Academic Writing Amplified

The pandemic didn’t change the course of academia; it has amplified the issues that were already there. As higher ed systems crumble, it’s time for you to decide your own course of action.   As one of my favorite books, “The Slow Professor”, explains: the University system is deeply ingrained in the history of capitalism. The path the University is on wasn’t created by the pandemic, it simply sped up the journey down that path. More demands have been made on professors' time, more unpaid admin work expected, the exploitation of adjunct and grad student labor has become prevalent, support roles have been eliminated; we have been seeing the capitalist system at work, squeezing us for every drop of labor it can.    When the pandemic hit, the process sped up. Now we’re seeing furloughs, lay offs, universities questioning the idea of tenure, institutions closing altogether. Higher Ed is in crisis. But what does it mean for you? I want to suggest that you get to decide.  Creation and the Upsides of This Moment While it’s true that we are at a crossroads right now in academia, I want to encourage you to remember what your career is truly about: creation. The purpose of your career is to bring something new, something unique, into the world, documented through your writing. So here are 3 things to remember in this moment:   1. You are not your institution. The place where you do your work is merely the container, the vehicle through which you bring your contribution to the world. Containers can take many different forms; you don’t have to stay stuck inside one that doesn’t fit.    2. When creation drives your career, milestones are met as a by-product. The details of institutional requirements for tenure and promotion don’t matter; you’ll meet and exceed them by focusing on the creation and working for your own milestones and goals. If that doesn’t happen, it’s a sign that your institution is not the right fit for you.   3. Day-to-day life must be focused around the creation. The creation of your unique body of work is the point. Teaching, service, advising, committee work; it all needs to be arranged in service of the creation.    “What you are doing as an academic is, in essence, an act of creation.”  Saving Yourself You have an opportunity right now, in this moment, while institutions are faltering and systems are crumbling, to remake yourself. It’s up to you. We’ve been conditioned to a scarcity mindset in academia. We’ve been taught to believe that we should just be grateful for the positions we have, and not to question or push back. But we do have a choice. To save yourself in this moment, you have to believe in yourself. I’m giving you permission. Here’s what it looks like:   You build a career based on a clear academic mission, refined over time and built by you for the people impacted by your work, regardless of your institution. This will become your legacy. You have time, energy, and financial freedom. You have space in your day for the deep work that contributes to your personal mission. You set your own goals and milestones that support your vision (and blow by institutional milestones along the way).   “You’re allowed to believe in yourself and your writing.”   If 2020 revealed your institution’s true colors, if you’re questioning your role in academia, if you are ready to remake your career and organize your life around your unique contribution, don’t miss the chance to sign up for Navigate: Your Writing Roadmap. We’ll help you navigate these questions and give you tools to create the career and life you want in 2021. Values and Systems Achieving this transformation for yourself might sound dreamy or intangible, but I promise you it is not. It’s about 2 things: values and systems.     Values. If you want to remake yourself in 2021 you have to be willing to learn a new way: your way. Take a moment to mourn the losses of 2020, then sit down and articulate what your actual values are. What is important to you? What do you want your career to look like? How do you want your life to feel? What is vital to bringing your creation into the world? What do you want to cut away?     Systems. Once you figure out your values, you need systems to bring them to fruition. We teach all 3 of the vital systems you need in place and how to implement them in our Navigate course. Here’s an overview of what they are and how to use them:   Time Management Systems: Are you automating as much as possible? Are you using technology to create and support boundaries around your time? Are you using templates and workflows as much as possible? Is your mindset in the right place concerning your time and boundaries?   Writing Systems: Do you have a multi-layered ecosystem of writing practices? Do you have the tools in place to help you move your writing forward, and to recover from a writing break? Do you have a healthy mindset around your writing?   Pipeline and Planning Systems: Do your projects flow smoothly through your pipeline? Do you have a strategy in place to manage the flow of your pipeline? Are you using publications strategically to bring your creation into the world in the way you want to see it?   “We cannot collectively remake academia if we keep believing in scarcity, in suffering, and in settling.” Navigate: Your Writing Roadmap If you’re ready to remake yourself in 2021 but you don’t know where to start, get on the waiting list now for Navigate. We will support you as you make decisions, and give you tools to create the career you want. Believe in yourself, and take action!    Don’t miss your chance to get into the Phoenix Cohort, our first group to go through this reimagined program in 2021. And if you are one of the first 10 to sign up, you will receive special early bird bonuses!    Get on the waitlist here: https://www.cathymazak.com/navigate-waitlist.   If you’re looking for some quick ideas to boost your writing time, grab my free cheat sheet: 10 Way to Make Time to Write.  Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode56.

