Publish Not Perish

Jenn McClearen, PhD

Publish Not Perish is the podcast for scholars who want to write more—without burning out. Host Dr. Jenn McClearen shares practical tips, honest reflections, and real stories to help you make steady, meaningful progress on your writing with more ease, clarity, and joy. www.publishnotperish.net

  1. The Graveyard of Abandoned Writing Systems | Ep. 33

    MAR 19

    The Graveyard of Abandoned Writing Systems | Ep. 33

    What if the collapse of your writing routine is not evidence that you lack discipline but a sign that the system was never built for the realities of your life? In this episode, I explore why so many scholars blame themselves when a routine falls apart, rather than questioning the assumptions built into the strategy itself. I wanted to name that pattern clearly because I think these breakdowns often reveal far more about the limits of the system than about your commitment or capacity. I also consider what changes when we stop asking, “What’s wrong with me?” and start asking, “What would actually work for my real life, my real energy, and my real writing process?” I talk about the invisible assumptions built into many productivity systems, why so many of them don’t hold for scholars juggling caregiving, heavy teaching loads, neurodivergence, chronic stress, or writing in an additional language, and why flexibility is not a weakness but a necessary design principle. If you’ve built up a graveyard of abandoned routines and you’ve started to believe that nothing works for you, I hope this episode offers a gentler and more honest reframe. Get full access to Publish Not Perish at www.publishnotperish.net/subscribe

    13 min
  2. Feeling Like an Imposter in Academia Is Often Structural, Not Personal | Ep. 32

    MAR 12

    Feeling Like an Imposter in Academia Is Often Structural, Not Personal | Ep. 32

    Earlier this week, I wrote about the structural roots of perfectionism and argued that perfectionism is a strategy for surviving in environments where the cost of imperfection feels dangerously high…[Furthermore,] perfectionism doesn’t look the same on everyone, because the conditions we’re surviving in aren’t the same. The stakes of imperfection are not distributed equally, and that changes everything about how perfectionism operates, what it’s protecting, and what it costs. You can read that post here: Today, I’m taking a similar approach to the podcast by thinking through the structural roots of what we often call imposter “syndrome.” I explore why so much academic doubt is not a sign that something is wrong with you but a deeply understandable response to working in environments where the rules and conventions are unclear, the feedback is inconsistent, and the expectations keep shifting. If you have ever felt like everyone else got some secret handbook you never received, this conversation is for you. I draw on Dr. Angélica Gutiérrez’s concept of impostorization, which provides a way of shifting the focus away from individual pathology and toward the structures and practices that make people question their intelligence, competence, and belonging. Throughout the episode, I talk about how doubt and uncertainty can function as useful information rather than evidence that you do not belong, and I offer a more grounded way to build efficacy: not by pretending uncertainty is not there, but by learning how to navigate it with more clarity, support, and self-compassion. My hope is that this episode helps you feel a little less alone, a little less self-blaming, and better able to see that your uncertainty may make much more sense than you have been led to believe. Get the Support You Need to Write, Publish, and Flourish If you’re craving more support with your writing, here are a few ways we can work together: Writing Coaching—For scholars who want structure, accountability, and a sustainable writing practice that actually works in real life. https://www.jennmcclearen.com/coaching Developmental Editing—When you need an expert pair of eyes on the argument, structure, or clarity of your manuscript. https://www.jennmcclearen.com/editing Book Coaching—Six months of coaching + developmental editing to help you make meaningful progress on your manuscript. https://www.jennmcclearen.com/bookcoaching  Get full access to Publish Not Perish at www.publishnotperish.net/subscribe

    12 min
  3. Your Book Doesn't Need to Revolutionize Your Field | Ep. 31

    MAR 5

    Your Book Doesn't Need to Revolutionize Your Field | Ep. 31

    The moments that stall a book often look…reasonable. They look like being diligent: reorganizing notes, refining the outline, and doing just one more round of reading so you can feel ready. In this episode, I talk about the quiet threshold that often sits underneath all that preparation: the moment when you have to decide whether you trust your ideas enough to start putting them on the page. You worry that your ideas aren’t new enough, sharp enough, or important enough—and that if you draft, you’ll find out they don’t hold. I also name the impossible standard that tends to fuel this fear: the belief that your book has to revolutionize your field to be worth writing. And I offer a gentler, more accurate definition of what strong scholarly work actually does—how most meaningful books move conversations forward without needing to reinvent the whole discipline. Along the way, I unpack why “I need to read more” can sometimes be less about reading and more about self-protection, and I return to a distinction I come back to often: writing to think versus writing to communicate. If you’ve been stuck at the edges of your project, trying to get to certainty before you begin, I hope this episode gives you a steadier standard to measure yourself against and a little more permission to start drafting before you feel completely ready. Get the Support You Need to Write, Publish, and Flourish If you’re craving more support with your writing, here are a few ways we can work together: Writing Coaching—For scholars who want structure, accountability, and a sustainable writing practice that actually works in real life. https://www.jennmcclearen.com/coaching Developmental Editing—When you need an expert pair of eyes on the argument, structure, or clarity of your manuscript. https://www.jennmcclearen.com/editing Book Coaching—Six months of coaching + developmental editing to help you make meaningful progress on your manuscript. https://www.jennmcclearen.com/bookcoaching Get full access to Publish Not Perish at www.publishnotperish.net/subscribe

    14 min
  4. What It’s Really Like to Work With Me in Book Coaching | Ep. 30

    FEB 27

    What It’s Really Like to Work With Me in Book Coaching | Ep. 30

    If you’ve been reading Publish Not Perish for a while, you know I spend a lot of time thinking about sustainable writing practices, the emotional landscape of academic writing, and how we make meaningful progress on long, complex projects when life is already demanding so much of us. What I haven’t talked about as openly is what it actually looks like to work with me one-on-one, especially when you’re trying to move a book project forward. So in this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain. I walk through the difference between coaching and developmental editing, why I weave both together, and how that combination helps scholars move complex book projects forward with more clarity, structure, and sustained momentum. If coaching has ever felt a bit opaque or hard to picture, this episode should make things much more concrete. I also get into what the process looks like in practice—from the initial strategy session where we identify your goals and the obstacles standing in your way to the ongoing support that helps you keep making steady, real progress over time. Along the way, I dig into why so many academic writers find themselves stuck, what makes book coaching different from other forms of writing support, and why having the right kind of help can shift not just the project itself but your entire relationship to the work. If you’ve been quietly wondering whether this kind of support might be the thing that gets you unstuck, this episode is a good place to start exploring that question. Get full access to Publish Not Perish at www.publishnotperish.net/subscribe

    16 min
  5. The Hidden Cost of Too Many Projects at Once | Ep. 29

    FEB 19

    The Hidden Cost of Too Many Projects at Once | Ep. 29

    How many writing projects are you holding in your head right now—like, actively holding—not just the one on your desk, but all the others tugging at you in the background? In this episode, I’m talking about the hidden cost of carrying too many writing projects at once: the almost-finished article, the chapter that needs revision, the proposal you keep meaning to start, and the project you feel guilty for neglecting. Individually, each one might be manageable, but together they create a constant background hum of obligation that drains your cognitive and emotional bandwidth—even on days when you’re genuinely productive. We often treat these difficulties as a scheduling problem, but what I see again and again is that the deeper issue is scattered attention: too many open tabs on your brain’s desktop quietly pulling on you. Academia trains us to tolerate this, even to see it as ambition, but it comes at a real cost. So I’m inviting you to consider a different kind of progress—choosing what’s active and what’s explicitly dormant for now. You don’t have to abandon anything forever; sometimes naming what you’re not working on is what finally lets you focus, settle, and move forward without guilt. Get the Support You Need to Write, Publish, and Flourish If you’re craving more support with your writing, here are a few ways we can work together: Writing Coaching—For scholars who want structure, accountability, and a sustainable writing practice that actually works in real life. https://www.jennmcclearen.com/coaching Developmental Editing—When you need an expert pair of eyes on the argument, structure, or clarity of your manuscript. https://www.jennmcclearen.com/editing Book Coaching—Six months of coaching + developmental editing to help you make meaningful progress on your manuscript. https://www.jennmcclearen.com/bookcoaching Get full access to Publish Not Perish at www.publishnotperish.net/subscribe

