Academic Writing Amplified

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.

You know you need to schedule time to write, but keeping those dates is the key to creating a successful writing habit. I'll show you how. We've probably all heard the writing advice to "make a date with your writing", get it scheduled and on your calendar. This is great advice...as long as you keep those dates and actually get the writing done! If you consistently blow off your writing times, or find yourself filling them with other tasks, this episode is for you. I'm helping you find ways to keep those writing dates, strengthen and flex your boundary-setting muscles, and build a writing habit that works. Be Consistent In order to help yourself stay committed, be consistent. Be sure to put your writing times on your calendar for the same times every week. As always, I don't recommend trying to write every day, but pick your once or twice a week and make it consistent. "Go for consistency and start super small." Start Small To help yourself hold that time and use it for writing, make sure your consistently scheduled writing times are small (like one or two hours). It's tempting to schedule big writing blocks, because we think we'll get more done. I assure you, it's so much easier to hold those times if they are small. Some other things to consider: Put your consistently scheduled, small writing times towards the beginning of the week. It's much harder to keep writing time sacred on a Friday when the week has gotten away from you. Try to put your times in the mornings so you can write before your day gets too busy. If it works, it's best to schedule writing times during your soaring state times (those times of day when you're most naturally focused and energized). The Accountability Issue We hear a LOT about accountability these days. Many people I work with talk about needing accountability to keep their writing dates. But I ask you: do you need accountability to brush your teeth? To get dressed? No one holds you accountable for the basics, yet you get them done because you know their importance and you've made it a habit. Some other things to think about in terms of accountability: The idea of requiring an outside influence to get your writing done devalues your writing, and your perception of your abilities. Building boundaries around your time is important for lots of reasons, so you must build and strengthen those boundary-setting muscles. It's basically someone telling you what to do, and we don't need that in our lives my friends! I do, however, support the idea of writing in community. Co-writing for shared focus and energy is a great idea! Just be sure you use that time to help you build your own habits, and not as an accountability crutch. The big idea: making and keeping dates with your writing helps you put the proper amount of importance on your writing. The more you show up for yourself, the easier it becomes! Some Practical Help My Momentum program is a great tool for helping you train yourself to make and keep dates with your writing. We provide co-writing 6 times a week, Monday to Friday with coaches, and a continuously open Zoom link if you want to hop on with others at your own scheduled time. We share goals and progress, and get to share the energy of other academic writers. We hold a Monday Mindset call to help get in the best frame of mind for the week. Momentum is just $27/month, and you can cancel any time. If you need that little nudge to establish your writing habits, join in and try it out! Click here to get started. 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/episode65.

I'm in the hot seat on this episode of The Academic Womxn Amplified! I'm sharing an interview of yours truly by Anna Clemens of Scientists Who Write. We cover everything from how (and why) to get writing done inside your work week to changing the patriarchal culture of academia to my coaching philosophy and program offerings. Key points discussed: Writing as career currency and why academics should put it at the center of their careers Why I work with womxn and non-binary folx and systemic challenges in academia How I started my coaching business and my coaching philosophy What structural changes we should work toward in academia How to move away from fear-based decision making Driving change in a wider arena by focusing on individual career goals How to keep writing time inside your work week and the message you send yourself when you push it to the periphery Why waiting for big blocks of time to write doesn't work Soaring states, co-writing and how to be more productive in less time The glorification of overwork and drilling down to what's important My writing coaching and career direction programs for academics at every level Key Quotes: "In the end, what has currency inside of academia is our published work." "Change has to happen top down and bottom up simultaneously." "If you're waking up early, staying up late, or writing on the weekends, what you're doing is you're pushing writing to the periphery of your career." "Is writing less important than the things you do from let's say 9 to 5?" "I want people to start organizing their schedules around their writing blocks instead of trying to fit writing in." "If you want to create, you have to rest." "You can't sustain the level of overwork that is currently being glorified inside of your institution." 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 Anna Clemens: https://www.annaclemens.com/ Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode64.

