Tips for excelling at academic publishing and surviving the PhD, from a PhD and former journal Managing Editor.
Like many people feel when they've found their person, we knew we wanted to start a family. But as broke grad students living hundreds if not thousands of miles away from our families and wider support networks, how would this even be feasible? Could we become parents and still achieve our PhD dreams?
At a time when your work is more necessary than ever, how do you go about producing meaningful, publishable, social justice research?
If you're pregnant or postpartum and wondering how you will ever get back to researching and writing again (or perhaps you've tried and it's just not going well), here are some strategies I used that may help you.
Publishing your first article is learnable. There is a process from the idea phase right through to the revision and final submission stage that if followed can make publishing your first article an efficient and logical process. Let's explore it.
When writing is complicated, multilayered, and drawing together many different threads in the hope of producing an (aspirationally) coherent narrative—not to mention of political or social consequence—it's so easy to find yourself in an inescapable tangle. But I'm a "good" writer—why can't I get myself out of this, you may ask.
Rather than offering you a prescriptive timeline, here are the key factors to consider when deciding whether to hire an academic editor sooner (or later) in your process. Once you've reflected on these considerations, you might find the answer of when to hire becomes radically less complicated.
After the birth of my son, I faced extreme isolation, Postpartum Anxiety (PPA), breastfeeding struggles, adrenal fatigue and chronically high cortisol levels, constant pain from diastasis recti, a child who needed surgery at six months old, and more. And then I was expected to return to teaching and writing my dissertation as if my body and mind had not just gone through the beautiful trauma of creating and nurturing a life.
If you’ve ever found yourself staring at a blank document and then quietly Googling "how do I start my dissertation?," you are not alone. If you’re stuck on how to start writing your dissertation and get that momentum going, here are three strategies that work—especially for high-achieving, thoughtful scholars who feel the weight of the work.
An academic editor went on a toddlerless V-day date to see Wuthering Heights (2026)—and ended up exploring obsession, fantasy, and the power of a developmental edit.
You've poured so many of your precious work and personal hours into perfecting an article. You finally click "Submit" and feel so relieved. And then, after perhaps months or—let's face it, maybe years—you receive a cold rejection email. Or worse, the journal ghosts you completely. This is a really hard but unfortunately very common occurrence in academic publishing. Why is it so hard to get your article published when you're putting in all the work you should be?
When deadlines are immovable, expectations are high, and the work itself carries intellectual, political, or emotional weight, self-care can feel like a luxury you simply don’t have.
Whether you’re a faculty member who needs editorial support for an article or a book, or a grad student who’s struggling to complete your dissertation—I can help lighten your load. Let’s chat.
Banish overwhelm!
No Editor? No Problem
Get Published Faster!
No Time to Edit? Fixed
Share the Load!