Monday Giggle!

Sunday Planning time! Synch the calendars & meal plan. Do you have a freezer or pantry meal you can pull out to help with the inevitable chaos right now?

Self-Care Saturday! Your skin is your biggest organ. Give it a good hydrating coat of lotion this weekend! Any brand will do. Worried about oily skin? Look for an oil-free version!

Self-Care Saturday! Your skin is your biggest organ. Give it a good hydrating coat of lotion this weekend! Any brand will do. Worried about oily skin? Look for an oil-free version!

It's Five-Minute Friday! What's one small thing Today You can do to make Monday You's life easier? No ideas? Check your current project progress vs term goals (adjust either plan or expectations), or review notes/previous exams for a course you're teaching to prepare for finals.

Psssst - I've got pins, hit me up!

As an academic, you are the expert at the intersection of your particular areas of interest. Virtually no one else shares that exact overlap of expertise. As a result, you need to ensure your writing speaks to readers who might be novices in parts of your expertise. Audience matters!

#MPSA2026 here I come! I'll be giving 2 teaching-research-methods-adjacent papers. I'd love to see you there!

As I was going to bed last night I left myself a reminder that the Google Assistant translated as "bring my little tree." What did I mean????? I'm flying out to Chicago this evening and already have a reminder to pack my toiletries.

I'll be at #MPSA2026 in Chicago from Thursday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. Who else is there? Tag me to connect! Or find me in the wild for a social battery pin!

Worry and shame have their places. But dogs probably have it right. Be ashamed only for as long as someone you love is scolding you, then give them a kiss and it's all better. Worry about thunderstorms, physical or metaphorical, when they happen, and forget as soon as they're over.

My late grandfather always said, "Better out than in!" Usually he said it when we were home sick at his house and blowing our noses or puking, but it works for writing too. Words on the page COUNT. Thinking is necessary, but at some point you need to get out of your head & onto paper. Tinker later.

Summer term registration is officially OPEN! 1:1 services, small group programs, I've got it all! AND it's all affordable! My most expensive program, 4 months of weekly meetings + other stuff, is only $500 - EVERYTHING else is less than that for 4 months of support. Support starts around $20-25/week

If you're a faculty member who'd like the final datasets for classroom use, just DM - I'll have them posted later today!

Monday Giggle! I should probably start my planting soon!

THANK YOU to the Bluesky friends who helped gather crazy data for class yesterday! Survey 1 got 1,796 responses and Survey 2 got 796 -- I was hoping for a couple hundred each but you surpassed my wildest dreams! Here are some highlights from the findings.

Sunday Planning time! Synch the calendars & meal plan. Then take a really good look at what is happening between now and the end of term. Make sure ALL the family and end-of-year events are logged in ALL the places. Have a review with kids/spouse if needed to ensure everyone is on the same page!

If you're enjoying this one or getting the closed notification, try this one instead: forms.gle/YjXZReFZVJ5H...

I NEED HELP! Please take this quick, meaningless 19 question survey so I can get data for my students to learn stats! I did a similar version a few months ago but missed an important question type. Even if you did the old one, please do it again! Please circulate widely!

NEWS FLASH: Your book isn't really about what *you* want to write about. It's what *your reader* needs to believe your argument. It's a pretty important distinction. My Book Jump Start programs help you refine that central claim so you can make decisions about what evidence in what order is most

One of these days, I'm going to sit down to write a conference paper and know EXACTLY what's going to happen in it. Today, clearly, is not that day. I stumbled on a significant idea that I needed to articulate and now not only have I not achieved my writing task for the day, I've made MORE tasks!

Self-Care Saturday! It's getting to be pleasant weather in most of the Northern Hemisphere. Get outside for a bit this weekend, even if it's just to take your reading or grading to the park or an outdoor coffee shop!

Planning to make a big push on your 2nd book this summer, but finding yourself drowning in previously published papers & ideas pulling in different directions? SECOND BOOK JUMP START is for you. It's a 4 week, 3 day/wk, intensive book development workshop designed specifically for authors looking to

It's Five-Minute Friday! What's one small thing Today You can do to make Monday You's life easier? No ideas? Make a plan for a weird bit of empty time next week (between meetings?), check for any expenses you need to report/turn in, or delete 3 email.

My orientation to days is ALL messed up. Our house packing took one day instead of 2, so my husband was home doing nothing for 3 days instead of a standard 2 day weekend. Then we had loadout, which was a full day, and half a day of cleaning + half day drive. We've been in limbo since Tuesday,

Does your book have all the MAGIC it needs? It needs to be more than the sum of its chapters, and there's only one way to do it: MAGIC. Short for Main Argument Goes In all Chapters. I can show you how - for FREE.

It’s midmonth! Where are you on your writing goals for this month? Do your goals actually seem reasonable now that you know what this month looks like? Do you need to adjust your time allocations to meet your goals, or scale back your goals to converge with your time allocations?

