Listen to 'Bento Box Boundaries' from Research Degree Insiders 
https://researchinsiders.blog/2021/02/18/bento-box-boundaries/

Image: Photo by kofookoo.de on Unsplash

Bento Box Boundaries

This track introduces the Spotlight on saying no by providing an overview of the main themes and setting the other tracks into a larger context. 

Written and recorded in April 2022. Updated in November 2024 to add a paragraph to the section "Reconsidering existing commitments". An additional track, "Letting Go of Unfinished Projects", was also added to the playlist.

An addition paragraph was added to the text version in January 2024 which reads: 

"Since publishing this Spotlight Shannon Mattern has written a powerful piece about just how difficult doing this can be: The Limits of Refusal (https://wordsinspace.net/2024/12/13/the-limits-of-refusal/). I recommend you read her piece, too. It also draws a direct line between the difficulty/impossibility of saying not and actual physical illness or burnout."

Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/spotlight-on-saying-no/
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Introduction to Spotlight On: Saying No

Part of a short series addressing the issue of long review times, this track focuses on the role of the journal editor in the time it takes from submission to decision. I connect long review times to general issues of workload management. 

Since first publishing this post, the scope of control journal editors have has changed considerably. Authors still look to you to control this process but I highly recommend a recent piece published by The Scholarly Kitchen: An Editor's Perspective on "My Very Last Issue" (https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/01/15/guest-post-an-editors-perspective-on-my-very-last-issue/)

Other tracks in this series include "The frustrations of peer review: Why is it taking so long?" and "How you, as a peer reviewer, can contribute to a better process"

Read the post here:  https://jovanevery.co.uk/role-journal-editors-long-review-times/
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The role of journal editors in long review times

Establishing a Writing Practice is a self-paced class with coaching support. This track introduces the class and explains the general structure.

There is a separate track called "Why You Need a Writing Practice" which explains what I mean by a writing practice, and how it relates to achieving your writing and publishing goals.

Read more about the class & register here: https://academicwritingstudio.co.uk/establishing-writing-practice/

Go to the class page (login required) here: https://academicwritingstudio.co.uk/classes/establishing-a-writing-practice-that-works-for-you/

Establishing a Writing Practice, Part 1, Deciding an experiment

Register here

1 Introduction

Inspired by a recent trip in which I realized I'd finally got the balance right and didn't need a holiday to recover from my holiday. Some tips on using the Two Questions to Avoid Burnout to guide travel planning. Examples for both travel to visit people and travel for work. 

Related Tracks:
Two Questions to Avoid Burnout
How to Make December Less Stressful

Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/making-travel-less-stressful/
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Making Travel Less Stressful

Committing to a conference presentation is a common way to help motivate you to make progress on a larger writing project. It can work really well but you also risk feeling worse about your project and your ability to finish it, if you end up not meeting your own goals for the presentation. In this track, I talk about how to set yourself up for success with some contingency for unexpected events that make your initial ambition no longer feasible. 

Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/conferences-as-motivation-to-write/
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Conferences as motivation to write

One of the strengths of being a neurodivergent academic is divergent thinking. You see connections other people don't see, which leads to original contributions to knowledge. Divergent thinking is also a curse. Your main argument gets lost in a tangle of threads and your reader doesn't understand. 

You need a writing process that works with your amazing brain, not to try to make your brain work like someone else's. In this track, I use an extended textile crafts metaphor to propose ways of approaching a writing project in a way that works for you. 

Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/untangling-thoughts/
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Untangling your thoughts as you write

Following up on Untangling Your Thoughts As You Write, in this track I suggest some strategies for next steps in the process of writing a first draft of an article or other publishable output from your research. 

Links:
Pat Thomson - "Tiny texts" 
1) https://patthomson.net/2019/02/11/tiny-texts-if-not-beautiful%e2%80%8b-small-is-pretty-darn%e2%80%8b-useful/
2) https://patthomson.net/2023/05/08/planning-and-writing/ 

Raul Pacheco-Vega - "filling up paragraphs"
https://www.raulpacheco.org/2015/04/my-acwri-strategies-fill-up-paragraphs-one-idea-per-paragraph/

Katherine Firth - Structural edits on paper
https://researchinsiders.blog/2022/09/22/structural-edits-on-paper/

--

Read the post here: https://jovanevery.co.uk/pulling-a-thread-tangled-mess/
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Pulling a thread from your tangled mess

Do you struggle to get the first draft on the page? In this track I consider something a client said about assuming perfectionism was the root of this problem but realizing it might be impatient. I clarify what a first draft needs to do, and propose that trusting you have a process to get from "shitty first draft" to publishable work, helps you get it on the page so you can begin the process of revision. 

In the post there's another craft metaphor. Woodworking helps us think about stages and the kinds of tools we might need at different stages of the process. The text version of this track also includes a list of book and workshop recommendations (with links). And a photo of the American woodcock carving I mention.

Read the full post here (with links): https://jovanevery.co.uk/perfectionism-vs-impatience/
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Is it perfectionism? Or is it impatience

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of my own self-employment I reflect on the journey. Although the context in which you might be considering career options is very different from mine in 2005, I try to indicate broader issues to consider and give a sense of what my choices meant for me. I hope it is helpful for you. 

Read the post here: https://www.jovanevery.co.uk/reflections-on-20-years-of-self-employment/
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