In this episode, host Christine Tulley describes how to conduct a 6-month review of your writing productivity to see if you are on track to meeting your writing goals and how to adjust the remaining months to close out the year with a focus on completion. Resources Mentioned: Free Fall 2026 Planning Webinar - Monday, July 27  •  11 AM - 12 PM ET  Join our Summer 2026 Writing Accountability Group - just $25 for entire summer and sessions are recorded - email me if you want to join us every Monday ([email protected]) and get a FREE summer progress tracker Episodes Mentioned: Episode 286 - Five Updates to Your Scholarship Profile This Summer Episode 108 – Your Writing Project Mix  DPL Resources: Set your writing goals with us! Try us out in a free consultation. Check out our current and past workshops at Eventbrite for writing support content. A FREE webinar is posted each month. Missed a workshop? Request a workshop or webinar recording from [email protected] Don't forget about the wonderful resources at Textbook and Academic Authors Association. The organization can be found at: https://www.taaonline.net New to TAA? Join for just $25 using discount code DP25! You will also receive a copy of the eBook, Guide to Making Time to Write: 100+ Time & Productivity Management Tips for Textbook and Academic Authors.

In Episode 288, host Christine Tulley describes a variety of ways to start a writing session and encourages self-study of starting processes with strategic questions. Resources Mentioned Five Entry Points to Writing free webinar!  Join our Summer 2026 Writing Accountability Group - just $25 for entire summer and sessions are recorded - email me if you want to join us every Monday ([email protected]) and get a FREE summer progress tracker   Other Episodes on Starting Episode 163 Opening a Writing Session   DPL Resources Set your writing goals with us! Try us out in a free consultation. Check out our current and past workshops at Eventbrite for writing support content. A FREE webinar is posted each month. Missed a workshop? Request a workshop or webinar recording from [email protected] Don't forget about the wonderful resources at Textbook and Academic Authors Association. The organization can be found at: https://www.taaonline.net New to TAA? Join for just $25 using discount code DP26! You will also receive a copy of the eBook, Guide to Making Time to Write: 100+ Time & Productivity Management Tips for Textbook and Academic Authors.

In Episode 287, host Christine Tulley describes how she's planning for her upcoming office move and the decision-making process for what stays and what goes. Resources Mentioned Five Entry Points to Writing free webinar!  Join our Summer 2026 Writing Accountability Group - just $25 for entire summer and sessions are recorded - email me if you want to join us every Monday ([email protected]) and get a FREE summer progress tracker   Other Episodes on Offices Episode 23: Summer Reset: My Office (my office looks the same!)   DPL Resources Set your writing goals with us! Try us out in a free consultation. Check out our current and past workshops at Eventbrite for writing support content. A FREE webinar is posted each month. Missed a workshop? Request a workshop or webinar recording from [email protected] Don't forget about the wonderful resources at Textbook and Academic Authors Association. The organization can be found at: https://www.taaonline.net New to TAA? Join for just $25 using discount code DP26! You will also receive a copy of the eBook, Guide to Making Time to Write: 100+ Time & Productivity Management Tips for Textbook and Academic Authors.

In Episode 286 of the Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast, host Christine Tulley describes five tasks to update everything from your CV to your ORCID ID. Resources Mentioned Five Entry Points to Writing free webinar!  Join our Summer 2026 Writing Accountability Group - just $25 for entire summer and sessions are recorded - email me if you want to join us every Monday ([email protected]) and get a FREE summer progress tracker Episodes Mentioned Episode 131: Why You Need an Orcid ID DPL Resources Set your writing goals with us! Try us out in a free consultation. Check out our current and past workshops at Eventbrite for writing support content. A FREE webinar is posted each month. Missed a workshop? Request a workshop or webinar recording from [email protected] Don't forget about the wonderful resources at Textbook and Academic Authors Association. The organization can be found at: https://www.taaonline.net New to TAA? Join for just $25 using discount code DP26! You will also receive a copy of the eBook, Guide to Making Time to Write: 100+ Time & Productivity Management Tips for Textbook and Academic Authors.