We have an opportunity, at any time, but especially at this moment in time, to rise from the ashes of what has come before to remake our careers and our lives as academics.   On the next few episodes of The Academic Womxn Amplified I’m talking about how to rise from the ashes of 2020 to make 2021 the year you take control and redefine your career.    Why does writing often fall to the bottom of the list? How can you rethink your vision, mission and goals to help you get your work into the world in a way that feels right to you? We have the opportunity at this moment in time to rebuild, reimagine and reinvent our academic lives.   During Tough Times, Writing Suffers I know what it is to have writing fall to the bottom of the list, or completely off a cliff, during trying and traumatic times.    While I was going up for tenure, my 10-month old son became seriously ill. For a solid week I was in the hospital with him, and completely out of contact with my students. For months afterward, I suffered from total exhaustion which very nearly put me in the hospital.    During the 2017-18 academic year, Hurricane Maria hit and devastated Puerto Rico. Personal and national trauma resulted in a way that is hard to convey to anyone who has not lived through natural disaster.    From these times of intense stress, I learned two things that have informed my continued career and that can be drawn on during the current times:   1. I have to rest.  Rest has to be a priority, it can’t be an afterthought. My whole career does not work without rest.   2. Priorities get very clear when tragedy strikes.  Tragedy snaps our vision back onto what is truly important to us. When that happens, remember what those priorities are, don’t lose sight of them when things go back to “normal”.   In both of these cases, I moved into what I have dubbed “minimum viable semester”. The bare minimum of what had to get done was all that got done. Writing, understandably, moved to the bottom of the list. It wasn’t feasible to keep up on a robust practice.    Moving Past Minimum Viable Semester I’ve been there, in minimum viable semester mode. And we have all been there in these last months as Covid has completely changed the landscape of academia. In March, we were paddling as hard as we could just to keep above water. Here we are in November and not a whole lot has changed. So I propose that it’s time to take stock of where we are, change the vision of where we’re going, and move past minimum viable semester.   “It’s time to soar into 2021 like a phoenix.” The Phoenix Rising This is the right time to remake your career vision, because the world needs your contribution! To rise like a phoenix in 2021, consider these actions:   Complete a Values Inventory. Have you been glorifying busy? Accepting that overwork and exhaustion are part of the package? Working toward someone else’s idea of milestones?  Define your mission. What is your personal, specific desire for your work in the world? Align your work to that mission. Shift your milestones to reflect your values (tenure doesn’t have to be your milestone!).   Create Systems. Creating individualized systems supports your vision and helps your writing withstand future hard times. They are adaptable.  They save you time and energy and help you maintain boundaries They support your mission and values. They help you keep your writing at the center of your career.   Become Part of the Phoenix Cohort. We are nick-naming the upcoming cohort for my Navigate: Your Writing Roadmap program The Phoenix Cohort, because we are ready to help you rise from the ashes of 2020 in 2021!  If you’re ready to repair your relationship with writing, get strategic with it and turn it into a driver for your career rather than something you think of with dread, get your spot  on the waitlist now! Doors will open for sign-ups for Black Friday to Cyber Monday only, so be sure you don’t miss it by signing up here  to get on our waitlist.   “To be successful, to bring that work that is your academic mission into the world, you need to organize your career around writing.” Make 2021 Your Year   This is the perfect time to make changes to our systems, our missions, and ourselves. It’s time to take a fresh look at how we are approaching our careers, and how we are showing up at our institutions. Let’s make a commitment to reimagine, remake, and rebuild our academic lives.    “Academia, the way we’ve been socialized to do it, is unsustainable.” Need some help finding time to write right NOW? Grab my free 10 Way to Make Time to Write cheat sheet for actionable ideas to get started with.  Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode55.

