Academic Writing Amplified

Why do we struggle to find  time to write while the academic establishment requires publications in order to maintain or advance our careers? It’s time for radical change.   Designing your career with intention is a radical idea. Securing your writing at the center of your career is a radical idea. And friends, radical change is what we need in academia! It’s time to move away from the scarcity mindset we’ve been socialized into, and start making decisions from a place of intention instead of a place of fear. To do that, we need to see what needs to change (radically) and then step into our power to make that change. Let’s go! Scarcity vs. Intention We are led to believe that there is never enough in academia. And that we are ‘on’ 24/7. Right off the bat in grad school, there is no time that is off limits. We are urged to find our own funding and told there is no money for anything. This scarcity mindset continues as we move through our careers. The way it manifests:   Never saying no. Any project that might lead to publication needs to be pursued, because there are never enough publications. Leaving projects languishing in your pipeline that should be cut, just in case. Overextending yourself in teaching and committee work.   “When we live our careers from this place of scarcity, we make fear-based decisions.”   Designing your career with intention is anti-fear and anti-scarcity by definition. Your decisions are based on the intentions you set, not on fear. In our Navigate program, we start by helping you craft your academic mission statement. Then we move through time management, writing and pipeline management and strategy systems to give you the skills you need to design your intentions around that mission statement.    Why It’s Radical & How Writing Fits In Your writing is the tool you use to make an impact in your field and to move your career forward. While the publications that come from your writing are an expected part of advancing your career, no one else is checking in with you to make sure you get your writing done. Centering your writing, giving it the spot it needs to have in order to propel your career, is a radical act because you are putting yourself and your needs first.    “The fight to center your writing and scholarship is a microcosm of the fight for change, impact, and justice.”   The radical part is a womxn getting what she wants and needs. Anchoring your writing at the center of your career is focusing on you rather than what everyone else at your institution needs or wants. And friends, that is radical! And it is just what academia needs to drive change on a larger scale. It’s time to put writing where it belongs!   “Making sure writing gets this prioritized place it deserves in your career is equivalent to making sure you get this prioritized place that you deserve in your career.”    Are You Ready?? If these ideas resonate with you, and you’re ready for some radical change in your own life and career, it might be time for you to join us in Navigate! Enrollment opens on April 27 and we start up in May.   We’re calling this cohort “The Radical Cohort” because we’re seeking to make radical inner change that leads to radical outer change. This means: designing a career with intention, not suffering, feeling calm and collected, and exercising powerful agency over our lives and careers. We’ll teach you 10 systems to help you accomplish these radical changes.    Be sure to get on the waitlist  to be the first to get more information and the chance to sign up! Sign ups will open first to our Momentum members, then to the waitlist, and then to the public, and the first 10 to enroll with get a free spot in our next 2 and a half day virtual retreat!    Be sure to get on the waitlist here: https://www.cathymazak.com/navigate-waitlist/ Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page Follow me on Clubhouse: @cathymazak  This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode75.