What is "mid-career" for academics? How long does it last and where can you go from here? The answer to that last one may surprise you. In North America, we have a 3-tiered promotion system. Your early career starts at Assistant Professor, you move to Associate Professor after you pass tenure review, and the final stage is Full Professor. (The UK system uses different terminology but is similar.) So what's considered "mid-career" and why does it matter? How can you move forward after tenure and what does it take to make a push for the final step in the system? Let's dig in. Early Career: On a Mission The early career stage for academics lasts about 5-6 years. It's the period where you're starting to define your identity, and answering the question: who am I as an academic? It's also the period when you are pursuing tenure. You may not have a crystal clear criteria for reaching tenure, but you have requirements, a pathway to follow and milestones to meet. Mid-Career: What Now? Once you get tenure (or pass your permanency requirements in other systems), you are considered mid-career. This stage has a less defined time period and can last for as long as 20 years.There are some common experiences among academics as they reach this milestone: Exhaustion and burnout from the tenure process. Reality is different from expectations. Pre-tenure academics often expect to have greater freedom to speak their minds, concentrate on their own projects and have a freer schedule; the truth of the post-tenure experience is that the difference is really not that stark. Motivation to go for full is deflated by the experience of getting tenure. So, now what? How do you find the motivation to move on to full professor? And should you? "Most women don't make it to full. And so what we want is more women at full." Moving Forward: Your Ideal Career Moving up to full professor does come with some benefits, including prestige and higher salaries. There's nothing wrong with staying at the mid-career, associate professor level. But what is a problem, is doing the same amount of work you would be doing at full, but getting paid at the associate level. To figure out the next best steps for you, here's what to do: Take time to reflect. Envision what you want your career to look like moving forward. What do you want your academic legacy to be? What does the next step to move toward that look like? It doesn't have to be a promotion. Build your skills. What worked for you pre-tenure or at some other time in your career may not work for you now. If you want to make a move for promotion more enjoyable, you need to build up some skills like: Time management. Learn to delegate, outsource and lean on a support team, and get good at saying no. Project management. Have a plan to get projects you do accept done with precision. Writing management. Hone your systems and processes, and make sure your pipeline is running smoothly. Shift your mindset. Remember that you are not the container! What you want to put into the world through your work can be realized in many different contexts and places. Think broadly about what is best for your ideal career. The big takeaway of the mid-career discussion is this: It can be better. You don't have to put up with stress and overwhelm. You can create your ideal career through self-reflection and a little skill-building. "The world is your oyster in the mid-career." If you need some help and support to understand what you want from your career and how to get to that next level, apply for my Elevate program! We focus on one-to-one work complemented by group work and trainings to help you shape your ideal career. If you're curious, apply here, even if you're not sure yet. If you're a good fit for the program, you'll get an invite to a live, free training focused on issues that affect mid-career academics. At that point, you can choose whether you'll join us when we start our 6 month journey in February. I hope you'll join us...investing in yourself pays off! 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/episode63.

