We're all struggling

Hi Manuscript Workers,

This was not the newsletter I intended to write this week. I plan the newsletter themes well in advance and I had hoped to write something about the different kinds of goals scholars might have for their books and how those goals play into the kind of proposal you write and the kind of publisher you’ll want to work with. I still think that’s a good idea for a post and I hope to write it someday, but this is not the day.

I’m going to be honest: like many of you, I’m struggling these days. I’m doing my best to keep up with work commitments, but with serious stuff going on in my personal life, it’s been hard to keep my mind in the game. My strategy so far has been to try to do the minimum of what I need to do to keep Manuscript Works running and give myself a break on the rest. If that means I haven’t responded to an email you’ve sent me, I am genuinely sorry about that. I hope to catch up soon.

In lieu of the newsletter I’d hoped to write, I thought this week I’d share some past posts that might apply to the situation you find yourself in right now. Maybe you saw these before but the timing wasn’t as applicable for you as it is now. I hope they’re helpful at this particular moment, then!

If you recently defended your dissertation…
If you’re thinking of turning your recently-finished dissertation into a book someday, check out this post on why you should take a break first and some less labor-intensive things you can do in the meantime while you let the diss sit.

If you aren’t sure whether you even need/want to write a scholarly book
anymore…
This post has 8 questions to help you decide whether it’s worth it to keep working on that book project you’re on the fence about.

If you’re handling a million things and want to stay present with your book project but don’t have much bandwidth for it…
Here are 10 quick things you can do to make progress toward publication when you don’t have the energy to do deep writing and revision.

If you’re feeling overworked and realize you need a system for tracking everything you’ve been doing…
Check out one of my most popular posts on how to keep track of your labor to show yourself you really are getting things done (and deserve some rest).

If you’ve somehow managed to set aside time to write a book proposal in the near future but aren’t sure where to start…
Start here, with my quick guide to the essential elements of a scholarly book proposal. There’s more (free) tips throughout the newsletter archive, and if you want to dive a little deeper, there’s always The Book Proposal Book.

If you’re planning to work on your book proposal in the new year and would like some structured assistance with it (beyond what you can find in my newsletter posts or The Book Proposal Book), one of my online programs might be right for you. The Book Proposal Accelerator is a synchronous group program that runs for 6 weeks, while the Book Proposal Shortcut for Busy Scholars is a self-paced program that can be accessed anytime. Both programs will be opening for enrollment on January 3rd, 2022. Questions about either program? You can reply directly to this email and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!