Keeping your relationship with writing peaceful and productive means prioritizing it during your most energetic and focused times of day. I’m coining a new term for those times to get us into the right mindset for the work.   Getting writing done is a key component to the academic life, but it doesn’t have to be a slog. Creating a positive relationship with your writing while also doing your best work is so much easier when you tune in to those times of your day when your energy and focus soar, and you’re ready to take on the world.    Encouraging you to use those times and helping you find out when they are for you (everyone is different!) has always been a main tenet of my coaching. Up until now, I’ve been borrowing a term for these times during the day, but it wasn’t quite fitting my vision anymore, so I coined a new one! Here’s the backstory on what “tiger time” is, how I discovered it, and why I wanted to change it to better fit our needs as academic writers. Tiger Time When I was first building my business, I listened to a lot of entrepreneurial podcasts. One of them was “Online Marketing Made Easy” with Amy Porterfield. She had a lot of great information, but something that really resonated with me was her idea of “tiger time”. She talked about using her best times of day, those when she was most focused, energized and driven, to tackle content creation.    This spoke to me, and as I have often done, I took this idea from the entrepreneurial world and molded it to help academics through my coaching business. Using the times during our week when we are freshest, most focused, have the most energy and drive really moves the needle for writing.    “I can move mountains between 7am and 11am.” -Cathy Mazak Time to Make a Change As we’ve moved through 2020, it’s become apparent that it’s time for me to move away from using someone else’s term, and specifically this term, for these focused times. Here’s why: Tiger King. People started asking me if tiger time had something to do with a show that has had a big moment in the pop culture spotlight in 2020. The answer to that question was a big NO. Tiger Mom. People also began asking me if tiger time had something to do with a book called Tiger Mom. Again, no. Academic Branding. I’ve been coaching you all on how to build your academic brands, and this presented an opportunity to do that myself. I want my coaching business to project a certain set of values, a certain image of how we go about writing. And it doesn’t emphasize fierceness, or struggle in any way. Time to create something new!   “We created different ways...for people to create that feeling of drive and energy that we want them to have during their writing times.” -Cathy Mazak   Soar States and Soar Sessions In keeping with our vision, we wanted to give you aspirational words for the experience of finding, creating, and utilizing those feelings of energy, drive and creativity.    If you’re not careful, your writing times can feel like slogging.  You write 10 words and delete 5. You feel like you’re walking through mud. Uphill. All you want to do is stop. But we want your writing time to feel like soaring. You're not desperately flapping your wings to keep going, you’re moving along peacefully, supported. You aren’t struggling, you’re in flow. Your forward motion is fast, and smooth.   So here it is! Our new term for those times when you are in a zone of creativity, energy and drive is: Soar States.   When you are utilizing your own personal Soar State you are experiencing a Soar Session. You’re in the zone! Writing is flowing, and the work you produce is high quality.    Soar Sessions come about in two ways: Tapping into your personal Soar States to take advantage of your most creative, energetic and focused times. Co-writing. Writing in community with others helps create that sense of energy and drive at any time.    I can’t wait to dive into these ideas with you as we continue to learn more about how to advance our careers through writing without burning out or breaking down!    “Think about the time of day that is your ‘soar state’.” -Cathy Mazak Big News for Black Friday! Our Navigate program will have a special enrollment period, from Black Friday to Cyber Monday! Special bonuses and extras for the first sign ups on Black Friday!    My podcast listeners are the first to get the chance to get on the waitlist  to be notified when the doors open for sign ups, so don’t wait!   Are you ready to put 2020 behind you, step into your power and create the career that you want? Take your writing strategy to the next level with Navigate.    Be the Phoenix rising from the ashes of 2020 and take control of your career in 2021! Get on the waitlist here.   Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode54.

