I had a difficult time finishing my PhD thesis, 20 years ago. At the time, I’d accepted a full-time postdoc position on someone else’s project, promising to finish my thesis before the job started — but I didn’t. So I had to continue rewriting […]
Category: Self-accompaniment
The other night, as I was scrolling through social media right before bed (never advisable, yet there we go), a question popped up in my mind: What am I even looking for? As soon as I’d asked, there was a candidate answer: I’m looking […]
It’s mid-October, and autumn here in Spain is well under way. Last weekend in the woods we saw tiny mushrooms. My writing programme is running. And I’m beginning to put things in place for November Academic Writing Month. November Academic Writing Month (AcWriMo) is […]
The other day, I was listening to my favourite podcast, Bewildered with Martha Beck and Rowan Mangan. The episode was called ‘Don’t Control Yourself’. And my listening quickly turned into a feast of recognition. Since I’m deeply into the preparations for my 8-week writing […]
Recently I had a chance to work through a situation that really challenged me. It involved navigating my sense of belonging in a group amidst difficult emotions. But more interesting than the situation that prompted it was the intensity of my reaction and how […]
Today, I’m restarting this newsletter. What better way to begin than with an note about beginning? Recently, I’ve been exploring the concept of ‘beginning again’ in an area of my life unrelated to writing. Yet, how we approach one thing often reflects how we […]
Not long ago, I led a workshop in which I took academic researchers through an exercise for exploring personal sustainability. Personal sustainability: what is a doable and enjoyable way to approach academic – or any – work for one person is not necessarily that […]
One of my clients had a beautiful, near-finished book that wasn’t getting done. Every day he’d have the document open on his laptop. Every day he’d answer emails, read, surf the net and do anything else but write. The more he was under pressure […]
January! The start of the year is a time that many of us come back to our writing and other projects with fresh hope and energy. A new beginning brings a sense of optimism about what we can create, finish and achieve in the […]
It’s easy to lose heart when you are writing for academic publication. This is especially so if you entered your field with all the signs in evidence that you’d be really good at this. A knack for really ‘getting’ the literature and ways of […]