Lessons From a Twitter Attack!

Ironically, the same day I wrote a challenge about being of service, I had my first negative exchange on Twitter! I have since been informed by my social media advisers (gee, that sounds like a silly way to say well-wired friends!!) not to worry. You have not been initiated onto Twitter, I am told, until someone rips you a new one in response to your good intentions. So, I am now officially part of the community!

A few things do come up for me in response. First, my gut told me to disengage after the first exchange; I did not listen to my gut. I actually felt it when reading a few of the scholar's other posts. Always, always trust your gut (unless your gut lies to you about certain issues :)). While I did not say anything I regret, I did sense a certain nastiness coming my way; best to let go at first sign of such stuff.

Second, there is SOOO much bad advise and misinformation out there. There are so many old rules and conventions about writing and publishing articles and books that we internalize. Old “wisdom” about what works in one discipline actually often serves to keep young scholars “in their place,” and maintain those in power and privilege. In other words, if you somehow break the rules and thrives, well, you might replace said scholars! There are also a lot of people invested in saying how hard and awful academia is; its big business!

Third, it is time to begin the revision of my book, Practical Tips for Publishing Scholarly Articles, in earnest. The 3rd edition will push the book beyond the human services toward all disciplines. In truth, most of it already really is for a general scholarly audience, but it needs work to really make it a true interdisciplinary resource, examples and and all.

Fourth, and this really perhaps is related to the first point I made, is to know when to try to be helpful and when to shut the #(#($ up. Its not the first time that my sincere desire to help has been misinterpreted. I preach “look at your psychosocial stuff”- here is one that I clearly need more work on.

Finessing Responses to Editors

One of the most important skills you need to develop in the "publication game" is learning how to respond to editors feedback on "revision and resumbits". It is more complex than many people think, and you really need to consider where you get your advice about such matters. For instance, faculty who are journal editors, ironically, are not always the best people to ask for advice on how to respond to other editors; they will nearly always give you a "follow the rules" response. For example, many will advise you to only communicate to editors within a journal's online system, to wait patently for your reviews to come, and to always see reviews as being all "good" and "objective."

Ha!

The truth is, there are many tricks of the trade that come with having responded to literally hundred of editor queries. Seek advice from people who are perhaps a bit savvier politically, and who have tons of experience in such matters. It took me perhaps until my 50th or so article submission before I really started to think outside the box and saw the nature of the review process a bit more creatively.

Is Self Publishing the Answer?

Before I entered the Twittersphere a few months ago (did I really just write Twittersphere???), I never really understood how common it was for "service professionals" (coaches, editors, therapists, seminar leaders,  leadership experts, change agents, consultants, ect ect) to self publish eBooks as a marketing tool. They give these books away, to demonstrate to clients the type of work that they do, and to provide "value" to new clients. Many are really great and really helpful.

I am 100% clear that I am no marketing expert. I also have different goals than many coaches and other helping consultants; I have a full time gig and keep my practice small. Yet, I wonder if self-publishing is always the best answer, if your target clients are college professors?

In truth, I don't think most college professor and academics take the self publishing of an eBook very seriously. I worry that for some consultants and coaches, ONLY self publishing, and not seeking a more traditional press at some point my keep some academic clients away. I am sure that this is not true for everyone, but for many academics, the "street creds" of peer reviewed articles or traditional books is important. Many of us question the rigor of self published work.

I am not against self-publishing; I self published a memoir and a book to help English as second language scholars write and publish articles. Yet, my credibility with other scholars comes from my other published work; I would not count on my self-publications as evidence of my knowledge of academic writing and publishing. In fact, many of my coaching clients seem more interested in my book, Social Work Practice with Men at Risk  (Colombia University Press, 2010) than with Practical Tips for Publishing Scholarly Articles.

My purpose here? To encourage other academic coaches, and coaches and consultants in general, to consider more traditional means of publishing their books. While short term marketing needs may make the self-publishing of an eBook of value, there is nothing like publishing with a university press or well thought of commercial press for credibility.

