DP&L Episode 235: Give Yourself a Conference Maintenance Day
Defend, Publish & Lead Podcast
Release Date: 07/05/2025
DP&L Episode 254: Four Tweaks for Academic Writing Month 2025
Defend, Publish & Lead Podcast
Christine Tulley, President and Executive Writing Coach, explores how to use Academic Writing Month (November) not to add more work, but to improve your writing habits and practices. She shares four strategic tweaks that can help academic writers become more satisfied with their work as the calendar year closes: finding one ideal writing day, creating a dream project list, taking stock of nine satisfaction areas, and taking advantage of free learning opportunities. Rather than pushing harder, these tweaks focus on reconnecting with what makes academic writing fulfilling. Resources Mentioned: ...
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DP&L Episode 253: How I Used AI to Make a Book Writing Plan
Defend, Publish & Lead Podcast
Christine Tulley, President and Executive Writing Coach, shares her experience using AI (Claude) to create a comprehensive writing plan for her upcoming book on sabbaticals, commissioned by Princeton University Press for their Skills for Scholars series. With a deadline of February 20th and only 18,000 of 65,000 words written, she demonstrates how AI can be a powerful project management tool for academic writers while maintaining ethical boundaries about what content to share with AI platforms. Episodes Mentioned: Resources HOLIDAY COACHING HOURS - All hours at lowest prices for the...
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DP&L Episode 252: How to Decide if You Have a Viable Idea
Defend, Publish & Lead Podcast
Christine Tulley, President and Executive Writing Coach, discusses how academics can determine whether they have a viable publication idea by examining four key factors: first, whether you can execute the project with available resources including time, materials, and access to necessary data; second, whether the idea fits with a target journal or publication outlet and potentially a backup option; third, how the idea aligns with your scholarly positioning, expertise, and research agenda; and fourth, whether the idea has potential impact with an identifiable audience who would actually read...
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DP&L Episode 251: Overwhelmed as an Academic Parent
Defend, Publish & Lead Podcast
Christine Tulley, President and Executive Writing Coach, addresses the mounting pressures academic parents face as they juggle grading, writing deadlines, children's activities, caregiving responsibilities, and the approaching holiday season. She offers four practical strategies for managing overwhelming periods, including leaving margin in your schedule, connecting with other academic parents for support, and seeking guidance from those who have successfully navigated similar challenges. While acknowledging that opting out is always an option, this episode focuses on resources for those who...
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DP&L Episode 250: My Top 5 Favorite Episodes
Defend, Publish & Lead Podcast
Christine Tulley, President and Executive Writing Coach, counts down her favorite episodes in this 250th episode of the Defend, Publish & Lead podcast. Starting at number five, she highlights "Your Writing Project Mix" (Episode 108), which helps academic writers strategically plan which projects to tackle each semester. Number four covers "5 Steps for Effective Writing and Research Collaborations" (Episode 43), featuring advice on contingency planning when co-authors fall behind. Number three discusses "Reasons for Source Support" (Episode 62), based on the book "How Scholars Write," which...
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DP&L Episode 249: Keep Writing Top of Mind
Defend, Publish & Lead Podcast
This episode shares three ways to keep thinking about scholarly writing when you are not actually doing it. Recommendations for podcasts and books on academic writing are shared, along with suggestions for joining an organization or other initiative where regular contact with your writing is encouraged. Episodes Mentioned Books Mentioned: by Leonard Cassuto by Bec Evans by Thomas Deetjen Resources: - contact christine@defendpublishandlead.com for subscription information Set your writing goals with us! . Check out our current and past workshops at for writing support...
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DP&L Episode 248: Don’t Let Grading Steal Your Writing Time
Defend, Publish & Lead Podcast
In Episode 248 Christine Tulley, President and Executive Writing Coach AT Defend, Publish & Lead, shares four practical strategies for managing grading responsibilities while protecting writing time: front-loading writing at the beginning of the semester before grading intensifies, leaving detailed notes after each writing session to facilitate re-entry after breaks, prioritizing writing before grading whenever possible to ensure it happens and to capitalize on fresh mental energy, and proactively blocking backup writing slots in future weeks to compensate for reduced productivity during...
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DP&L Episode 247: Do You Need a Restart?
Defend, Publish & Lead Podcast
In Episode 247 Christine Tulley, Defend, Publish & Lead President and Executive Writing Coach, shares multiple strategies for a resetting a day, a week, a project, a mode of writing, and more. Resources: - contact christine@defendpublishandlead.com for subscription information Set your writing goals with us! . Check out our current and past workshops at for writing support content. A FREE webinar is posted each month. Missed a workshop? Request a workshop or webinar recording from christine@defendandpublish.com Don't forget about the wonderful resources at Textbook and Academic...
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DP&L Episode 246: Three Lessons from Tuesday Toolbox
Defend, Publish & Lead Podcast
In Episode 246 Christine Tulley, Defend, Publish & Lead President and Executive Writing Coach, shares three insights the Tuesday Toolbox writing initiative including: Academic writing benefits from formulas as starting points, writing sessions need single focuses beyond project selection (like argument clarity or sentence variety), and surprisingly, academic writers lack opportunities to regularly refresh their writing skills. Christine encourages listeners to actively seek ways to strengthen their craft through resources and continuous learning. Related Episodes Resources...
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DP&L Episode 245: Leave Margin
Defend, Publish & Lead Podcast
This episode describes the critical importance of building adequate margin into academic schedules. After a week that went "off the rails" due to unexpected emergencies including children's health issues, emergency dental work, and even a mouse invasion, Christine Tulley, President and Executive Writing Coach at Defend, Publish & Lead, discovered that while she thought she had built sufficient 30-minute buffers into her daily schedule, she hadn't accounted for how tightly stacked her days were against each other. When one day explodes due to emergencies, there's insufficient margin in...
info_outlineIn this practical summer organization episode, President and executive writing coach Christine Tulley introduces a systematic approach to managing academic conference logistics, planning, and participation. She shares her streamlined method for transforming the often chaotic world of conference attendance into a manageable, strategic process that saves time and reduces stress throughout the academic year.
Christine opens by acknowledging the common academic struggle with conference management chaos - missed deadlines for desired conferences, last-minute scrambling for hotel reservations, lost abstracts, and the tendency to attend conferences out of habit rather than strategic professional development. Her solution emerged from recognizing that summer provides the ideal window for systematic conference planning when academic schedules allow for thoughtful decision-making.
As someone who attends approximately four conferences annually, all requiring travel and significant logistical coordination, Christine developed this maintenance system to ensure she presents at conferences aligned with her current research interests while avoiding the stress of deadline-driven panic decisions. She emphasizes that this process typically requires only about an hour of focused work, making it accessible even for busy academics.
Tools Mentioned:
- Asana - Free project management software for idea tracking
- Email search functions - For CFP and acceptance management
- Calendar blocking - Strategic scheduling protection
- Airline alerts - Automated flight price monitoring
Related Episodes:
Resources from Defend, Publish & Lead:
- Summer Professional Development: Defend Publish & Lead offers multiple free webinars and seminars designed for faculty developers, graduate students, and academics at all career stages, available through their Eventbrite page.
- Free Resources Available: Visit defendpublish.com and click "Events" to access comprehensive faculty development programming including writing group facilitation, administrative writing support, and dissertation writing strategies.
- Need help developing systematic approaches to conference planning or other professional development organization? Contact Defend, Publish & Lead for personalized coaching support. Email Christine directly at christine@defendpublish.com for guidance on creating sustainable academic organization systems.