Don't let the wide open schedules of a sabbatical or leave go to waste. Find out how to approach this time to get the most out of it! It's something we all dream about—a sabbatical or research leave when you can spend all your time writing. Then you'll really be productive! But ask anyone who has actually taken a sabbatical and you'll soon discover that the big blocks of time that you've been craving can actually make you feel more guilty and less productive than you feel in a regular semester. The solution is to get very clear on your priorities, plan and prepare well. Here are 3 things to do to get set up well and stay the course. 1. Clear the Decks You may be tempted to keep outside projects and responsibilities because you will have "so much time", but this is a mistake! A sabbatical is meant to be a time to step back from regular duties to allow deep thinking on your chosen project. That is very hard to accomplish if one foot is still in the world of your day-to-day duties. Here's what I recommend: Get very clear on what your focus will be (what is in your proposal?) Remove yourself from every committee, project and commitment not related to your sabbatical project. Set up boundaries to protect your time, like out-of-office notifications on your email and phone. This won't make all of those communications go away, but it will help change others' expectations for your response time and availability. 2. Create Structure If you are thinking you can work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week on your project, let me assure you that is a complete misconception. If you try to do too much at once, it will backfire, and you'll be sure to lose focus, energy, and productivity. But you do want to have a plan! Here is what I suggest for structure: Plan to take one extra day off: 4 days of work, 3 days off. Choose whichever day of the week you want, but commit to it. It can be some extra time to rest and connect with family, and it can also be a place to schedule all that "life" stuff like Dr. visits so that it doesn't derail your work days. It just doesn't work to create well for 8 hours at a time. So, plan to work during soar sessions that are no more than 4 hours long. (Remember: soar sessions are times that you are in your own highly focused and energized soar state, or are writing in community to get that boost.) Rest. Plan it in and don't neglect it! You are doing deep, critical thinking during this time to bring something new into the world. The create-restore cycle gets lopsided if you try to create for many more hours than you restore. Find something you find relaxing and restorative, and plan on doing it. "You need to ramp up restoration if you're expecting yourself to ramp up creation." -Cathy Mazak 3. Stay on Course Remember, this sabbatical is for you. It's a time to work on something important, that matters for you. So, enjoy it! Don't feel bad about reveling in this time. Don't let yourself be drawn off course. If something comes up that you have to deal with (a revise and resubmit that gets you to publication, for example), don't let it derail you. Consider using a sprint. A writing spring is a two week period where you go all in on a project, using your soar sessions everyday for only that project. Use that sprint to get that other item off your plate as soon as possible. Whenever you can, approximate working on one thing at a time. This is good advice for any time, but especially during a sabbatical or leave. Most of that time it's going to be your sabbatical project, but if something unavoidable comes up, turn to that for a short time if possible, then come back with focus. For those new to the podcast, I'm giving an overview of our suite of programs for academics at every point in their careers. Elevate: This program is for post tenure womxn who are looking for what's next in shaping their careers. We are only running this program once this year, and enrollment is open now. Apply now, and if you're accepted to the program, you'll be ready to go for our February-July cohort. This program includes 1:1 mentoring, group coaching, trainings, and like-minded community and support. Apply here. (There is a special rate for participants in our Navigate program.) Amplify: For pre-tenure who want to go up for tenure with confidence, this program offers 1:1 and group coaching, trainings, like-minded community and support. Amplify is full and closed for enrollment at this time, but our next cohort will open in Sept 2021, and you can get on the waiting list now. Apply here. (There is a special rate for participants in our Navigate program.) Navigate: A writing roadmap for academics who want to use writing to create the careers they want. This program is for academics at any stage of their career who want to push back against overwhelm and make writing a priority. Navigate will open for enrollment in the first week of May 2021. Momentum: Momentum is always open for enrollment for academics at any stage, from graduate student to post-tenure professor. We've expanded the program to include more scheduled co-writing sessions to support you in the new year. We also have a weekly 30 minute "momentum mindset" meeting to start your week off right. Click here to learn more about our programs. 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/episode62.

It's a fresh, new year and it's time to leave all the "shoulds" in 2020 and plan to be more you in 2021. Goodbye 2020! My hopes are high for 2021. I encourage you to make this the year that you stop focusing on what you think you "should" be doing to get your writing done and advance your career and start leaning in to what works for you. I assure you that you will get more done with deeper creativity if you accept the ways that work best for you and structure everything else accordingly. Your voice, and your influence on your field will have greater impact if you lean in to what makes you and your perspective unique, and then stand by it. Let's stop struggling to fit into someone else's mold, and be ourselves in our writing and scholarship this year! Making Your Writing Systems More YOU I encourage you to reflect on what works well for you in terms of writing, and to run with it! Find and utilize your soar states. What times of the day are you most energized, focused and creative? Use them for your writing! Structure other parts of your day around those times as much as you possibly can. Don't worry about what times of day "should" be used for writing, find what works for you. Break projects into tasks that are the right size. I advise my clients to break projects down into smaller tasks to make them more manageable, but when they ask how small to make each task, I don't have a one-size-fits-all answer. If crossing things off a list is your jam, break those tasks down into lots of steps; if you get overwhelmed by a long list of items, make the tasks a little bigger so there are fewer of them. Try things and reflect on what feels good for you. Set up rewards. Build rewards for yourself into your system. Decide when in the process is the best time to reward yourself, and be sure to pick rewards that bring you joy. Who cares what feels rewarding for someone else? Create rewards that work for you. "How can I best manage myself?" -Cathy Mazak Making Your Scholarly Work More YOU Take time to reflect on what makes you, your work, and your perspective on your field unique. Articulate your opinion, make your voice known. Let the world know what you're about! This makes you more citable, and helps you stay on mission. Full disclosure here...this will make some people mad. Putting your own spin on a topic or diverging from the "traditional" way of looking at things might make the old guard upset. Don't let that deter you! Shrinking in confrontational situations doesn't move your mission forward. "Actually leaning in and making my view of things known [is] going to get me farther than trying to please everyone." -Cathy Mazak Friends, I'm so excited for this new year together, and for our new season on the podcast! I've got some great guests lined up and can't wait to share more content with you. Remember to take time to reflect on what makes you unique, and what works best for you. This is your year! Let's go. "Figure out who you are, then go be that." -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/episode61.

