Creating a Satisfying Academic Career with Jo Van Every
I help academics build their confidence to do the work they find meaningful and find the time to do it. This podcast includes a whole range of topics: strategies for protecting your time, writing and editing advice, thoughts on careers and the wider context, preventing overwork and burnout, etc. Pursuing a scholarly career is tough these days. I firmly believe that your academic career has the potential for joy as well as success. I also believe that you can pursue your scholarly work in whatever situation you find yourself in, even if it's not ideal. You don't have to, but if...
Surviving Restructuring with Janice Liedl
What is it like to live through restructuring in HE? I interviewed Janice Liedl 5 years on from Laurentian University’s swift and brutal experience. It feels a bit like what to save in a fire, but some things are worth saving.
Janice Liedl is a historian who has lived through a brutal restructuring in her institution. Our conversation focuses on what you can control when so much is out of your control.
It ended up being a discussion of the ways your values can guide your actions so you can work wit...
Making and Unmaking Knowledge with Lucie Matthews-Jones
Lucie Matthews-Jones is a Victorian historian at Liverpool John Moores University and in this episode we discuss the power of creativity in teaching and how to support neurodivergent students and researchers.
We also highlight the importance of knowing your own values, Lucie's experiences working in a teaching intensive institution, and why we need to talk about teaching in higher education more.
For more on Lucie's Creative Teaching project, read her introductory article here: Making and Defining the Creative History Classroom
Find Lucie on Bluesky here.
Or follow Lucie on LinkedIn h...
Why it took 16 years to write a book with Anna O. Law
A conversation with Anna O. Law, Professor of Political Science, Herbert Kurz Chair in Constitutional Rights at CUNY Brooklyn College, and the author of Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship which was published earlier this year by Oxford University Press.
We discuss why it took 16 years to research and write the book, strategic decisions about research and publishing, the satisfactions of working at a public institution with a diverse student body, and even promoting your own book.
Read the full transcript on my website here: Why it took 16 years to write a b...
When Your Systems Fail
Sometimes you drop a ball. You feel awful about it. In this track, I talk about how to move forward. You are not incompetent or lazy. Everyone makes mistakes. Don't let it derail you. Do assess what happened, forgive yourself, fix what you can fix.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/when-your-systems-fail/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: h...
Do you have too many writing projects?
There are good reasons you have multiple writing projects on the go. However, too many active projects means progress is slow and you start to wonder if you can do this job at all. In this track, I explain why that is and what to do about it.
To download the free workbook, Finish More By Doing Less, subscribe to my newsletter and also get the Monthly Review email to help you acknowledge your progress and review your decisions about which projects to prioritize.
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up...
Interest, Novelty, Challenge, Urgency with Christine Weddle
Planning is hard. It's especially hard when you have ADHD.
In this episode, I talk to Christine Weddle, an ADHD coach, about how we think about planning, and what kinds of things work for folks with ADHD. Because we all have things we want to get done.
Christine has some FREE daily planning pages you might find helpful: https://lightspiritcoaching.com/daily-guides/
To find out more about Jo’s Planning Classes: https://academicwritingstudio.co.uk/plan-your-academic-writing-year/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my...
Writing is a decision making process with Emily Doucet
In this episode, Jo talks with Emily Doucet about the process of creating a draft of your book, article, or whatever.
Emily is a developmental editor and recently developed a course for scholarly writers to support the creation of an early draft of your manuscript.
We talk about what a first draft needs; why thinking of it as a "shitty first draft" can be unhelpful; and what kinds of work might go into this stage of the process.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/writing-is-decision-making/
For more advice, support a...
You need a writing practice
Of all the responsibilities you juggle as an academic, writing is perhaps the most frustrating. It’s very important to your career and your identify, but it’s also incredibly difficult to find time for, especially during teaching terms. I recommend establishing a regular writing practice.
Listen to all the posts mentioned within this, via Soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/jovanevery/sets/you-need-a-writing-practice
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/writing-practice/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To fi...
End of summer writing panic
It is tempting to use the last week before teaching starts again for One Last Push on your writing projects, risking undoing all the resting and recharging you've also been doing over the summer. In this track, I discourage you from doing this and suggest what you can do instead.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/end-of-summer-writing-panic/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the F...
Hyperfocus and intensive writing styles
Do you prefer to write in longer, intense, sessions?
Does some of the advice out there make you feel like you shouldn't?
You don't have to become someone you are not.
In this track, I talk about how this kind of session might work for some people, how to check that it really IS working for you, and how to make sure you get writing done even though this kind of time is more difficult to find and protect.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/hyperfocus-and-intensive-writing-styles/
For more...
Being available with limits
One thing making it hard to find and protect time for writing, is being available to students and others.