In Episode 285 of the Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast, host Christine Tulley tackles the anxiety of being scooped, when another scholar is about to publish something strikingly similar to your work-in-progress. She offers four practical strategies: carefully examine the competing project to assess how it truly differs from yours; consider whether the overlap signals a hot topic with room for multiple voices; identify different venues or presses to find your own lane; and, most counterintuitively, reach out to the potential scooper as a possible collaborator.  Resources Mentioned Faculty Writing Support- it's open access and free! Read the introduction to learn more about how we moved from competitors to collaborators. Free Academic Parenting and Time Management Webinar Wed., June 17, 12-1pm ET. Join our Summer 2026 Writing Accountability Group. Just $25 for entire summer and sessions are recorded - email me if you want to join us every Monday ([email protected]) and get a FREE summer progress tracker DPL Resources Set your writing goals with us! Try us out in a free consultation. Check out our current and past workshops at Eventbrite for writing support content. A FREE webinar is posted each month. Missed a workshop? Request a workshop or webinar recording from [email protected] Don't forget about the wonderful resources at Textbook and Academic Authors Association. The organization can be found at: https://www.taaonline.net New to TAA? Join for just $25 using discount code DP26! You will also receive a copy of the eBook, Guide to Making Time to Write: 100+ Time & Productivity Management Tips for Textbook and Academic Authors.

In Episode 284 of the Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast, host Christine Tulley interviews productivity author Laura Vanderkam about her newly released book Big Time. In this book, Vanderkam centers on the idea of viewing time as abundant rather than scarce. She introduces the concept of "golden hours", the four to five hours between work and bedtime on weeknights,  arguing that these underutilized stretches can be reclaimed for rejuvenation, socializing, and personal enjoyment rather than defaulting to doomscrolling. She also encourages academics to think in weeks (168 hours) rather than days, since the full week reveals far more available time than any single 24-hour period suggests. For academics juggling increasingly fragmented schedules — more classes, more committees, more email — Vanderkam offers three core strategies: track your time for a full week to see where it actually goes, set aside a dedicated weekly planning session to assign priorities to specific time slots, and always identify a backup research block in advance so that when life inevitably intervenes, progress doesn't grind to a halt. Tulley connects these ideas to the challenges of carving out scholarly writing time, and the conversation closes with Vanderkam emphasizing that time tracking isn't about self-judgment, but about ensuring the stories we tell ourselves about our time actually match reality. Resources Mentioned "Big Time" by Laura Vanderkam Join our Summer 2026 Writing Accountability Group. Just $25 for entire summer and sessions are recorded - email me if you want to join us every Monday ([email protected]) and get a FREE summer progress tracker DPL Resources Set your writing goals with us! Try us out in a free consultation. Check out our current and past workshops at Eventbrite for writing support content. A FREE webinar is posted each month. Missed a workshop? Request a workshop or webinar recording from [email protected] Don't forget about the wonderful resources at Textbook and Academic Authors Association. The organization can be found at: https://www.taaonline.net New to TAA? Join for just $25 using discount code DP26! You will also receive a copy of the eBook, Guide to Making Time to Write: 100+ Time & Productivity Management Tips for Textbook and Academic Authors.

