In Episode 275 of Defend, Publish, and Lead, Christine Tulley tackles the particular chaos of April in the academic calendar — a month packed with grading, end-of-year wrap-up, graduation requirements, and summer prep, all while writing obligations quietly fall by the wayside. Using the image of a pile of empty Easter eggs still sitting on her office floor, alongside an unpacked conference bag and two unemptied suitcases, she illustrates how small undone tasks create visual and mental background noise that compounds an already overwhelming season. Her solution is the "do one thing today" approach: identify a single task completable in 15 to 20 minutes and just handle it, because the quick win creates momentum and gives the brain a sense of forward progress — even when larger obligations like a looming book deadline or a backlog of student papers aren't yet resolved. She closes by encouraging listeners to ask themselves: what is one thing I can do today that will make tomorrow a little easier?

Resources Mentioned:

• TAA Summer Institute
• Dana K. White, Organizing for the Rest of Us

DPL Resources:

• Tuesday Toolbox - contact [email protected] for subscription information to get more videos like Lesson 13
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• 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
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