This track helps you set boundaries that serve everyone, including you.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/being-available-with-limits/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jovanevery.co.uk/15-min-writing-challenge/
Or join the Academic Writing Studio comm...
Flexibility, autonomy, boundaries
Autonomy and flexibility are high on the list of things that attracted you to academia in the first place.
And yet, in order to really have those things you need to be extra good at setting and negotiating boundaries.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/flexibility-autonomy-boundaries/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jovanevery.co.uk/15-mi...
Letting go of unfinished projects
As you progress through your academic career, you accumulate projects that you didn't get around to finishing.
Conference papers you meant to turn into articles. Articles that got stalled and abandoned. That kind of thing.
You don't have to finish all of them, but you also don't want to just abandon them.
In this track I suggest away to approach that pile of UFOs, make some initial decisions, and resume work on one of them.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/letting-go-of-unfinished-projects/
For more advice, support and pers...
Do good work
Is perfectionism making it hard to you to write at all?
This is a bit of a pep talk that might help with that.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/do-good-work/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jovanevery.co.uk/15-min-writing-challenge/
Or join the Academic Writing Studio community: https://academicwritingstudio.co.uk
Sabbatical + book contract = Overwhelm?
A response to a query from someone who had a book contract and a sabbatical to work on it and was feeling overwhelmed and uncertain about how to proceed.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/sabbatical-book-contract-overwhelm/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jovanevery.co.uk/15-min-writing-challenge/
Or join the Academic Writing Studio community: https://academicwritingstudio.co...
Don't aim to finish articles in the summer
Most academics anticipate summer writing.
Many find it difficult to keep writing when things get busy again in the autumn.
In this track, I propose rethinking your goal for your summer writing in a way that sets you up to keep writing when the kind of time available changes.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/dont-finish-articles-summer/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writ...
When you stop writing
Have you stopped writing altogether?
Would you like to get back to it?
In this track I reassure you that it is normal to stop writing sometimes and help you figure out how to ease back into a writing practice.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/when-you-stop-writing/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jova...
Work-life balance in academic careers
Inspired by something I read about the difficulty of work-life balance when your work is aligned with your purpose, I propose that what feels like a struggle with work-life balance might actually about the balance among the various kinds of work you do in your academic career.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/work-life-balance-in-academic-careers/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Ch...
You don't need accountability
Some thoughts on "accountability" and why it might be counterproductive to doing the kind of creative work that academic research and writing is.
My hope is that these thoughts may help you reflect on your own practices to determine what might work (better) for you.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/you-dont-need-accountability/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Cha...
When your work doesn't look like work
Are you letting the public perception of academics as "having the summer off" constrain how you do your research and writing, especially in the summer?
Are you also finding it hard to take a real vacation?
Let your neighbours think what they like!
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/when-your-work-doesnt-look-like-work/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Chal...
Planning Your Summer Writing Time
Summer is an ideal time to write in intensive blocks.
In this track, I suggest planning your time as writing retreats and explain what that might look like.
Read the retitled post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/schedule-writing-retreats/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jovanevery.co.uk/15-min-writing-challenge/
Or join the Academic Writing Studio community: http...
Why finding time to write is hard
If you are struggling to find and protect time for your writing, you are not alone.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/why-finding-time-for-writing-is-hard/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jovanevery.co.uk/15-min-writing-challenge/
Or join the Academic Writing Studio community: https://academicwritingstudio.co.uk
Support me on KoFi here: https://ko-f...
Are you treating your research like a hobby?
In this track I tease out the differences between hobbies and jobs to help you be more confident about making sure to protect time for your research and ensure that your research has the potential to benefit someone other than yourself.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/treating-research-like-hobby/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jovanevery.co.uk/15-m...
Thoughts on accountability, deadlines, and goals
Some thoughts on how and why you might use accountability, deadlines, and goals to motivate you to write. I include excerpts from some responses to these thoughts by Pat Thomson and Rachael Cayley.
My goal in publishing this is to help you reflect on your own practices and adjust them so that you open up the possibility for joy in your writing as well as getting the writing done that you want and need to do.
Read the Pat Thomson post: https://patthomson.net/2015/07/02/accountability-and-academic-writing/
Read the Rachael Cayley post: https://explorationsofstyle.com/2015/06/25/p...
Stop worrying about recycling
Originally written for Hook & Eye blog (RIP) in response to one Aimeé Morrison's posts, in this track I talk about the ways in which you might present or publish your work for different audiences in ways that overlap and why that isn't necessarily a problem.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/stop-worrying-recycling/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: ht...
Good enough?
It is difficult to determine when an article, book, or other output is actually ready to submit. It is not uncommon for it to feel "not quite finished". In this track, I talk about how that feeling of "not quite finished" is not a reliable guide and propose considering "good enough" instead.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/good-enough-or-finished/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, ta...