Do you set intentions for your career and have the skills to follow through with them? I’m sharing a little bit about my own story to shed some light on the difference between control and intention.   I have a pretty long history with trying to control things. I did my undergrad, with 2 minors, in 3 years. I white-knuckled my way to graduation and I did it through carefully strategizing my next steps, leveraging one course into the next, meticulously placing summer sessions in the mix.    What my undergrad experience taught me was that I could do that. I could strategize and control my way to making an outcome occur. And I would do that over and over again throughout my career.  This was an invaluable lesson. The choices I make and strategies I employ for my career trajectory don’t involve white-knuckled control anymore, but they do involve intention.   When I created Navigate, I had been strategically steering my career for almost 20 years.  Creating Navigate In Spring of 2017 I launched the first cohort of Navigate. I developed the program as an organized way to create the kind of writing-for-career transformation that I had been helping clients with in one-on-one coaching.   I built the original marketing messages of Navigate with those client’s phrases in my mind. They talked about being pulled in a thousands directions by their responsibilities, feeling overwhelmed by all the things they have to do and guilty that they were not writing more, that they had let writing “fall to the bottom of the list” but couldn’t easily see an alternative. The original promise of the Navigate program was to “help academic womxn write and publish more”.    But as I kept trying to articulate what the promise of Navigate was, and as I developed the course over the years, the theme I kept returning to was control. When I think about what I want to teach academic womxn to do, what continues to come up for me is “I want to teach womxn to control their careers.”   So, Navigate is about helping your write and publish more, but at its core, Navigate is about controlling your career. Not the white-knuckle kind of control that led me originally down this strategic path back in that dorm at IU in 1993, but a deliberate, intentional kind of control.   Making choices from a place of confidence instead of fear. Setting intentions to guide you on the career path you are building for yourself, and following through. That’s why we start with an academic mission statement and build everything from there.    “Navigate matches intention-setting with the actual skills and strategies it takes to realize those intentions.” -Cathy Mazak Coming Soon The waitlist for my next Navigate class is coming soon! Be sure to get on the waitlist, and when you sign up you’ll get some great bonuses (I don’t want to give it all away, but there’s keep your ears open for the word “retreat”!).    Stay tuned for more information.   Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page Follow me on Clubhouse: @cathymazak  This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode74.

Does writing keep falling to the bottom of your list? Do you think you need accountability to hold you to your goals? I want to show you why you need community instead.   Accountability, or the idea that you need an external person to “hold you” to your goals, is rooted in patriarchy. Entrenched social structures in the culture of academia have given rise to womxn who are not trusted to hold themselves to their own standards and who perhaps do not trust themselves.    A lot of womxn who come to my writing programs are looking for accountability at first, and I get it. But I challenge you to explore new ways to get writing done that aren’t sending a message to yourself that you are weak, can’t hold time for yourself and are not to be trusted with your own work. So what else can we do? We can feminize the concept of accountability in 3 ways. 1. Practice Self-Trust Self-trust is a muscle you strengthen by using it. Practice listening to and relying on your inner voice to know what is right for you alone. Give your own voice more weight than the voices of those outside of you. Relying on an outside entity to force change is unsustainable. Instead, cultivate the ability to trust yourself to know the best way forward. As Alexandra Frazen says in this wonderful article, go with your “hut” (heart + gut). 2. Build Boundaries I’ve talked about boundaries in many different contexts, and I’m bringing them up again here because they are that important. You must create boundaries around your time in order to have the impact you desire. Remember: the things you spend your time doing in your career are your career. Don’t you want writing to be at the top of that list?   “How are we holding firm to what is important?” -Cathy Mazak   3. Community The fantastic news is that learning and growth and development don’t have to come on your own. When we are in community, we are surrounded by others who have shared experiences and shared values, and that is powerful! A community lifts us up to our goals, rather than holding us accountable.    “When you think you need accountability, what you really need is community.”  -Cathy Mazak   If you’re ready to get radical and open yourself up to creating growth in your life and the lives of your community, join us in Momentum!   Coming soon: pre-enrollment for my Navigate course, helping you to navigate a career of your own design, using 10 systems and powered by writing. All of our Momentum members will get priority sign up and special bonuses, so if you’ve been thinking about trying Momentum, now is the time! Learn more and sign up here: cathymazak.com/momentum  Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page Follow me on Clubhouse: @cathymazak  This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode73.