Dr. Kemi Doll joins me on this episode of The Academic Womxn Amplified, sharing her expertise and advice on everything from how she balances her multidisciplinary career with joy, to power dynamics and privilege to why coaching is so helpful for academics. She shares her own journey to doctor and health academic, and why she decided to add coach to her list of titles.    Key points discussed: Struggling academically through undergrad, going for med school anyway [3:30] How Kemi spends her time, with many different aspects of her career weaving together to form the whole [8:30] The multidisciplinary life [13:00] How she got started coaching [15:00] Coaching vs. the paternalistic mentor/apprentice model [19:00] Power dynamics, privilege, and imbalance in academia, and what to remember about being free [22:30] The glorification of suffering in academia [25:30] Racism and patriarchal systems in academia [28:30] Creating the career you want from the very beginning [33:30] The impacts of isolation and the benefits of community [41:00] Kemi’s programs for women of color in academic medicine [44:00] Key Quotes: “It was hard the whole time.” -Kemi Doll “I’m going to go for this anyway.” -Kemi Doll “I want to do research as a big component of my life.” -Kemi Doll “I’m not being pulled in either direction...everything is weaving together into the bigger picture.” -Kemi Doll “So what doesn’t fit here?” -Kemi Doll “I was always that person that people came to when they were like ‘I’m trying to make a decision, I can’t figure out what to do.’” -Kemi Doll “Academia is: conform, and coaching is: no.” -Kemi Doll “You don’t see the behind the scenes.” -Cathy Mazak “You’re basically an independent entity, creating something new.” -Kemi Doll Connect with Kemi Doll: Website Facebook Instagram Twitter      Connect with Cathy: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode53.

Making a change in your academic career can be scary, but is it dangerous? On this episode I’m helping you recognize when deciding not to make a change might be the danger.   I’m an avid podcast listener. I recently heard a story on the How I Built This podcast about an investment banker whose doctor told her that if something didn’t change, she was going to have a stroke, or a heart attack. Staying in that job, for her, was exceedingly dangerous. This got me thinking about our careers in academia, and dangerous versus scary career moves.   Making a change, speaking up, or creating new boundaries in your career can feel scary. At times, these things might even feel like they are dangerous. Will I lose my job? What if my income changes? What about my identity as ‘an academic’? But I am here to tell you, that staying in a toxic, frustrating or overwhelming situation just because it is scary to leave or create change is where the true danger lies.    “So although it’s scary to leave, it’s not actually dangerous to leave; it’s dangerous to stay.”   If you’re feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, or anxious in your career, here are 3 questions to ask yourself to begin to assess what your next steps should be, even if it feels scary to take them. 1. What specifically is making me feel this way? You might feel general malaise or anxiety, but the first step is to get very specific about what is making you feel that way. Write it down, make a list. See if you can zero in on the thing (or things) that is making you feel the way you do. 2. Can I change this thing? Take stock of what you’re in control of, and what increased influence you might have if you are willing to step up or speak out. It might feel scary to do these things, but it could be dangerous to your health to stay quiet.    “You deserve [for] your career to be great, not just good enough.”   3. What Have I Created and What Am I Creating Now? I’ve talked about this idea before, and I’ll continue to: you and your work are separate from your institution. You are making contributions to your field that are uniquely yours. Take stock of those things, spell them out. Is your current situation helping you to bring that to fruition, or is it stifling?   Once you have the answers to these questions down in black and white, take some time to reflect. Remember that staying in a situation where you feel undue pressure, stress or expectations that don’t align with your personal mission can become an actual danger. Make a plan, even if that involves taking steps that seem scary at first.    Looking to find more time in your busy schedule to write? I’ve got you covered. Grab my free resource 10 Ways to Make Time to Write.   Still Time to Apply for Elevate! Our 6-month intensive program for post-tenure women who are ready to up-level their careers on their own terms is only running once in 2021.  You’ll get: 6 key workshops to help you create and enact your personal plan 6 one-on-one calls, plus group coaching A fantastic, supportive community of like-minded womxn But, don't miss your chance to get our 2020 bonuses!    If you sign up NOW, you also get: 2 extra one-on-one calls to be used right away in 2020 Early entrance into our Amplify and Elevate community for support, workshops and planning sessions, and people who ‘get it’ An invitation to our virtual retreat happening in January 2021   Don’t wait, start the application process now to get the most out of your membership!   Connect with me: Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode52.

