Image © Amy Crook
Do you want to work more reasonable hours but aren’t sure how to do that given the demands?
Do you feel like planning is useless because there is always something you need to respond to that throws off your plans?
Are you particularly frustrated about how this is affecting your writing?
Stress isn’t caused primarily by overwork, though that certainly doesn’t help. The main contributor to stress is lack of control. In theory, the autonomy you have as an academic gives you control over how and when you do your work. In practice, the quantity of work, the culture of your department and institution, and the policy context make it difficult to assert that control.
My new Planning Your Academic Writing Year class is part of an ongoing series in the Academic Writing Studio designed to help you regain some control over your workload and your time. This class is based on some key principles:
- The time available for writing varies in quality and quantity, depending on where you are in the cycle of the year.
- Your writing project requires different types of work to move forward.
- You can’t do everything. You have to prioritize & set boundaries.
It will help you:
- Set goals based on a reasonable estimate of the time available.
- Match your writing tasks to the kind of time available.
- Anticipate challenges and plan for them.
We’ll be focusing on a full year starting on 1 July.
The class will provide a clearer sense of what might be reasonable at different points in the year. You’ll also develop some criteria for making decisions about how to structure your time and work, and how to respond to things that come up as the year progresses.
I can’t eliminate your frustration. There are structural limits on your scope of control. The choices you have may not be the choices you want. You can reduce your frustration and optimize your control.
Friday 4 June 2021 10 Eastern/3 UK/your timezone
£15
Register Now »
How it works
The class is a mix of synchronous and asynchronous elements.
Preparatory material on a dedicated page of the Studio website includes:
- Some articles about how I think about workload and planning
- Prompts for observing your situation
- Questions to help you gather information to inform your personal plan
A 2 hour synchronous session (using Zoom) on 4 June (recorded)
- A guided reflection to identify priorities & challenges
- Small group discussion
- Coaching support to help you figure out the tricky bits
Additional resources will be added to the class page to help you use what you’ve learned to guide your quarterly, monthly, and weekly plans throughout the year.
The live session will be recorded and an edited recording shared with a summary. You will have access to these materials (including the session recording) until 30 September 2021.
If you join the Studio before 30 June 2021, the class fee will be discounted from the cost of Studio membership!
Join us!
IMPORTANT: If you have been a member of the Academic Writing Studio in the past but don’t have a current subscription, you will need to log in before you can register for this class. If you try signing up for the class and it won’t let you pay, it’s probably because it recognizes your email address and wants you to log in. You can do that here!