The solitary nature of writing can perpetuate the image of the “typical” professor, a lone (male) figure, doing it all alone. But writing together, as womxn, is a radical act! The image of a typical professor is usually as a lone (male) intellectual, head down, wrestling the big ideas of academia all on his own. And academia perpetuates this vision. We are socialized to be toxically self-reliant. Not a lot of value is placed on asking for help, sharing your wisdom with a community, or making sure the voices of others are heard. There’s an unspoken implication that if you aren’t “smart enough” to figure it out on your own, maybe you shouldn’t be here.   Writing itself can encourage the ‘lone wolf’ academic ideal. After all, it’s your brain, your ideas, and the blank page. Even if you’re co-writing a piece,  it’s usually a back and forth kind of collaboration, not an in-person activity. And sometimes all this solitariness can make it difficult to keep dates you set with your writing. So my team and I decided to try an experiment last Spring, and not only has it been a huge success, but it’s clarified to me that writing together in community as womxn academics is a radical act. Writing Together is a Radical Act Writing together is a radical idea. Womxn writing together is an even more radical idea, because that act of solidarity, of lifting each other up, of standing together and getting your voice heard in an academic culture that has traditionally devalued you, is powerful. And sharing space with others who are working toward their writing goals multiplies the energy, focus, and investment of everyone involved.    Our experiment progressed from one scheduled Zoom co-writing time per day to 6 scheduled time slots per day and an always-open room where participants can meet at any time that works for them. Members wanted more connection with their fellow co-writers, so we added Mindset Monday calls, where we give prompts for small groups to discuss to help propel them into their weeks. We call the program Momentum, and we want you to experience it for yourself! Join Us in Momentum! Jump into Momentum , pick your 1 or 2 co-writing sessions, and start experiencing the solidarity and community of many womxn writing together at the same time. It’s $27/month to join, and you can cancel anytime. Click here to learn more and come join us! Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page Follow me on Clubhouse: @cathymazak  This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode72.

Have you ever struggled with where to publish your interdisciplinary qualitative work? Have you received feedback questioning the rigor of your research or your ability to express it? My guest on this episode is Maira Quintanilha, creator of Qualitative Research Blueprint. Whatever your struggles, questions, or curiosities about qualitative research, Maira has got you covered. She shares her own qualitative research journey, what prompted her to create Qualitative Research Blueprint, and why she thinks this kind of research is especially important.  Key points discussed: Maira’s journey with qualitative research: from having it assigned to her as a grad student, to flourishing with an excellent mentor in her PhD program [3:00] Learning by doing [5:00] First attempts at publication, and how feedback shaped her work [9:30] Submitting work that might not be perfect in order to be open to new perspectives [11:30] Embracing discomfort in the review process in order to learn and move forward [14:00] The important role of qualitative research in health sciences [18:30] How qualitative research helps us understand the ‘why’ of people’s choices and behaviors [19:00] Using the COREQ checklist and how she came to see it as a helpful tool for developing whole researchers [22:00] Using rigor to gain confidence, and Maira’s vision for qualitative researchers [24:00] Embracing methodologies, finding the right audience, and understanding what you can control [29:00] Who is right for Qualitative Research Blueprint and how it can help researchers at all stages of their careers [30:00]   Key Quotes: “There was a lot of learning by doing.” -Maira Quintanilha “Rarely, if ever, things are perfect. But you need to know how to write what you did well.” -Maira Quintanilha “Your qualitative research might not be perfect, but don’t hold it back from trying to publish.” -Maira Quintanilha “It was the process of submitting for review, and getting feedback, that helped me design the next study better.” -Cathy Mazak “At the end of the day, qualitative research is really about understanding how people make [it] through the day.” -Maira Quintanilha “The more I do [qualitative research], the more comfortable I get with the people that don’t believe [in] what I’m doing because I know how powerful what I’m doing is.” -Maira Quintanilha “You can take that opportunity, no matter where you are, to make your research stronger.” -Maira Quintanilha   Be sure to sign up for Qualitative Research Blueprint, open for enrollment now! In this course, you will gain the confidence and skill to achieve your desired outcomes by learning how to design and implement research methodologies, and write rigorous, impactful research.    You’ll learn everything from data collection and analysis techniques to methods for writing up findings and research theory and strategy. QRB is NOT a one-size-fits-all online course. There is an emphasis on each individual attendee and project, as well as community building and support.    Sign up using my link, and you’ll get these great bonuses from me: My brand new Writing Sprint Blueprint course, which walks you through how to set up a 2 week writing sprint to make major progress on your writing project. My Funding Formula training, which is usually reserved for Navigate clients only. Learn how to ask your institution for whatever you need, including a letter template and tips.  Be sure to use this link to get these great bonuses in addition to Maira’s comprehensive qualitative research teaching! Pulled in a thousand directions and can’t seem to carve out time to write? Download my   10 Ways to Make Time to Write cheat sheet for ideas to implement today! Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page Follow me on Clubhouse: @cathymazak This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode71.

