Real Academics Blog

Dear Real Academics, Did you know there's such a thing as a writing model? And, here, I don't mean a person holding up the palm of their hand under a piece of paper to display it. Here I mean an example of writing similar to the one you need to or want to (or both!) compose. When I was in graduate school, I knew I needed to write a dissertation in order to graduate. Early in my program, I had never written a dissertation, much less read one. So, I looked for dissertation models in my program and studied them -- not for the content but for the structure. I asked myself: How long are dissertations? (they vary tremendously depending on methodology, I discovered!). How are dissertations organized? (there are traditional chapters, but there are formats that include a collection of related journal articles). How does each dissertation section begin and end? (I learned they are fairly repetitive in the beginning and end of each section because they are so long and want to remind the ...

Dear Real Academics, Happy writers can be productive writers. Happy productive writers are aware of two important things: (1) Their time. (2) Their creative process. [Note: I provide a ton of resources in this post just because I was so excited to make all these connections and share them with you! Be sure to check out any that look useful to you]. BACKGROUND I recently watched a fascinating video interview with Dr. Ken Atchity -- author, professor, screenwriter, producer, literary manager -- which affirmed and solidified the above two points for me. His book, A Writer's Time: Making the Time to Write , is on my short list for reading now: (paid link) Ken mentions two types of productive people: the unhappy ones and the happy ones. The unhappy productive person can be the typical Type A workaholic and/or the stereotypical depressed creative. The happy productive people, according to Ken, -- get this -- are AWARE of their creative process and know how to manage it. I could ...

Dear Real Academics, If you are seeking an academic position in a university NOW is the time to apply (Fall).  Unlike other jobs, academic positions, especially tenure-track and/or full-time positions, are year-long processes.  Let me break down the typical timeline for you: (1) Applications are due in the Fall. (2) If chosen, universities contact you in Fall or Spring for the first round of interviews (usually phone or virtual). (3) If you pass the first round, universities contact you for an on-campus visit (usually 2-3 candidates get invited at this phase) - likely in Spring. (4) If you are picked, then you get an offer and negotiate your contract for a Fall start date. Within the steps outlined above, there are other steps and tips and strategies to help with the competitive process ahead. In this post, I'll provide some general tips, but for detailed information and awesome resources, templates, and tips that have helped others through this process, contact us at ww...

Dear Real Academics, This past week I finished a lovely book by Christy Wright for women starting their own businesses (link at the end of this post).   Towards the end of her book, Christy addresses a psychological issue related to increasing what I call joyful productivity and decreasing anxiety, namely:  " Stop Doing What Doesn't Matter".  Here is a powerful, direct quotation from her book:  " A lot of the stress and feelings of being overwhelmed in our lives come not from doing too many things, but from doing the wrong things. We say yes when we mean no, and we commit to things that we end up resenting and regretting later. We stare at our phones and miss what's going on right in front of us. We do things out of guilt or obligation, then get mad about it. We end up grumpy and disappointed about how we are spending our lives. There are a lot of things that take up our time that aren't important and don't actually matter to us...So if we ant to create...

Dear Real Academics, As faculty (at the time of this writing), I am on a 9 month-contract.  But, every summer for the past 7 years in my tenure-track position seems to be a non-stop list of things to do including attending dissertation defenses, reviewing manuscripts, reviewing conference proposals, going to research meetings, analyzing data, writing and submitting conference proposals, writing and submitting manuscripts and grants, setting up classes for the next semester, setting up meetings for the next semester,  answering student advising emails,  managing upcoming faculty searches, and more. So, you can imagine how annoyed I get when I hear people assume that I am so lucky to be an "educator" because I get summers off. I wish!  Around the end of July this year, I was near burn-out.  Around the first week of August , I was looking ahead to the gazillion of emails streaming into my in-box to get things set up for the start of the semester (not to mention the...