Don't you just love a good goals post? Right now most folks in my feed are either "my only 2022 goal is to survive" OR "I'm going to do all the things!" This post is...somewhere in the middle. It's not in my nature to go from thing to thing without a plan, and, on the … Continue reading Spring 2022 Goals
writing
On Pointless Writing
I didn't know what to blog about this week until I was looking through my screenshots and found this legit gem: Screenshot of Miriam Posner's tweet reading: "Writing is so annoying when you have to have 'an argument' or at least 'something to say' and you can't just 'vibe.'" As you know if you've been … Continue reading On Pointless Writing
Academic Writing Month
Hello! I this blog post finds you well (*cringe emoji*) in spite of this week's election (if you are in VA especially). Little did I know that when I posted my "Rest" blog on October 4th that it would be the only post I'd make in the month of October. I rested over Fall Break, … Continue reading Academic Writing Month
Celebrate Your Wins
This will be a short post today because my hubby and I are heading out of town for the weekend in 15 minutes. Before we go, I wanted to encourage you all to find some way to celebrate your wins. This is rather common advice in productivity and academic circles, but it strikes me that … Continue reading Celebrate Your Wins
Organize Your Grant Writing
It took me longer than it should have to figure out how to plan for writing grants once I finished graduate school. Not that I hadn't had any experience with writing grant applications before, but my approach was very much by-the-seat-of-my-pants. I was lucky to think about them in time for the deadline. Lucky that … Continue reading Organize Your Grant Writing
Find Your Coven
This post is entirely inspired by Mirya Holman whose newsletter you should subscribe to asap. I sent her "Get Yourself an Academic Coven" letter to my writing group, and we immediately renamed ourselves "Writing Coven." This is good advice no matter what you've got going on in your professional life: find an accountability group. I … Continue reading Find Your Coven
My Low-Key System for Managing Academic Projects
As promised in my summer planning post, here is a description of the method I use to track my various projects. This method was originally inspired by two academic Gantt chart enthusiasts (one, two). However, I found that the traditional way of setting up a gantt chart (with the projects on the left and "steps" … Continue reading My Low-Key System for Managing Academic Projects
Schedule Time to Think
Years ago I was accepted into an NEH Summer Institute, and one of the biggest takeaways from that experience was the revelation of dedicating time to think. At the time I was an overworked and underpaid adjunct Lecturer and unfunded graduate student, so a week of paid thinking time rocked my world. This is also … Continue reading Schedule Time to Think
Summertiming: Planning Your Academic Summer
For those of us in the Northern hemisphere, Summer 2021 is now upon us---although someone forgot to tell the weather in the mid-Atlantic (not that I'm complaining about 70 degrees, zero humidity, sunshine, AND the delayed onslaught of cicadas). For academics, this is a season of emotions - relief and excitement, frustration and anxiety. While … Continue reading Summertiming: Planning Your Academic Summer
Listen up! Academic Podcast Roundup
A few years ago, back when I still had a long commute, I started listening to podcasts to reduce my driving-related stress. I live in a congested area, and driving, while necessary for my job(s) at the time, felt like such a waste of time. But podcasts transformed these periods into little relaxing learning bubbles … Continue reading Listen up! Academic Podcast Roundup
Tawnya Azar 