Happy Halloween, dear readers! I hope those who celebrate are having lots of spooky fun today. Halloween is fairly tame in the Netherlands, but there is plenty of good chocolate, which is my primary requirement for personal Halloween celebrations.
It has been an eventful month for me, as I ramped up planning some things I’ve wanted to do in my business for a while and took trips to Switzerland and Cyprus (is this real life?). If you want to see some of the new things coming down the pipe in terms of my offerings to you, check out the courses and workshops sections of my website. More on those things very soon!
And now, in keeping with the PNP tradition of the monthly roundup, here's what I have consumed or written in the last month!
Here are some of my favorite media I’ve consumed over the past month on writing, productivity, and managing all the things. Some of this content is new, some of it is old, but all of it has kernels of wisdom for busy academic writers.
1. These are the Publish Not Perish posts from October, in case you missed any:
Understanding the Types of Academic Writing and the Arguments They Make Part I
Understanding the Types of Academic Writing and the Arguments They Make Part II
2. Book a free discovery call before November 12 to try a month of coaching with a €50 discount! You'll receive two coaching calls, ongoing virtual support, and a progress review to set you up for success. If you'd like to continue, you can extend for another month at the same discounted rate!
3. This essay from of the Bed Perspective illustrates the power of the radical acceptance of the time and space disabled bodies may need in their daily lives. She contextualizes this within the notion of “crip time,” which she defines (borrowing from others) as embracing “the rhythms, delays, and pauses that come with navigating a world not designed for all bodyminds.”
Many scholars in the PNP community navigate chronic health conditions and disabilities, which call for a different approach than the demands of the often inaccessible world of academia. Although the author wasn’t an academic, I love the powerfully affirming way she navigates work:
I often wait for months in between writing or recording a line of vocals for my upcoming album. I have long periods where all I can do is lie with my eyes closed, and to ensure my brain isn’t going in all kinds of directions I put on a series I have seen plenty of times before and turn the volume down. In that way my brain is occupied without being overstimulated.
I try to not see these periods as a waste of time as it is simply a part of the rhythms of my body, although I must admit doing so is incredibly difficult. But I have become a master at patience. I can out-wait anything and I feel it has become my superpower. Afterall, good things come to those who wait, right?
What a refreshing perspective! I hope you find it useful.
4. Rejection in academia is a regular occurrence for most of us. Because it’s so familiar, I enjoyed
’s suggestion on how to shift one’s mindset when sending work out into the world. She writes,Getting rejected means you are in the arena, as Brene Brown might put it. You’re playing the game, you’re putting in the work, you’re putting yourself out there—pick your metaphor. If there’s a writer who has never been rejected, it’s because they’ve never submitted a piece of work. If there’s a person looking for love who has never been hurt, it’s because they’ve never gone on a date.
Rejection is still going to hurt sometimes, but I think finding different ways to frame it might be helpful.
I also talk about my own thoughts on rejection here:
5. Anyone out there considering leaving academia and you don’t know how to reconcile your loss of academic identity? First and foremost, know that you are not alone. I went through this grief, as did many other people who chose or had to leave for a variety of reasons.
In a recent episode on the Your Words Unleashed podcast, Dr. Leslie Wang interviewed grief expert and former academic, Dr. Chinasa Elue about the grief around losing one’s academic identity.
If this is something you are facing, I highly recommend the episode. Here’s a gem from the episode:
I think that’s a big part of the grief coaching component is untethering ourselves to this idea of what it means to be an academic and have our purpose connected to that. Purpose is not a title. Purpose is not a role. Purpose is not your institutional affiliation. Purpose is the very thing that you were designed and created to do, that lifts up your unique skill sets and expertise to really create impact and change in the world.
And I think when we can mobilize that definition of purpose, to really put that energy and intent towards something else, we give ourselves the permission and space to create, what does this next leg of my purposeful journey look like? It could look like going to work with a non profit. It could look like starting your own business to address some systemic issues. You may have noticed that you want to be a catalyst for change. It may mean you’re thinking about perhaps a different organization or organizational type that you would prefer to work in that really will help utilize the best skills that you bring to the table.
I LOVE this. I highly recommend listening to the episode or reading the transcript here.
I also posted this on Instagram, for anyone who needs this reminder: