Your glass is (at least) half full. During the holidays, well-meaning family and friends are likely to ask about your progress on your dissertation, book, or article. Prepare your soundbite in advance.

Focus on what you have accomplished, and what you’re looking forward to: It’s going well. I’m making good progress. I’m looking forward to having more time to work on it. It’s a good challenge. I’m working through the theories/the introduction/the second chapter.

It’s not that your loved ones think you’ll never finish. Asking about your work means they recognize that it’s important to you. Appreciate that, without ever feeling bad about what you haven’t accomplished, yet.

Start now. The new year is approaching, and many of us are motivated to make resolutions and set goals for 2014. Oftentimes, we find ourselves disappointed when resolutions come up short. Setting a goal is only the first step in investing in your research and writing: remember that it takes time to develop a habit. Take these two weeks before the new year begins and start developing your routine and habit for whatever you aspire to in 2014. By January 1, it will already be familiar to you.

Set tiny tasks. Put a very small task related to writing on your to do list for the day. It’s the guilt-killer: once you get the tiny thing done, you can alleviate your sense of dread that another day might pass without making progress on your writing. Even better, the sense of accomplishment for doing one small thing can compel you to do more. Once you get started, you might end up spending even more time working.

Find a writing buddy. During Academic Writing Month, many writers used the spreadsheet to check in and log their daily progress. Accountability can be a great motivator, and it doesn’t need to end now that AcWriMo is over. In fact, you can make it even better. A fellow student, a childhood friend, a sibling, a colleague: someone who has had a supportive role in your life at some point can be a writing buddy. You don’t even need to be in the same town—or country—with your writing buddy. Best if the process and commitment is mutual, but you can also check in with someone who is not currently working on a project or not even a writer at all.

If you bristle at the term “buddy” because it reminds you of having to hold someone’s hand on a fourth grade field trip, come up with your own term. It’s another fine way to take ownership of the process. And creating a personal culture around your writing process adds meaning beyond the product itself.

What quality should the buddy has ? This may gives you an insight.

Be a kid, again. Last week, we talked about reading children’s books. This week, think about getting down on the floor to play. Get some crayons, markers, or colored pencils. And turn off your inner critic. Giant spirals and streaks, tiny intimate figures, big or small patterns—take advantage of the color and texture of your tools and toys. Task-oriented writers might like to start with a coloring book too, and there are some coloring books designed specifically for adults. The embodied act of creating something that is not your writing project can be an inspiration, a distraction, or a way to release some pent up energy.

Missed last week’s tip from Linda? Find it here!

Be a kid. Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously. Demanding deadlines, self-imposed expectations, inclinations toward perfectionism: they more likely make us frustrated humans than they are likely to make us better writers. Maybe you remember what it was like to be a kid and have experiences of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s idea of “flow”—being so engaged in the pleasure of what we’re doing that the rest of the world falls away. The simple rhythms of childhood can be a great relief from the constant noise of the inner critic in your head, or the idea you’re having trouble articulating in just the right way.

Whether it’s Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein, Eric Carle, or whatever author of children’s books connects best with you, find a book and read a few pages out loud. Not only are the rhythms magical, so are the simple approaches to complex concepts. Be a kid, be silly, and see if it can help refresh your writing.

Want more tips from Linda? Find it here!

Find some new music. If there’s one space of disagreement among preferences for the writing environment, music and background noise might top the list. A friend who grew up in a noisy household takes her laptop to a bowling alley. Another insists on getting as close to silence as possible. Still another puts on Spanish-language television, even though he’s rather monolingual. The dialogue stops the mind wandering and provides a rhythm without distraction. A few other options: very familiar music you listen to all the time can be evocative (in the days of audiocassettes, I had a mix tape that I named “sanctity songs”). Consider classical, jazz, or electronic music. No lyrics, less distraction. Folk, country, or opera may also suit you. See where the music might take you. A variety of wind chime apps are also available for iPhone or Android. If you prefer, noise cancelling headphones are also widely available.

For more Linda’s tips , Click here!

Greetings PhD2Published community! I am excited to join the site as managing editor here at the beginning of Academic Writing Month. Charlotte Frost and the team have fantastic plans for the month of November, when all of us will see what epic results we can gain by making a commitment to our writing. You’ll also have a whole community of support and enthusiasm to help you meet your goals.

Admittedly, I’ve set a tiny daily goal for AcWriMo, based on my struggle to meet my more ambitious word counts last year. A post on my experience—and why I’m looking forward to trying again—will be forthcoming.

A bit about me: I’m a communication and media studies scholar and earned my doctorate at the University of South Florida. My dissertation was a critical study of Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, and how this unique commemorative space is used for cultural events, performances, and celebrations. That project took my research interests in various directions, but all of my work focuses on the intersection of media and cultural memory.

After finishing my doctorate, I published journal articles and book chapters building on those existing interests, but managed to always put other commitments between myself and the book project I still have in mind. As other projects were completed and time passed, the idea of the book became even more elusive and mysterious. I came to PhD2Published in my quest to better understand the path to publishing a book.

I became an avid reader of PhD2Published as part of my summer reading and work on learning more about academic publishing, the writing process, writing groups, procrastination, and organization. I built my Twitter community, participated in Twitter chats, and even enrolled in a few MOOCs where I ended up having great collaborative experiences with people in various places in the world. As managing editor, I plan to bring some of this collective (and collected) wisdom to PhD2Published to help demystify the publication process. We might also find new collaborators, colleagues, editors, and companions along the way.

I have a friend and mentor who is brilliant about bringing people together. As such, she is not only able to set ideas and projects into motion, she is also surrounded by creative, thoughtful, productive people. She inspires me, along with Charlotte, Anna, and Sarah-Louise, and I am already in extraordinarily good company.

Stand your ground. Standing desks are increasingly popular: sitting is bad for the body, causing achy muscles and back strain. You don’t need to invest in a standing desk immediately: most kitchen counters are at a reasonable height for the kind of work you might do in writing, typing, and reading (along with the chopping and stirring for which they are designed). Standing also gives you an actual new perspective on your work and might yield that different angle you’ve struggled to find. Also music is very important!

Looking askew and anew at the writing process for tweaks and inspiration.

Let the committee in your head cheer you on. Whether it’s your thesis committee, journal editors, or collaborators, we can let ourselves be intimidated by the people who will judge our work. Imagine instead that they are there to support you, because indeed they are.

Want more tips from Linda? Find it here!