Career coach Dr. Carol Parker Walsh joins us to share her path into and through academia, and to dig into something we are both passionate about: career development for women. Carol helps women figure out their next career steps, in order to make their lives and careers more individual and joyful. She shares about big moments in her own life that helped her realize she was on the wrong path, and gives us three great questions to ask ourselves to reflect on our careers. Key points discussed: Dr. Carol’s career trajectory, including changing her mind from pre-med, practicing law for 10 years, and returning to academia [3:30] Hitting mile markers in life and career that make you pause and think about things [6:30] Being funneled along a career path further and further up the administrative track [8:00] How a life-altering car crash and the death of her father made her pull up and realize she was on the wrong path [10:30] Walking away [12:00] Pivot moments, fear around leaving academia, the idea of the Ivory Tower, and sunk costs [13:30] Calls from others telling her she was ruining her life, and how they ended up emboldening her [14:30] Dr. Carol’s 3 questions to ask yourself when working through change [20:30] Women in the patriarchal culture of academia; using your power to change institutions and situations [26:00] Cultivating a hopeful outlook that builds on your past experiences, rather than a depressed or fearful one that discounts them [34:00] Dr. Carol’s masterclass program to help women work through big questions in career development and next steps [39:30] Key Quotes: “I fell back in love with school.” -Carol Parker Walsh “It wasn’t a direct path.” -Carol Parker Walsh “The ultimate struggle we face in our society is having the permission and courage to be who we’re meant to be.” -Carol Parker Walsh “Is this the trajectory I want to be on?” -Carol Parker Walsh “I’ve accomplished so much, now what do I want to do with it?” -Carol Parker Walsh “You have permission to have a joyful and fulfilling career; that’s what you deserve, that’s what the world deserves from you.” -Cathy Mazak   Connect with Dr. Carol Parker Walsh Website Masterclass: Unplug from the Career Matrix Elevate: Up-level Your Post-Tenure Career   Applications are open now! Our 6-month intensive program for post tenure women who are ready to up-level their careers on their own terms is only running one time in 2021: February-July.   Here’s what you get through this program: 6 key workshops to help you create and enact your personal plan 6 one-on-one calls, plus group coaching A fantastic, supportive community of like-minded womxn    If you sign up NOW, you also get: 2 extra one-on-one calls to be used right away in 2020 Early entrance into our Amplify and Elevate community for support, workshops and planning sessions, and people who ‘get it’ An invitation to our virtual retreat happening in January 2021   Don’t wait, start the application process now to get the most out of your membership!   Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode51.