In this episode host Christine Tulley builds on Episode 281 to walk listeners through the transition from finishing one writing project to launching the next. She introduces the idea of thinking in two buckets: short-term, temporary projects (like an upcoming conference presentation) and the next substantive writing project, and shows how she maps both onto a Summer 2026 Project Progress Tracker used in her accountability group. Using her own situation as a live example — a TAA Summer Institute presentation due June 13th followed by a long-neglected, half-finished article she's committed to completing by early August — she emphasizes that the transition period between projects is critical and often underestimated. Key advice includes using a tool like PenZu to jot orientation notes before diving in, locating all project files and scattered materials in advance so that valuable writing time isn't lost to hunting, and allowing ideas for the next project to quietly percolate before the official start date. She closes with a reminder about the TAA Summer Institute on June 12–13, highlighting her own mid-career writing lab, a session for new and aspiring authors led by Dr. Pat Goodson, and a keynote by Brian Alexander on how the AI revolution is reshaping academic and textbook publishing.  Resources Mentioned Join our Summer 2026 Writing Accountability Group. Just $25 for entire summer and sessions are recorded - email me if you want to join us every Monday ([email protected]) and get a FREE summer progress tracker TAA Summer Institute Register for the TAA Institute for Textbook & Academic Authors, which will be held June 12-13. Get $50 off registration with code DP26. Episodes Mentioned Episode 281: You Finished a Project Now What? Episode 280 Interview with Greg Lewbart (textbook authoring) Episode 277 Interview with Pat Goodsen (author of Keep Writing) Episode 263 Interview with Brenda Ulrich, Interview with Brenda Ulrich, Academic Publishing Attorney (TAA)   DPL Resources Set your writing goals with us! Try us out in a free consultation. Check out our current and past workshops at Eventbrite for writing support content. A FREE webinar is posted each month. Missed a workshop? Request a workshop or webinar recording from [email protected] Don't forget about the wonderful resources at Textbook and Academic Authors Association. The organization can be found at: https://www.taaonline.net New to TAA? Join for just $25 using discount code DP26! You will also receive a copy of the eBook, Guide to Making Time to Write: 100+ Time & Productivity Management Tips for Textbook and Academic Authors.

  In Episode 282 of the Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast, host Christine Tulley interviews Dr. Bryan Alexander about how AI is reshaping textbook and academic publishing. Alexander is a futurist, Georgetown senior scholar, and keynote speaker for the TAA Summer Institute. He offers a broad, forward-looking view, beginning with the larger forces already destabilizing higher education: shifting demographics, changing economics, enrollment pressures, and evolving cultural attitudes toward the academy. He then surveys the technological landscape — the maturation of ebooks, the ongoing challenge of mobile-friendly scholarship, extended reality, and open access — before zeroing in on AI's multifaceted impact. Topics include the spectrum of ways authors are using AI to write (from full generation to light assistance), the thorny intellectual property questions surrounding AI training data and publisher licensing deals, the flood of AI-generated or AI-assisted content entering publishing pipelines, and unresolved questions around disclosure and verification. Alexander also highlights tools like NotebookLM as a virtual colleague for writers and acknowledges the deep divide within academia between AI enthusiasts and those who want it kept out of scholarly work entirely. He closes by arguing that academia is uniquely positioned to lead society's broader reckoning with AI by drawing on expertise across psychology, economics, computer science, and history, and that this moment represents both a challenge and an opportunity for scholarly writers and publishers. Resources Mentioned Bryan Alexander's website TAA Summer Institute Register for the TAA Institute for Textbook & Academic Authors, which will be held June 12-13. Get $50 off registration with code DP26. Episodes Mentioned Episode 280 Interview with Greg Lewbart (textbook authoring) Episode 277 Interview with Pat Goodsen (author of Keep Writing) Episode 263 Interview with Brenda Ulrich, Interview with Brenda Ulrich, Academic Publishing Attorney (TAA) Summer Accountability Group Just $25 for entire summer and sessions are recorded - email me if you want to join us every Monday ([email protected]) and get a FREE summer progress tracker DPL Resources Set your writing goals with us! Try us out in a free consultation. Check out our current and past workshops at Eventbrite for writing support content. A FREE webinar is posted each month. Missed a workshop? Request a workshop or webinar recording from [email protected] Don't forget about the wonderful resources at Textbook and Academic Authors Association. The organization can be found at: https://www.taaonline.net New to TAA? Join for just $25 using discount code DP26! You will also receive a copy of the eBook, Guide to Making Time to Write: 100+ Time & Productivity Management Tips for Textbook and Academic Authors.