Have you ever considered writing a book? I'm sharing the inside scoop on the process for my own book project, from idea to submission. I know many of you out there have entertained the idea of writing a book at one time or another. So I'm sharing my own experiences with the book process, from idea to proposal writing to submission. As of this writing, I am still in the process of submitting to different academic presses, so part 2 will come after I get a contract and start the next phase! For now, I'm sharing how I got to this point, including my fears, my process, and a few recommendations. The Beginnings My project process started about 3 years ago with my idea for a writing guide for academics. I felt that through my business I had honed my message about writing and knew I wanted to put it into a book, but I had a lot of fear. I've written plenty of articles, and contributed to many edited volumes, but this would be my first monograph. Was I up to it? "Can I really write a book? Do I have that many words in me?" -Cathy Mazak I started to really develop and flesh out an idea during one of our own writing retreats, in 2019. I used the book "Thinking Like Your Editor" by Alfred Fortunato and Susan Rabiner to help me organize my thoughts. I highly recommend this book for helping to nail down your idea. In it, the authors pose these 5 questions: What is this book about? What is this book's thesis (or argument) and what's new about it? Why are you the person to write this book? Why is now the time to publish this book? Who makes up the core audience for this book and why will they find it appealing? Next, I had my assistant LaToya copy and paste all of my blog posts into Scrivener, and I dragged them into the categories for the table of contents I had come up with during the retreat. While I didn't end up using the content this way, Scrivener did give me a word count, and some confidence: I had plenty of words to say. Then, I did nothing on the project for a year. Starting Again - With a Coach LaToya got me back into the project by finding me a book coach. If you can do it, I highly recommend getting a coach! My coach, Paula Diaco of Write Stories Now was an invaluable resource for helping me sort through what needed to be done. Paula researched presses to submit to and helped me make the decision between academic, trade and independent publishers (we're going with academic), sent me individual google docs to work on for each part of the book proposal, and kept me motivated with a weekly standing meeting. I can't overstate how helpful she has been. After getting the proposal going, I started writing out some sample chapters. Not only did I have plenty of words for a book, I realized I actually have content for 3 books! Time to Write Next, I really wanted to familiarize myself with all the chapters of this book; to start getting them written out, or at least outlined, and make some progress on the book itself. I decided to make my own writing retreat. Here's how I did it: I rented an AirBnB for 5 days. I called on my support systems to help (my husband stayed with my kids and kept things running). I bought enough groceries so I wouldn't have to leave the condo at all. I used my soar states to write like crazy and get 6000 words down during my first few days! When I started to lose steam and writing started to feel like a slog, I stopped. Yes, it cost some money and time to make this retreat happen. My book coach was also an investment. But it's worth it! I know this book will sell. And it might be worth it for you too, maybe as a stepping stone to a new position, or a raise, or for the connections it will forge for you. Don't dismiss opportunities out of hand just because they cost money or take time; investing in yourself and your career is worth it. "It's worth it to invest in something like a book coach or a writing retreat… because of that currency the book has inside of academia." -Cathy Mazak Submission The next step in the process was to start submitting! I narrowed down the top university presses I wanted to submit to, and Paula looked up the proposal requirements for each. I've heard back from Princeton and the University of Chicago with the nicest rejection letters, saying they already had things in their catalogs that were too similar to accept my project. I haven't heard back from Harvard yet, and I'm still working on submitting to a couple of others. At this point, I've paused my writing until I get a contract, so I can get feedback from the specific press I end up going with. I would say I am between 30% and 50% done with the writing. I want to be transparent in this process, so let me say that I definitely had a freak-out moment, wondering if I should be submitting to academic presses at all. But I am back in my confidence, working through the process and ready to fill you in on Part 2 once the book sells! If you are ready to start writing a book, I highly recommend Jane Jones at Up In Consulting for academic book coaching, and the book Thinking Like Your Editor to help you get traction with your idea. If you're looking for career development and writing support while you work on a book or other academic writing project, be sure to check out our Elevate and Amplify programs. 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/episode60.