Your career, your body of scholarly work, is independent of any ‘container’ through which you do that work, like a university or institution. Have you ever thought about this idea? It’s important!   We often look at our career paths in terms of a certain ‘container’. We make choices based on things like which grad school has a reputation that will position us well in our fields, which institutions provide pre-tenure opportunities, etc. Much of the conversation about career paths gets steered toward what the ‘container’ wants: how do I get tenure here? Or full? If you pause to reflect, you might realize you are contorting yourself and your work to fit the needs of your current container.    I want to flip the script and encourage you to look at your career differently. I’m going to give you some examples to help you see that you are not the container. You do not have to accept the container you’re in, and doing so is not the only way in which to advance your work. There are several ways to make change for yourself and your work:   Work to effect change for yourself inside the container you’re in Change containers  Create your own container   Sarah Dobson’s Story On the podcast this past summer we ran a series of interviews highlighting the unique paths that womxn take to and through academia. One guest, Sarah Dobson, is a perfect example of how the work can be done through all kinds of different containers. (If you haven’t heard her episode, I encourage you to go back and take a listen, it’s fantastic!)   Sarah has continued to put her work into the world through a variety of containers: academic institutions, public health nonprofits, and now her own business, doing grant consulting to help others in the field get funding. She continues to influence and add to the body of work in her field of public health through all these different kinds of containers.    An Amplify Client’s Story A client in our Amplify pre-tenure program is another great example. She was running an entire graduate program by herself: doing all the admitting, advising and managing for all the students in the program. Her university made no allowances in pay or time to balance this, and she was nearing burn out.    After coaching and support inside the group, she decided to go on the market. She got a better job, with higher pay and fewer responsibilities. She felt more appreciated and avoided total burnout. She stayed in academia, but changed her container to one that fit better.    “You don’t have to settle.”    My Stories Early in my career, I discovered that part of the job I had been hired to do was not working out at all like I had intended. (High level integration of technology into the educational English learning setting ended up being more like low level IT support.) This was not ok with me, and I couldn’t imagine living out my career this way. I negotiated with my department, and was able to change that part of my job. I always looked for ways to mold my job to the ways I wanted to experience it, by finding research and grant releases for example.   “Can I change this? Can I make this better?”   Later in my career, big changes in my institution itself turned it into a place that was not fun to work at anymore. I did some self reflection, working through a process we now use in our Elevate program, to find my zone of genius. I asked myself what I really loved in my work, and how I wanted to put my work into the world. The final result was this business I am running now to coach other academic womxn. I created my own container, and continue to joyfully put my work into the world!    For more examples of how academic womxn use different containers to do their work, check out the interviews from the summer session of the podcast, episodes 34 through 43.  Elevate  Applications are open now! Our 6-month intensive program for post tenure women who are ready to up-level their careers on their own terms is only running one time in 2021: February-July.   Here’s what you get through this program: 6 key workshops to help you create and enact your personal plan 6 one-on-one calls, plus group coaching A fantastic, supportive community of like-minded womxn    If you sign up NOW, you also get: 2 extra one-on-one calls to be used right away in 2020 Early entrance into our Amplify and Elevate community for support, workshops and planning sessions, and people who ‘get it’ An invitation to our virtual retreat happening in January 2021   Don’t wait, start the application process now to get the most out of your membership! Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode50.

Are you wondering what your career will be like once you reach that ultimate milestone of tenure? I’m busting 5 myths about the post tenure experience to give you a realistic picture.   Getting tenure is a goal that most academics have had throughout their entire careers. If you are in the pre-tenure process right now, you may be believing one or more of these 5 myths about what it will be like if and when you are granted tenure. I’m busting these myths to give you a clearer picture of the post tenure life, so you can make the best decisions going forward.    Myth #1: Your Workload Will Decrease If you were not able to say no, speak up, and avoid creep during your pre-tenure process, it’s not going to be any different once you are tenured. You might find that you’re expected to take on new responsibilities, your admin duties increase, you have more meetings, etc. You can help alleviate this issue by starting to practice saying no, setting up boundaries, and speaking up right now.     “If you haven’t been flexing your ‘say no’ muscle pre-tenure, you are going to have to radically change and develop that muscle post-tenure.”    Myth #2: You Can Finally Focus on Your Own Work You might think that once you get tenure, all the other things that have been pushed onto your plate will magically fall away. Alas, no. It’s a process; you will have to get focused and make sure that you put time and energy into self-directed projects that are important for your career. It won’t happen on it’s own, and if you spent your pre-tenure time keeping quiet and taking whatever extra work was given to you, it may take a little longer to pare down.    “You have to...be proactive about focusing on your own work.”   Myth #3: You’ll Actually Get Paid What You Deserve This one hurts. Sadly, most tenure awards come with only a small pay bump. Many women I talk to tell me that they have been working so hard for so long, and even after tenure they still struggle. If your pay increase at tenure was underwhelming, do a little reflection to see if you want to move in a new direction. Here are some things to consider: Do you want to move into a more administrative position that typically comes with higher pay? Can you look for external funding? Do you want to move from faculty to researcher, or make another move? Is it time to switch institutions?   