In Episode 281 of the Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast, host Christine Tulley shares a practical post-project workflow for academics who have just completed a major writing project — drawing directly from her own experience of turning in a book manuscript days earlier. She outlines five key steps. First, genuinely celebrate and resist the urge to immediately dive into the next project. Second, write closing notes (she uses the free online notebook PenZu) to capture unfinished ideas, figure renaming quirks, missing references, and anything that needs attention when page proofs arrive. Third, save and organize browser tabs into a dedicated bookmarks folder rather than simply closing them, so sources are easy to locate later. Fourth, preserve any unused project bits — such as formatted references that didn't make the final manuscript — as a gift to your future self. And fifth, look ahead to the next project with intention. Tulley also uses the episode to highlight Defend, Publish, and Lead's summer accountability group and to preview her upcoming mid-career writing lab at the TAA Summer Institute, where she'll help veteran academics keep their writing pipelines moving despite increasing administrative and mentorship demands.  Slides From This Episode Episodes Mentioned Episode 280: Interview with Dr. Greg Lewbart about Textbook Authoring & TAA Institute Episode 277: Interview with Dr. Pat Goodsen author of "Keep Writing" Episode 263: Interview with Brenda Ulrich, Academic Publishing Attorney Resources Mentioned Summer writing accountability group - just $25 for entire summer and sessions are recorded, email Christine Tulley if you want to join us every Monday ([email protected]) and get a FREE summer progress tracker TAA Summer Institute  Register for the TAA Institute for Textbook & Academic Authors, which will be held June 12-13. Get $50 off registration with code DP26. DPL Resources Set your writing goals with us! Try us out in a free consultation. Check out our current and past workshops at Eventbrite for writing support content. A FREE webinar is posted each month. Missed a workshop? Request a workshop or webinar recording from [email protected] Don't forget about the wonderful resources at Textbook and Academic Authors Association. The organization can be found at: https://www.taaonline.net New to TAA? Join for just $25 using discount code DP26! You will also receive a copy of the eBook, Guide to Making Time to Write: 100+ Time & Productivity Management Tips for Textbook and Academic Authors.

In Episode 280 host Christine Tulley interviews Dr. Greg Lewbart, a veterinarian and board-certified zoological medicine specialist at NC State, about his three-decade journey as a textbook author and editor. Lewbart traces his path from working as a corporate fish veterinarian in the 1980s to publishing his first book on fish clinical cases in 1998 — now in its third edition — and editing contributed volumes on topics like invertebrate medicine, where he coordinates roughly 40 specialist contributors. He reflects on how the publishing landscape has changed, shares practical advice for aspiring textbook authors on crafting proposals, identifying publishers, and managing contributors (including the wisdom of preferring an upfront "no" over a missed deadline), and discusses his long involvement with the Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA), which he discovered in 2005 after winning a Texty Award. The episode closes with a preview of Lewbart's upcoming learning lab at the TAA Summer Institute, where he'll guide attendees through the full textbook authoring journey, along with a time management tip drawn from his experience as a marathon runner: chip away consistently in small sessions rather than waiting for large blocks of time.   Resources Mentioned: Summer writing accountability group - just $25 for entire summer and sessions are recorded TAA Summer Institute  Register for the TAA Institute for Textbook & Academic Authors, which will be held June 12-13. Get $50 off registration with code DP26. Summer Writing Season Is Coming! Join us for our annual FREE summer planning workshop Register to attend live or get the recording and tools   DPL Resources: Set your writing goals with us! Try us out in a free consultation. Check out our current and past workshops at Eventbrite for writing support content. A FREE webinar is posted each month. Missed a workshop? Request a workshop or webinar recording from [email protected] Don't forget about the wonderful resources at Textbook and Academic Authors Association. The organization can be found at: https://www.taaonline.net New to TAA? Join for just $25 using discount code DP26! You will also receive a copy of the eBook, Guide to Making Time to Write: 100+ Time & Productivity Management Tips for Textbook and Academic Authors.