Research produces more questions than answers
One of the reasons it's hard to know when a specific piece of writing is good enough to submit for publication is that writing it will have generated new questions.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/research-produces-more-questions-than-answers/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jovanevery.co.uk/15-min-writing-challenge/
Or join the Academic Writing Studio community: https://aca...
Of Many Minds: An interview with Lee Skallerup Bessette
An interview with Lee Skallerup Bessette about the book Of Many Minds: Neurodiversity and Mental Health Among Faculty and Staff in Higher Education, which she has co-edited with Rebecca Pope Ruark.
We discuss the trap and the promise of higher education for neurodivergent folks, and the ways that contributors to the book navigate that.
Read the edited transcript on my website here.
Get Lee & Rebecca's book: Of Many Minds here.
Related Posts, Podcasts & Books:
Focus isn't just a mind problem - Hannah de Keijzer
A guest post from Hannah de Keijzer, book coach and non-fiction editor, about recruiting your office space and physical habits to help you get into focus more quickly and work more effectively.
Like me, Hannah works with a lot of writers who are squeezing writing in amongst other professional and personal responsibilities. Writing at home can make it easier not to be distracted by other work responsibilities, but the space available is often less than ideal.
I love the suggestions Hannah makes in this post for making your writing space welcome, and reducing di...
Optimizing Focus
Over the years I've written a lot about focus and distraction.
This track introduces the collection of posts from my blog around this theme, with some new thoughts on the value of identifying the problem *before* you try to implement solutions.
I also say a bit about what you'll find in the other posts.
Related Posts:
3 elements to considerFocus and the desire for distractionDistraction: not the usual suspectsOne thing at a time?The impact of time available on your focusChoose the task to suit how you are feelingChoosing the task to suit the...Make Your Manuscript Work: An Interview with Laura Portwood-Stacer
An interview with Laura Portwood-Stacer about her new book, Make Your Manuscript work.
In March 2025 I wrote about the difficulty of writing a “shitty first draft” (JoVanEvery.co.uk/perfectionism-vs-impatience/) and concluded "If you *accept* that multiple rounds of revision will be required, and even have a process for moving through them, it’s easier to allow yourself to be messy when drafting."
I hope this interview helps you understand something about developing your manuscript from draft to publishable version, and you’ll try out the method Laura teaches in her book.
Read the full i...
An advanced writing practice
Another yoga analogy. Sometimes the advanced practice is knowing that what your writing project needs is for you to go for a long walk and think about it...
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/an-advanced-writing-practice/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jovanevery.co.uk/15-min-writing-challenge/
Or join the Academic Writing Studio community: https://academicwritingstudio.co.uk...
Coming back to a neglected project
The first writing session working on a project you haven't worked on in a while is tough.
In this track I talk about what kind of work might be involved in that session and how it can overcome the inertia.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/coming-back-neglected-project/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jovanevery.co.uk...
What should you do next?
Do you have several writing projects, in various states of completion, that you *could* be working on? Are you overwhelmed by choice? Are you not working on any of them because you're not sure what you *should* do next?
This post is for you.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/what-should-you-do-next/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jov...
Embrace the research process
Research and writing are creative processes. There is real value in just embracing the process and trusting that it will lead to something that is good enough to share with others.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/embrace-research-process/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jovanevery.co.uk/15-min-writing-challenge/
Or join the Academic Writing Studio community: htt...
Finding your way back to writing
Have you stopped writing? Would you like writing to be a thing you do again?
15-minute sessions can be particularly helpful for finding your way back to a practice you have lost.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/back-to-writing/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jovanevery.co.uk/15-min-writing-challenge/
Or join the Academic Writing Studio commu...
The power of 15 minutes a day
An excerpt from my Short Guide: Finding Time for your Scholarly Writing, in which I talk about how 15 minutes a day can complement your longer sessions.
15 minute sessions may not feel satisfying in and of themselves but using them can make your longer sessions more satisfying.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/the-power-of-15-mins-a-day/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Mi...
The benefits of working small
Another track in which I apply something I learned in yoga class to your writing practice. There can be real benefits to working on small things in small amounts of time.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/the-benefits-of-working-small/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jovanevery.co.uk/15-min-writing-challenge/
Or join the Academic Writing Studio community: ht...
I hate goals
If setting goals leads to feeling like a failure, you will be gratified to know that you don't need to set goals to achieve things.
I propose an alternative in this track.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/i-hate-goals/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jovanevery.co.uk/15-min-writing-challenge/
Or join the Academic Wri...
Permission to think big thoughts
Another track about what 'counts' as writing. Although it doesn't look much like work, doing the intellectual work of figuring out what you are going to write definitely counts. Even if you are sitting in a comfy chair with a cup of tea while you do it.
Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/permission-to-think-big-thoughts/
For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter
To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Ch...