Has your qualitative research article been rejected or given a painful revise-and-resubmit? Here are the 5 things you should do next.   What should you do when your article gets rejected, or you’re given a painful revise-and-resubmit? I’m talking specifically about qualitative research here, but the basic principles can be applied for all kinds of research and writing. In episode 9 I lay out the step by step plan I use to process and respond to feedback and writing criticism, so check that out if you haven’t yet.  5 Things to Do After Receiving a Rejection or Revise and Resubmit for Your Qualitative Article   #1: Think About Fit Some journals might seem like a good fit by topic, but you’ll want to delve a little deeper. Who is on the board and what kind of work have they published? What kinds of things has the journal been publishing in the last 2-5 years? Can you tell if the journal has an aversion to qualitative research in general?    #2: Analyze Feedback What is the feedback really saying? Is it trying to help you improve your article, or is it expressing a core difference in belief about how knowledge is made (i.e., they don’t put stock in qualitative research)? If it’s a core difference, you’re not going to convince them to accept your work. Better to move on.    #3: Dig Into Your Disciplines Qualitative research is highly interdisciplinary in nature. Dig in to the different disciplines your article touches on. Make a list of each one, then look for journals that might be a closer match to one or another of those disciplines. You might need to make some revisions, but consider submitting under one of those other areas.   #4: Double Check the Rigor If you listened to episode 69 you know that this was a stumbling block for me with the first article I tried publishing. As qualitative researchers, it is especially important for us to clearly establish the rigor of the research. On my journey, rejection with feedback and 7 years of development as a scholar got me where I needed to go.    If you’d like a slightly quicker route, I’ve got a shortcut for you: My friend Maira Quintanilha's course, Qualitative Research Blueprint is enrolling now. This course is for qualitative researchers who want to hone their research skills as well as anyone looking to add qualitative research to their repertoire. (More info on this fantastic opportunity below.)   #5: Try Again If you get a rejection with feedback, be sure to analyze that feedback before you decide what move to make next. Try not to read into a desk rejection with no feedback. Go through the steps outlined above and submit to another publication that might value qualitative research more highly, or be a better disciplinary fit. Pivot, and send it someplace else!   “If you feel confident in the qualitative rigor of your work...then it really is best not to spend a lot of time overthinking...when you get rejected.”    Bonus Step: Hone Your Qualitative Research Skills Confidence in the rigor of your research is so important! If you’ve received feedback about clearly expressing rigor (like I did), or if you’ve struggled in any way with your qualitative research, you are going to want to sign up for the Qualitative Research Blueprint course by my friend Maira Quintanilha which is now open for enrollment!   In this course, you will gain the confidence and skill to achieve desired impacts with your qualitative research project by learning how to design, implement and write rigorous, impactful research. You’ll learn everything from data collection and analysis techniques to methods for writing up findings and research theory and strategy. QRB is NOT a one-size-fits-all online course. There is an emphasis on each individual attendee and project, as well as community building and support.    If you sign up using my link, you’ll get these great bonuses from me! Fast Action Bonus (must sign up by Friday 3/12/21): my recorded workshop 5 Strategies for More Qualitative Publications First access to my brand new Writing Sprint Blueprint course, which walks you through how to set up a 2 week writing sprint to make major progress on your writing project Access to my Funding Formula training, which is usually reserved for Navigate clients only. Learn how to ask your institution for whatever you need, including letter template and tips.  Be sure to use this link to get these great bonuses in addition to Maira’s comprehensive qualitative research teaching.  Pulled in a thousand directions and can’t seem to carve out time to write? Download my 10 Ways to Make Time to Write cheat sheet for ideas to implement today!   Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page Follow me on Clubhouse: @cathymazak    This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode70.