    11 min
  6. Why I Don’t Tell Scholars to “Just Sit Down and Write” | Ep. 28

    FEB 12

    Why I Don’t Tell Scholars to “Just Sit Down and Write” | Ep. 28

    Today I’m unpacking a piece of advice that sounds simple—and sometimes even motivating—but often leaves scholars feeling worse when it doesn’t work: “Just sit down and write.” If you’ve ever tried to follow that instruction and immediately felt your brain seize up, your confidence drop, or your draft suddenly look unfamiliar, you’re not alone. In this episode, I talk about why the problem usually isn’t effort or discipline—and why it makes perfect sense that writing can feel hard to restart, even when you care deeply about your work. I share a gentler way to think about what’s really happening in those moments: not failure, not laziness, not a character flaw—just the very human challenge of re-entering a complex intellectual world. We’ll explore what it can look like to build a small “bridge” back into your project so you’re not trying to leap in cold, and why a few minutes of orientation can change everything about how a writing session feels. If writing time has been feeling tense, punishing, or slippery lately, consider this your invitation to try a different approach—one that helps you reconnect to the work you’re already in the middle of, with a little more steadiness and a lot more kindness. Get the Support You Need to Write, Publish, and Flourish If you’re craving more support with your writing, here are a few ways we can work together: Writing Coaching—For scholars who want structure, accountability, and a sustainable writing practice that actually works in real life. https://www.jennmcclearen.com/coaching Developmental Editing—When you need an expert pair of eyes on the argument, structure, or clarity of your manuscript. https://www.jennmcclearen.com/editing Book Coaching—Six months of coaching + developmental editing to help you make meaningful progress on your manuscript. https://www.jennmcclearen.com/bookcoaching  Get full access to Publish Not Perish at www.publishnotperish.net/subscribe

    13 min
  7. Writing is a relationship, not a test | Ep. 27

    FEB 5

    Writing is a relationship, not a test | Ep. 27

    In this episode, I’m sharing a shift that quietly changes everything for a lot of academic writers: moving from seeing writing as just a skill you perform to recognizing it as a relationship you live inside over time. So many of us are technically capable of writing and still feel stuck, resistant, or exhausted by it—and that disconnect isn’t a personal failure. It’s often the result of how we’ve been taught to approach writing as a transaction: produce the output, meet the deadline, get evaluated. When writing “works,” the relationship feels fine. When it doesn’t, it can quickly turn tense, judgmental, or even adversarial. I talk about what happens when trust erodes in that relationship—and why more tips, tools, or pressure rarely fix the problem. Instead, I explore what it looks like to replace judgment with curiosity, and how small reflective practices can help repair the relationship so writing feels safer and more workable again. This isn’t about lowering standards or forcing yourself to love writing. It’s about paying attention to how you show up, learning from what happens, and making it easier to return to the page over time. If writing has felt heavy or fraught lately, I hope this episode helps you see why—and offers a gentler, more sustainable way forward. Get the Support You Need to Write, Publish, and Flourish If you’re craving more support with your writing, here are a few ways we can work together: Writing Coaching—For scholars who want structure, accountability, and a sustainable writing practice that actually works in real life. https://www.jennmcclearen.com/coaching Developmental Editing—When you need an expert pair of eyes on the argument, structure, or clarity of your manuscript. https://www.jennmcclearen.com/editing Book Coaching—Six months of coaching + developmental editing to help you make meaningful progress on your manuscript. https://www.jennmcclearen.com/bookcoaching  Get full access to Publish Not Perish at www.publishnotperish.net/subscribe

    12 min
  8. Letting Go of the Writing That Got You Here | Ep. 26

    JAN 29

    Letting Go of the Writing That Got You Here | Ep. 26

    There’s a particular kind of grief that comes with deleting pages you fought to write. In this episode, I talk about why that feeling is so common when you’re turning a dissertation into a book and what it reveals about the shift from writing to be evaluated to writing in service of an argument and a reader. I reflect on why cutting isn’t a sign that something went wrong but an essential part of how book projects take shape. I also spend time with the emotional and practical side of letting go: why we cling to material that no longer serves the book, how scarcity thinking around writing makes revision more painful, and why early drafts are best understood as thinking tools rather than finished prose. If you’re revising a long project and feeling stuck, this episode is an invitation to trust that cutting isn’t erasing your work. Instead, it’s creating the space your book needs to become what it’s meant to be. This episode is one in a series of turning your diss-to-book. Here are the others: https://www.publishnotperish.net/p/five-key-shifts-from-dissertation https://www.publishnotperish.net/p/diagnosing-dissertation-mode-in-your https://www.publishnotperish.net/p/trained-not-to-trust-ourselves Get full access to Publish Not Perish at www.publishnotperish.net/subscribe

    12 min
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Trailer

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About

Publish Not Perish is the podcast for scholars who want to write more—without burning out. Host Dr. Jenn McClearen shares practical tips, honest reflections, and real stories to help you make steady, meaningful progress on your writing with more ease, clarity, and joy. www.publishnotperish.net

Information

  • Creator
    Jenn McClearen, PhD
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    34
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Jenn McClearen
  • Show Website
    Publish Not Perish

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