 If you do think of writing such a book (which starts with a prospectus) , I know someone who can help you :).

Don't Write!

A challenge from last year..do it!!

You read correctly.  Don't write. After years of proselytizing the virtues of daily writing, here is a challenge for you. The next time you have written for a week or two every day (hopefully today qualifies as a potential start date!) I want you to not write for one day. That's right, don't write!

Open your article, or print it out, and just read it. I want you to feel the desire to write, I want you to see a few places, or at least one place, where you could write, where you want to write. Feel that urge. Let the desire to to write wash over you. Feel it in your body; notice your thoughts. Then, don't write. Allow yourself to be bothered throughout the day, think about wanting to work on the your article, wanting to write.

The next day, get back to it.  Write. Again, feel the desire to write, let it pour onto the page.

What happened for you?

Make sure to reflect upon the challenge. Processing exercises is almost as important as doing them.

Why Autoethnography?

A dear colleague of mine, Danny Bakan, a not so young scholar but new PhD, read to me the last few pages of his newly submitted for publication performative autoethnography. Afterward, I needed to sit for a few minutes, prior to speaking. I was chocked up; a tear welled in my left eye and I just felt the need to take it in, not the words, but the evocative lived truth of the words. I wanted to be with it, not pull it apart and compartmentalize what he was saying.

This is why autoethnography can be so powerful. Well done autoethnography (and this one was brilliant), helps us understand the socially situated lived experiences of others in such a way as to help us develop empathy. Well done personal narratives, like well done poetry or narrative nonfiction, provide us the opportunity to take in the fullness of how people feel about complex, powerful, and often painful social events. When a sensitive, analytical and/or expressive mind bends these insights back to the social, the personal narrative is transformed into autoethnography. 

For professions that demands self reflection and self reflexivity in service of helping and empowering others (i.e. education, social work, counseling, ect) autoethnography provides a powerful tool. The reading of well chosen autoethnographies can help be used to develop sensitivity to nuanced experiences, internal an external, that are difficult to capture and teach in less evocative, expressive methods. Helping students write their own “practice” autoethnographies takes it to an entirely different level. I have done this a few times, and will need to write about it soon.

Over the last few months, I have been writing a good deal on autoethographies. Some conceptual, some methodological, and some actual ones. With some book projects winding down it will soon be time to complete these suckers and push them into the world.

A poem, circa 2001, just because..

The Importance of Anti Oxidants

The dog shakes uncontrollably

when he sees the baby my wife cares for.

Only few years past early motherhood,

my wife loves the baby.

I worry about myself, only caring about

the $800 a month

invisibly stapled to the kid’s forehead,

or the protection of my silence,

and maybe the death

which will soon stick to fingers

like guilty blisters

that I press against granite typewriter keys.

George W. sees dead Iraqis as votes.

Pellets from smartbombs must

make constipating cereal

for little stomachs not accustomed to solid food.

I can never eat or sleep

before my first day in front of a class.

Republicans believe professors are drains

on the economy.

What use are professor poets

who don’t even teach poetry?

What use are dead Iraqis?

We might not needs smoking guns

but must need smoking bodies.

It amazes me how some folks smoke cigarettes

but drink green tea and take vitamins.

The press estimates thirty thousand marched

in Washington against the war.

Nearly five million watched the playoffs.

Why does my dog shake when he sees the baby?

Why did my retirement fund tank?

Why are there the miniature dead

floating on the surface of my tea?

by Rich Furman

Exercise: 50 words, no more, no less

I want you to stop what you are doing, or as soon as you are able to, and write fifty words on the primary article you are working on. When you hit fifty, stop!! I want you to feel the tension of wanting to write more. Let it frustrate you, let it build. Don't let yourself come back to the paper for a couple of hours.

Why did I do this to you?