Can Prolifiko be used for other working projects aside from writing? After spending 20 years working in offices, publishing supremo Simon Linacre landed a plumb, home-based job for US company. But he soon came to realise that teleworking can be tough without the structures of an office environment. So he decided to find out whether Prolifiko could help him work from home more productively. [click to continue…]
Expert advice
Starting out in any career is going to be tough – and academia’s no different. But the interim findings of our study into scholarly writing practice suggest that early career researchers – those in years one and two of their career – find it particularly tough and that’s something that could impact their publishing productivity and wellbeing long term. [click to continue…]
Why is being prolific so important for long-term success as a writer? And how can you develop your own creative process so you can be more prolific? That’s what Joanna Penn of the Creative Penn podcast asked me. Here’s an edited extract of the interview where we discuss how to be prolific. [click to continue…]
Beta reading relationships are a great way of being held accountable in your writing practice. In this first part of a series on how to shape an accountability relationship, we look at critiquing partners and talk to a pair of writers who met on a writing course – and have been reading and giving feedback on each other’s writing ever since.
You might think you have a publishing plan for your PhD but what if it’s the wrong one for you and your academic career? Academic publishing expert Simon Linacre, director of international marketing and development at Cabells, argues that being strategic is about where, how and when you publish your research – and this makes all the difference between scholarly success and failure. [click to continue…]
Have you ever start a challenging writing routine or a new fitness regime only for it to fail a few days later? If so, don’t blame yourself – blame your brain! When you take on something that’s too ambitious or too complicated, you can trigger your brain’s fear centre – and this leads to overwhelm. But you can control your brain using two simple methods, both harnessing the power of neuroscience… [click to continue…]
Writing is never going to be something you do on autopilot – it’s way too difficult for that. But there are some simple methodologies based in neuroscience you can use to make you, and your writing brain, feel more positive about finding a regular time. But first, you need to get to know your hedonic hotspots… [click to continue…]
Brian Clegg is a highly prolific author of 68 fiction and non-fiction books. Yep, you heard me, 68 – and counting. Now one of the world’s top popular-science writers, Clegg first cut his teeth in journalism after a corporate career. We interview him about his motivations, his writing process and how he keeps going. [click to continue…]
We’ve just launched a major study into academic writing practice. It’s research that we hope will give anyone who needs to write evidence-based guidance on how to develop a writing system that works for them. Here’s why we’re doing it and what’s involved. [click to continue…]
Helen Sword is a guru in scholarly writing circles. She’s spent a decade finding out what makes academic writers tick and publishing evidence-based books and articles about various aspects of scholarly writing and publication. Whilst her research has focused on academics, it applies to any writer wanting to smash their writing goals and strike a more balanced relationship with their muse. [click to continue…]