res...