Myth #4: What Got You to Tenure Will Get You to Full Every stage you go through in your academic career needs to see you grow. Your systems, processes and practices need to change and develop to support each new stage of your life and career. The things you did to succeed as a grad student probably don’t work now. The way you approached your work before you had a family likely doesn’t serve you once you do. We need to grow and adapt at each new stage to find what works.   Myth #5: Your Next Steps Will Be Clear This giant (overly-hyped) milestone of tenure has likely been a goal you have been striving toward your entire academic life. Once you finally achieve it, it can feel a little disorienting. What now? The bad news, and the good news, is that you have to figure it out. You may move on to getting full, you may decide to do something completely different. The steps will not be clear, but the world is your oyster at this point. Envision your ideal circumstances, and work toward them.    “Your next steps aren’t clear. It’s your job to dream them.”   Elevate is Open for Enrollment for a Limited Time! Our Elevate program is for post-tenure people who are ready to up-level their careers. Over a six month period we will help you create and implement a personalized plan to reach your career goals, using workshops, one-on-one and group coaching, and supportive community.  We start in February, but join now and receive: 2 extra coaching calls to use now, in 2020 Early entrance into our supportive and beneficial community Access to our January virtual writing retreat Click here to learn more and start the vetting process so you can get started right away! Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode49.  

We get a lot of questions about academic publishing in our 14,000 member Facebook group. On this podcast I’m sharing answers to the top 5 questions we see.   Writing and publishing in academia is paramount. In our Facebook group we get lots of questions about academic publishing, so I’m breaking down answers to the 5 questions we see the most. Let’s jump right in.   Question #1: How do I respond to reviewer comments if I don't agree with them? First off, I want to say that peer review is important! It teaches you to be a better article writer and helps you hone your craft. That said, many of us have been in the position of receiving feedback that we do not agree with. Maybe the suggestions made are simply impossible to bring about (changes to vital research, for example), or maybe you just disagree on an epistemological level. What then?  First make sure you’ve taken a good look at the feedback. Is it possible there is a kernel of helpfulness there? Realize that this may indicate the journal in question is not a good fit for you. Remember that YOU are the owner and decision maker for this piece. You do not have to make the changes!  Consider making a table with each feedback note on the left, and how you will address (or not address) the item on the right. If you’re not making a change, explain why but keep it short. You may find the editor is fine with it. If not, then you get to choose your next steps.   Question #2: How do I find a journal to publish my article in? When choosing a publication to send work out to, it helps to consider where you look for your own references, and who you want your audience to be. Look at the reference lists of some of the articles you love and rely on in your own work. If you find some of the same publications appearing in these lists, they might be a good fit for you too. Go online and read descriptions and scope for journals you’re considering. Who is on the review boards? Are they people you already read or cite frequently? That’s a good sign. Think about your audience. Who do you want reading your work?    Question #3: Should I go for a top tier or mid tier journal? Top tier journals tend to be prestigious and well known, while mid tier journals are less known by a wider audience and tend to be more niched. There is some truth to the general wisdom suggesting you ‘submit higher and resubmit lower’, but you definitely don’t want to end up not publishing at all because you are holding out for higher tier. I encourage you to consider these 3 questions before you submit:   What is the article doing for you and your career? Where you choose to submit should fall in line with your larger publishing strategy, and what work you have coming later in your pipeline. How does this article fit into the larger scheme of your research trajectory?  Who is the audience for this piece? If you have a piece that is in a niche or sub-field, a mid tier journal might be a sound choice.   “You’re going to get more eyes on an article...if you publish it in the journals that your niche loves and reads.” Question #4: How do I know if the publisher reaching out to me is predatory?  Sometimes the answers to this question can be a little murky, depending on field and media type, but let’s get a few easy indicators down first. If you get a generic email that looks like you were cut and pasted into it, or there are a lot of typos, or the wording is strange and clunky, go ahead and delete those.   Depending on your field, a publisher who asks you to pay to publish in their journal could be predatory. However, do your research on this one and look to people in your field because this could just be how things are done in your particular area of study.    If someone is looking for books to publish, it’s possible they might cold email or call you, but look for known and respected publishing houses and expect to still have to go through a normal submission process. Otherwise, exercise caution.   Question #5: How do I make myself work on a writing project when I've lost motivation? I get this question a lot. Here are some things to reflect on and consider: If you’re having a hard time motivating for a project, my first question to you is always: when was the last time you took a real break? As I always say, if you’re going to create, you’ve got to restore.  If you’re in the very last phase of a project and can’t motivate to do those last nitty-gritty details, consider hiring a copy editor. It’s not cheating; I promise. The investment you put in to hire someone and get that project out the door has big returns in terms of the consequences of publishing (promotion, advancement, contribution to your academic brand, etc.) Be sure to ask yourself: is this project really serving me? Is it in line with my academic mission and contributing to my brand? If a careful analysis says no, it’s time to cut your losses and move on.   “When is the last time you took a real break?”   If these answers were helpful to you, be sure to check out our Facebook Group, where questions like these are asked and discussed regularly.    And consider applying for our Amplify program, a year-long program to help you shape your career and become the scholar you want to be.  Click here to learn more and apply.   Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode48.

