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the university scholar’s workflow
36
items i write all day, every day. i've tried all the focus apps, writing tools, dissertation and writing resources. whether you are writing for grad school, work, or even substack academic and research writing is a process and this is the system that will ...
Sections
6
01: writers write
02: staying in conversation
03: organizing your ideas
04: managing your time
05: alignment
06: soar past the resistance
01: writers write
the first rule of being a scholarly writer is writing. writing is thinking, writing is remembering, and, most of all, writing is showing up to the page. build a writing practice you love, and writing will love you back. these are the best analog and ...
birds build nests one twig at a time, writers write one word at a time.
bird by bird: some instructions on writing and life by annie lamott
i read this book cover to cover for 10 years before i had the audacity to write a single word without cringing. goldberg gives us permission to return to our origin stories and hone our craft from there.
writing down the bones: freeing the writer within by natalie goldberg
sometimes, ideas come in fast - capture them smoothly.
pilot precise v5 pens
easy analogue to capture ideas that come up while we are typing. bc sometimes your brain is fastre than any machine.
tops legal pads
you will need more storage, so don't wait till later. data management is everything.
google one
a bit of a learning curve, but keeps track of complex projects with ease.
scrivener app
pricy, but this is like the never-ending legal pad and you can easily save the notes you want.
reMarkable paper pro tablet and marker
quite simply the future of digital notebooks.
moleskine smart writing set
you might remember these in-person groups, but they're online now, too. so write anywhere with others; you're not alone
shut up and write!
02: staying in conversation
scholarship is an apprenticeship and a community, and your writing is always in conversation with others on and off the page. foster that community, find your place and voice in it, and help it grow in useful ways. learn from others as you go.
this book is worth its weight in gold. it really helped me grasp the raison d’être of scholarly writing and how good arguments structurally hold together.
helping doctoral students write: pedagogies for supervision by barbara kamler & pat thomson
learn the zotero ropes and start managing citations from day one. every single paper, thesis, and, eventually, your book will thank you
zotero citation management software
one of the best things on your scholarly journey is you’ll go to faraway places and meet many other academics. keep in touch with them, keep growing your network and community one conversation at a time.
whatsapp
write together; this community of scholars is incredibly uplifting.
the academic writers space
relationships are built one coffee at a time. granoveter’s classic “weak ties” theory has proven itself over and over again. if you can’t always meet IRL, definitely set up a free calendly to make social meetings easier.
calendly
take better notes with mem, talk to your notes and pdfs.
mem
03: organizing your ideas
connecting the dots is fundamental to good writing, so take time regularly to
process your notes and ideas. these are the best second brains, personal knowledge management systems, and data management systems out here.
written for the time of index cards and everything analog, but it will teach you how to knit together ideas — timeless.
demystifying dissertation writing by dr. peg boyle single
one word: zettelkasten; as you write, weave your ideas together
obsidian
outline apps abound, but workflowy is king.
workflowy
best place for crm, research and publication pipeline, workflows. customize with each academic and writing life era.
notion
this is a beautiful bookmark manager. save ephemera like jobs and syllabi or evergreen sources that you can access from anywhere. these are things that are easier to save than moving to a google drive folder or indexing in zotero.
raindrop.io
great app that helps me visualize chapters and ideas. a mix between raindrop and obsidian.
heptabase
04: managing your time
we have colonized time in strange and ingenious ways over the last few centuries. the calendar is a god. we live by deadlines, meetings, block schedules, and other countdowns — and we call our devotion time management. time becomes a guardrail, and w...
outsource scrum and task breakdown; focus on writing
claude cowork
time block your calendar for certain task categories. but here is the place to track your tasks and the checklist for each task. outsource all the extra short-term planning and overthinking.
todoist
if the calendar is an altar, make yours work for you.
google calendar
track your time, create categories of everything you do, and start tracking how long it takes to find sources, write a paragraph, outline a chapter, complete something. these mini-rubrics will help you get better at knowing yourself over time.
toggl track
think about time nonlinearly, too. ritual is everything for writers, when we master our routines and cycles, we free up cognitive space to focus on our creativity and mental activity.
owaves
05: alignment
really good knowledge work requires mind-body alignment, coherence, and staying pain-free. here is the cheat code.
back pain, who? the pain of sitting in a chair will be eradicated forever with a regular pilates practice. you won't find a more classical pilates studio than this one.
pilates reforming NY
deep work is intense, and for mind-body alignment we need rigorous movement. jogging and running are some of the best ways to clear the mind.
asics gel-1130 sneakers
walking is essential for scholarly writers because it the mind literally brainstorms, connects the dots, and builds conceptual clarity when we move our feet without a clear agenda. so walk, let your mind do its thing, and wear comfortable (yet stylis...
hoka mafate speed 2 sneakers
find support. give support. knowledge work requires externalizing some things. betterhelp is useful when we can’t find in-network talk therapists
betterhelp
structured meditation technique with a 3-day training that helps build the practice. it honestly felt like asmr and quite simply changed my life.
transcendental meditation
once you master the core understanding of this book, the world is your oyster. you can stand in your own voice, you can do literally anything.
the courage to be disliked by ichiro kishimi & fumitake koga
06: soar past the resistance
this is a gpt that coaches you, has your back, and keeps track of your progress. xp, what?
hello birdie ai writing coach
who am i to make this claim? to attempt this? imposter syndrome or not, authentic writing requires us to be vulnerable and face our insecurities.
the war of art: break through the blocks and win your inner creative battles by steven pressfield
research, by definition, means entering uncharted territory. writing original claims is terrifying work. this help helps us move boldly past ourselves.
the artist’s way by julia cameron
the easiest way to get started with TAW is with this companion volume
the artist’s way morning pages journal by julia cameron