Feeling inspired
Last month, I worked with a client who was researching educators’ challenges during the pandemic. I learned about the gender differences in how the pandemic has been experienced and about how educators experienced the pandemic. Through this experience, I was reminded that when you have an interesting topic to research, it can be exciting to read about and discuss with others!
So much exciting research to support!
This year, I’ve coached several doctoral candidates on their dissertations, edited content for an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, refined manuscripts for business journals, and edited technical scientific papers.
What you really buy when you work with me
When you work with me, you will feel supported and scaffolded in your work and be able to concentrate on your ideas with less stress. Many people come to me at a point of exasperation or desperation, having tried to work on a project and feeling stuck or frustrated. Most people come to me because they want an editor. But what they end up getting is something they didn't know they needed: time with a researcher and mentor. My mentoring style could be described as scaffolding.
Scaffolding involves first learning about the person - their abilities, interests, tendencies, and emotions around their ideas - and building on that to help the person meet their goals or refine them. This is why I offer a 1-hour free consultation. It is essential to the mentoring process. In that hour, I deeply explore the issues the client is experiencing, and we decide together what course would best suit their professional needs.
So what you really buy when you work with me is an expert mentor. I will provide intellectual therapy, access to a research brain, and a judgement-free zone for exploring your ideas and professional goals.
What supports do professors need?
What supports are available at universities to help professors write? There is pressure to write and rewards for writing, but what supports exist? Writing can be a lonely and isolating process, filled with self-doubt. But it doesn't have to be. Developing a writing group or writing with others can be effective in getting writing completed. An editor may also help you. You don't have to do it alone.
How faculty see writing
Not everyone is a writer. In fact, what writing training did you get in your doctoral program? I'm guessing it was haphazard, involved different expectations from different faculty, and was and still is a painful process. I know very few people who feel good about writing and enjoy it. But I know many people who are willing to do it because they have good ideas and need to share them.
My friend is having trouble writing a paper, so I offered to help him. He was hesitant, which I first assumed was not wanting to share his ideas or his writing. When I talked to him more about it, explaining that I can help him put his ideas onto paper, he said he didn't know all the content of what he was going to write until he sat down to write it. But, he said, "sitting down to write is painful." I believe he used the word "torturous," too. It made me think about how much the act of writing is also an act of collecting one's thoughts. Having to come up with ideas is a brain stretch, requiring that the thinker access old and build new connections in the brain. Many people find that in talking with another person they can build their ideas more effectively. You've heard of the concept of "bouncing ideas off of people." It's the same thing. Talking with others about your nascent ideas can provide a scaffold for building the rest of the structure. Yes, I just called myself scaffolding.
On making mistakes
Every time I write or edit, I learn something new. If a sentence sounds awkward, I have to think about why, and then I think about how to look that concept up on the internet for ideas about how to change it. Finally, I trust my own judgment in light of the possibilities. None of us knows all the rules of writing and language, but we have resources to consult so that we don't have to.
Every time I write or edit, I learn something new. If a sentence sounds awkward, I have to think about why, and then I think about how to look that concept up on the internet for ideas about how to change it. In the end, I have had to learn to trust my own judgment in light of the possibilities. None of us knows all the rules of writing and language, but we have resources to consult so that we don't have to.
A secret to writing
One of my mentors told me that the key to writing (and the most difficult part) is getting started. So, I write imperfectly, with slang and fake words that capture my ideas, knowing that revising and editing are a different part of the process. Creating and evaluating at the same time can block the creating process.
How can a writing coach help you?
...because writing is not your forte, but ideas are.
Outsource your writing at first and eventually you'll feel like it's something you can do.
In the beginning...
...there was a thinker who became a researcher and then an academic. Now, she is an informed thinker who writes and edits and coaches thinkers, researchers, and academics. She is motivated by the belief that for experts to flourish, they need an entourage. As part of someone's professional entourage, she supports individual needs while taking context into account. When you work with her, you are part of a larger conversation about how professionals need to support each other.