Are you comparing where you are in your scholarly journey to where others are? Do you feel like your career isn’t progressing the way you thought it would? I’m sharing part of my story that I hope will inspire you.   If you’ve ever felt like you just can’t get the hang of this writing and publishing thing, this episode is for you. I’m sharing a little bit about my (very long) qualitative research publishing journey to show you that developing as a scholar and as a writer is an ongoing process. I encourage you to see your own journey as a process of growth, and to think twice before you compare where you are on that journey to someone else.    My Journey Begins I was a very lucky PhD candidate. I had a wonderful experience. I worked with talented and supportive advisors, I loved my research, and I was even awarded a grant to complete my dissertation.    So as I got ready to submit for my first published work after receiving my Phd, I was feeling pretty confident. I pulled a chapter from my dissertation and got to work shaping it into an article.   Submission and Rejection I assumed the article would be perfect for Anthropology and Education Quarterly (a top tier journal). As you can probably deduce at this point, the article was rejected. But, I consider myself incredibly lucky in this rejection, because the reviewers gave me some incredibly valuable feedback. They pointed out a lack of rigor in my qualitative research set up and my ability to articulate it.    I hadn’t realized how different the aims and expression of scholarly articles are to those of a dissertation. I had excellent training in qualitative research methods, but the way I was implementing and articulating those methods needed development.    Choices and Growth I worked on revisions to the article for a year, then resubmitted. I got another rejection, with pretty much the same feedback! I still hadn’t solved the problem of clearly expressing the rigor of the study design. At this point, I was 8 months pregnant, and I made a choice to set the article aside and move on to other things. First on the list: maternity leave! After I returned from maternity leave, I suffered a near breakdown from burnout and overwhelm, as I’ve shared about before.   As the years passed, I followed new lines of research, secured large grants, and completed new studies; all informed by that feedback I had received from my first article submission. I published other articles, and grew as a scholar.    When I did finally go back to that original article, I had a changed perspective. I revised it for a final time and decided that a mid-tier journal called Language Identity and Education was a better fit. It was accepted with very minor revisions, and finally published after it’s long and winding journey!    To round out the “happy ending”, a colleague and I submitted a different article to Anthropology & Education Quarterly several years later which was accepted with minor revisions on the first go. That initial rejection and the invaluable feedback that came with it helped to shape me as a scholar. To give you a visual of my career narrative in terms of that first article, I’ll share a timeline below. Don’t give up, and try to view your rejections as places to learn and grow.   “You’re never done developing as a scholar.” -Cathy Mazak Timeline: 2005: Awarded Spencer Foundation Grant and completed my dissertation 2006: Landed a tenure track job  2007: Submitted to Anthropology and Education Quarterly for the first time; received rejection and feedback 2008: Worked on revisions 2009: Resubmittal rejected; I chose to put the article in a drawer 2010: Maternity leave for 6 months; after return to work I suffered a near breakdown 2011: Revised again and submitted to a lower tier journal 2012: Article accepted with minor revisions In 2107, I submitted a co-authored article to Anthropology and Education Quarterly and it was accepted with minimal revisions.   Friends, that was a very long journey for my dissertation article! But I was growing as a scholar, researcher, and writer the whole time. And the feedback I received from my first rejection was instrumental in my growth. It was all part of the process that brought me to where I am today.    If you’re feeling discouraged about some aspect of your career, I encourage you to step back, reflect on your journey without judgement, and look for places where setback could be contributing to your growth and development.    “The process is the process.” -Cathy Mazak   Pulled in a thousand directions and can’t seem to carve out time to write? Download my 10 Ways to Make Time to Write cheat sheet for ideas to implement today! Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page Follow me on Clubhouse: @cathymazak This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode69.

