When you hire a professional to do any work, you not only expect them to have the knowledge and experience necessary for the job, you also expect them to have the right tools. For example, if a carpenter showed up to the job site without a saw, you might question their abilities. By the same token, there is more than one type of saw available and having the right saw for the job is equally important.
My life as an alt-academic
I learned the term alt-academic (or alt-ac for the trendy) only recently. A colleague told me she wanted to do a book on PhDs who chose not to join “the academy.” In today’s economic climate, university positions for academics with advanced degrees seem more coveted and harder to get than ever. So they seek alt employment.
TAA #AcWriChat re-caps on getting organized, writing productivity, and more!
Join TAA on Twitter every other Friday at 11 a.m. ET for a series of Tweet Chats to exchange ideas and resources about academic writing and publishing using the hashtag #AcWriChat. See a recap of past Tweet Chat events:
11/3 Tweet Chat – Getting organized
11/17 Tweet Chat – Writing productivity
12/1 Tweet Chat – Finalizing and publishing your work
1/12 Tweet Chat – Setting goals and planning a writing project
1/26 Tweet Chat – Making time to write within the busy-ness of work & life
2/9 Tweet Chat – Being productive writers
2/23 Tweet Chat – Getting feedback while work is in progress
#AcWriChat TweetChat: Not on Twitter? Watch live here on 2/23 at 11 a.m. ET
Join TAA on Twitter on Friday, February 23 at 11 a.m. ET using the hashtag #AcWriChat for our latest TweetChat focused on getting feedback while work is in progress.
Not on Twitter? Not sure what a “Tweet Chat” is? Follow us here (you won’t be able to actively participate, but you will be able to follow the chat live).
When is a manuscript finished?
One of my favorite books on writing is Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. I reread this profound book the other day. I was struck by two points; one small and one big. The small one was about how quaint it sounds in the pre-email and pre-digital era. The big one is how it has endless great advice on nearly every page. Most writers would fare well with dissecting it and following many of the precepts the author sets forth.
One of the top quotes I repeat from the book (along with countless others) is “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.”
2/20 TAA Webinar: “Get Your Stalled Writing Back on Track”
Sometimes writing projects, no matter how worthwhile or necessary, lose momentum. Stalled projects can become albatrosses, draining our energy and keeping us trapped.
Join us Tuesday, February 20 from 2-3 p.m. for the TAA webinar, “Get Your Stalling Writing Project Back on Track,” presented by Joli Jenson, author of Write No Matter What: Advice for Academics. In this one-hour webinar, you’ll learn structured techniques to figure out the best way to deal with your stalled writing project, as well as strategies and support for recommitting to, reframing or appropriately relinquishing your stalled project. This makes it possible for you to move forward with a project you truly want to write.