Do you constantly feel like there is not enough time, not enough resources, not enough publications, just not enough? This isn’t a coincidence (and it isn’t the truth). In academia we’ve been conditioned into a scarcity mindset. An abundance mindset means you feel like there is enough of something: enough time, enough resources, plenty to go around for everyone. Scarcity mindset assumes there is never enough, and you better scramble and scratch for everything you can get. We’ve been conditioned to see our careers through a scarcity lens, but it does not have to be that way!  What is a Scarcity Mindset? Scarcity mindset, the feeling that there is never enough, is rampant in academia. When we never know how much is enough, it breeds feelings of never enough.    If it is unclear exactly how many publications you need for tenure, it ends up feeling like there are never enough.  When your department chair sends out the vibe that there is no money for anything and don’t even bother asking, it can seem like there is never enough money.  When we don’t have a clear academic mission statement and clear boundaries around our time, it feels like there is never enough time in the day. If you work hard and still don’t get promoted, it may feel like you are not enough.   “What if we stopped saying ‘there’s not enough time’ and what if we started saying ‘there is enough time; my priorities need shifting.’” Consequences of Scarcity Mindset for Your Writing The scarcity mindset affects your writing, your output, even the quality of your publications.   When you believe there is ‘never enough’ time to write, you will feel overwhelmed and guilty about your writing. When you feel that there are ‘never enough’ publications, you may say yes to publication opportunities that don’t line up with your mission, or take on too many projects. If you can’t say no to projects, your pipeline turns into a funnel and gets clogged up and unproductive.   “One of the reasons that you can’t say no is because you are conditioned toward scarcity.” What Can We Do About It? Scarcity is a mindset, not a reality. The key to changing how we feel about abundance vs. scarcity is to stop and take a critical look at the reality of each situation. Here are some steps to take to help you change your mindset, and by consequence, your experience of your career.   Recognize that scarcity mindset is based on a fear that more won’t come. If you don’t do this thing now, you might not get another chance. This is true sometimes! But in the vast majority of cases, you will have another chance. Be honest with yourself and look the fear in the eye. Realize that you will get more work done, better quality work done, if you focus in instead of taking on everything. Stay in your zone of genius, even if it means saying no to some things, and you will see much better results.  Create systems and processes that help you keep moving forward in your own direction. Establish boundaries for yourself and others to protect your time, energy, and resources. Take a close look at the cultural and institutional conditioning that you may not have even noticed before. Which areas are always well funded? Is there an underlying belief that you can only do the work within time constraints if you have lots of support at home? Always question and push back against these cultural issues that need to change in our institutions.   “I will write more, produce more, publish more by saying no to things.” Apply for Amplify The real work of pre-tenure is becoming the scholar YOU want to be! Join a cohort of like-minded womxn who are putting their writing at the center, and learning how to map their own paths to success, plus get support, resources and training from our professional team. Apply for our Amplify program today!   Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode47.