The calendar changing from 2020 to 2021 isn’t what will make this year different. What will make this year different is YOU. 2020 is over! But sadly, there has not been much change in the world in 2021. Circumstances and world events are actually not that different...mutating strains of the virus, insurrection at the US capital...things are definitely still feeling rather "2020-ish" in 2021. So what is going to make a difference in 2021? You are. We just finished a virtual “mini-treat” that we put on for our Navigate program enrollees, and I felt so inspired by the energy and transformations that were happening there. The experience really drove home the idea that you will be the driving force for a different 2021...how you show up, how you view your own career, how you move forward.  Here are some of the ways our Phoenix Cohort in the Navigate program illustrated this idea:   Making Choices for Their Writing Practice Many of our participants shared their pride and surprise at being able to clear the decks to make this mini-treat happen. As we all know, clearing a whole day to invest in your writing isn’t an easy thing. Making choices like this to support your writing practice and your career is a huge step, and it makes a difference!   Incorporating Reflective Practices In the mini-treat I use guided co-writing and other reflective practices to help participants approach their careers differently, and see things that might be holding them back. Reflective practice is vital to understanding yourself, and what you really want from your life as an academic. “What are choices that you’re making that are keeping things the same?” -Cathy Mazak   Controlling the Narrative If 2020 taught us anything, it is that there are many (many) things that are out of our control. But when it comes to our careers, there are a lot of things that are in our control. How do you tell the story of your career? How do you think about it? You control your career narrative. You control what you make of the situations you’re in. You control the development of your pipeline, reflective practices, prioritizing your writing. You determine what to focus on next, what steps to take, and how to incorporate everything you’ve learned up to now into your career trajectory.    “You control your narrative.”   Thank you to all of our Phoenix Cohort attendees and our wonderful coaches for making this mini-treat such an inspiring experience!   Pulled in a thousand directions and can’t seem to carve out time to write? Download my 10 Ways to Make Time to Write cheat sheet for ideas to implement today!   Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode68.

When writing is at the center of our careers, it’s powerful. Here are 5 clues that you might not be putting the priority on writing that you think you are.   We’ve talked many times about the importance of centering your writing to help build your best career. And you might want to do that… but are you really? Here are 5 clues that point to writing being on the sidelines in your life and career.   Clue #1: You are doing your writing early in the morning, late at night, or on the weekends. There are a couple of caveats to this. If your soar state happens to be early in the morning, and you happen to be one of those lucky people whose children don’t wake up at 4:30am, then by all means, write early! Whenever your most focused and energetic times are, you should be using them for writing.    But, if you’re pushing your writing outside of your working hours because you don’t have time during the day, you’re telling yourself: writing isn’t the work, it’s something extra. But it is the most important work! So it should be inside your work day.   Clue #2: Your work schedule is designed around your teaching schedule. Ideally, your work schedule should be designed around your writing. When are your soar states? Your class schedule should be working around that and not the other way around. What would it take for this to happen? Can you talk with your department chair? Request a new schedule? It might not be possible to pull this off all the time, but think about what could change.   “If teaching is the thing that is anchoring your day, I want you to consider making writing the thing that anchors your day.” -Cathy Mazak   Clue #3: Your course content centers the generic department syllabus and not your own work. I’m not suggesting that you have your students do your writing for you, or that you throw out the syllabus and only talk about your research. But how can you infuse your curriculum with your own work and interests? What readings that you want to do for yourself would make great conversation with your students? How can pull your classes into line with your academic mission statement?   Clue #4: You can’t keep a date with your writing. You’ve got writing times on your calendar, but when it’s time to sit down and make it happen, something else always comes up. Maybe you aren’t putting proper boundaries up around that time, or maybe you haven’t formed a good habit yet. To pull it off the sidelines, you’ve got to keep those dates with your writing.   {For help getting started on a solid writing habit, join us in Momentum, my co-writing program. Lots of times to co-write, and only $27/month. Sign up today and write with us tomorrow!}   Clue #5: You don’t have your pipeline somewhere visible in your office. This is something we do in my Navigate program. Once your pipeline is put together and ready to run smoothly, be sure it is somewhere visible, so you can quickly access it, you know what you’re working on next, and your writing is always top of mind.    If you’ve recognized yourself in any of these 5 clues, don’t panic! Consider this a wake up call, and an opportunity to reflect, and make changes!   “Think about how you can pull your writing off the sidelines and put it in the center.” -Cathy Mazak Pulled in a thousand directions and can’t seem to carve out time to write? Download my 10 Ways to Make Time to Write cheat sheet for ideas to implement today!   Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode67.

I’m diving into the idea of “publications as currency” to both debunk the idea and show you how you can make it work for you and your academic mission. If you’re in academia, you’ve probably heard the idea that publications are currency. And that’s true...but what does it really mean for us as womxn academics operating in systems that are not built for us? Publications add value to the world, represent our work, and give us something tangible to take forward with us. But it’s time to reframe the “currency” idea.   I want to show you how you can use your writing as the currency to get you where you want to go in your career, rather than as a proscribed idea of what you have to publish where to “pay” your way forward. Some of the ideas I’m going to put forward might seem scary, but I think they are vital to our individual satisfaction in our careers, and to the collective work we’re doing to change norms in academia. Publications Are Part of Your Creation What is currency? Something that has value no matter where you take it, that gets picked up and passed around and used by others. This is just what our publications do. They add value, and they are mobile. You might not be able to transfer curriculum creation or coursework from one institution to another, but your publications always come with you, and always add value.    “If publications are currency, that means writing needs to take a more central role in our careers.”  -Cathy Mazak   Currently in academia, the “currency” idea is often used to mean certain kinds of publications, in certain kinds of journals, that pay your way to certain opportunities. I want to challenge that.    Our careers as academics are a continuous process of creation. Publications are a kind of “receipt” for that creation; they are a tangible thing to point to. But what else could be a “receipt” of the creation you do? Always bring it back to your academic mission statement. What has helped you move toward that mission? Maybe it’s engaging with your audience through newspaper articles, social media, or community involvement. These can all be used as currency to build the career you want. But you have to be strategic. Getting Strategic With Your Writing Maybe being published in a prestigious journal doesn’t move your career forward like smaller journals that are more targeted to your audience would. Don’t let the norms of a patriarchal, racist, ableist system distract you; always bring things back to your mission statement. Use your writing strategically to help you get the working conditions you want, the things you need to support your mission and the career you are building. Here’s how:   Craft your career narrative to tell the story of your career in a way that highlights all of your writing and work. Always measure goals and opportunities against your mission statement. Reflect on what you want your career and working conditions to look like going forward. Think about what you want your publications to do for you. What doors do you want to open? What audience do you want to reach? Where will you make the most impact?   It might seem scary at first, but reflecting on what you actually want and then going for it is important, and powerful. It isn’t selfish; it’s making your important, creative contribution to the world the best it can be.   “The more you are happy and joyful in your career, the better your contribution to the world is going to be.”  -Cathy Mazak   So, are publications currency in academia? You bet they are. But they don’t have to be in the journals that are most prestigious, or in the order someone else thinks they should be in.. or only in journals at all. They are the currency for getting what you want in your career.   “You are more in charge of your career than you think.” -Cathy Mazak   Get Support and Get Writing! My Momentum co-writing group is only $27/month and is a great way to get motivated, and get support to create the space and time you need to write. Get in the right headspace on our Monday Mindset calls, then get writing. Sign up today, and write with us tomorrow! Pulled in a thousand directions and can’t seem to carve out time to write? Download my   10 Ways to Make Time to Write cheat sheet for ideas to implement today! Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode66.