A good academic monograph isn't a mystery story - no delayed big reveals here! Your argument needs to be not only front & center, but also woven through all the chapters. Know how to do this? I do! Join me for the FREE Build-A-Book Workshop May 1 to put some MAGIC in your book! buff.ly/3p1Uo4Z

I might - just MIGHT - get to pee in solitude in our new house! Two of the bathroom doors open outward, which means that even if I don't quite get them pulled tight enough to latch in this off-kilter old house, the dogs can't just push through them!! It's the small things, y'know?

Almost ANYTHING can be a reward. REST is NOT a reward, nor are meals. Those are necessary. Special meals? Ok. Extra or special types of rest? Sure! Remember, the purpose of a reward is to generate dopamine. What gives you that good feeling?

Summer term registration is officially OPEN! 1:1 services, small group programs, I've got it all! AND it's all affordable! My most expensive program, 4 months of weekly meetings + other stuff, is only $500. EVERYTHING else is less than that for 4 months of support. Support starts around $20-25/week

Also - I'll be at the @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org booth on Friday at 3 talking about the new 2nd edition of _Empirical Research and Writing: A Political Science Student's Practical Guide_! I'll have hands on activities from the book's instructor manual to try, too! www.cambridge.org/powner

Who is going to MPSA this year? Who will I get to give a Social Battery pin? Catch me in the wild and introduce yourself as a Bluesky friend to get a pin!

Almost ANYTHING can be a reward. REST is NOT a reward, nor are meals. Those are necessary. Special meals? Ok. Extra or special types of rest? Sure! Remember, the purpose of a reward is to generate dopamine. What gives you that good feeling?

Is this year not ending the way you hoped it would? Are you dealing with burnout, inefficient work systems, and/or inadequate support? Would it help to check your perceptions against an outsider? Maybe get some suggestions for strategies? Let's talk. Seriously. First consult is free.

We over-prep for classes to a degree that is almost ridiculous. Just because you CAN lecture all class doesn't mean you should. Where can students get involved? What kinds of data or other in-class activities can you do to engage them? Can you grab a poll, a letter, or some other authentic item from

8:39 PM - 11 hrs after they arrived, the crew just fired up the truck. We are loaded to the back of the doors in the previous picture. Still awaiting final details, but with the truck this full they're not loading another shipment on it. So we're likely to get it delivered on Wednesday or Thursday.

Update, 530 pm. Still 2 hrs of loading to go. The 3 beds haven't come down yet, plus the dining room table and some other things. They're playing Truck Tetris. This truck was empty when it arrived. We are now full to just inside the open doors.

Also they accidentally packed the 6 big empty 5 gal water jugs we had in the house. So I had to call and try to explain what happened to the water people and figure out how to get these back here after we move, because they're not coming out of the truck until it gets unloaded in Norfolk.

3 PM Update: The downstairs is virtually empty. The boxes and loft furniture are in the truck, but they're having to turn it around to access another set of doors (we'll be a bit more than half a truck on our own). Upstairs boxes are also loaded; only the mattresses & furniture left.

Summer term registration is officially OPEN! 1:1 services, small group programs, I've got it all! AND it's all affordable! My most expensive program, 4 months of weekly meetings + other stuff, is only $500. EVERYTHING else is less than that for 4 months of support. Support starts around $20-25/week

It's Pack Out day here. I've got a 53 foot semi in my driveway and a crew moving all our worldly goods into it. You know what kind of day it will be when you're halfway to your daily fitness targets by 10 AM.

Monday Giggle! Easter season edition! (I'm ex-Catholic, the post-feast continues for 7 days)

It's hard to write a conference paper when all the stuff you need to cite in in boxes, but I'm trying. Kitchen:

Sunday Planning time! April is always a challenging month. You are barreling full steam ahead towards the end of the term, with special events and family things added to the calendar left & right. 5 min of extra prep weekly on calendar synching goes a long way!

Does your book have all the MAGIC it needs? Join me at the FREE Build A Book Workshop to put the magic into your scholarly book project! Fri 1 May, 10 AM/3 PM ET. 60 min to a clearer argument and book structure. Register: buff.ly/kNIqO3L

Self-Care Saturday! Take yourself out for a nice walk this afternoon. If the weather's not pleasant, check tomorrow, or find an indoor place like a large store or a shopping mall. People-watching is a great way to pass the time strolling around!

Name 4 non-person things that make your life livable. 1. my dogs 2. hot tea (the kind you drink) 3. books 4. good food

Does your book have all the MAGIC it needs? It needs to be more than the sum of its chapters, and there's only one way to do it: MAGIC. Short for Main Argument Goes In all Chapters. I can show you how - for FREE. Join me at the FREE Build A Book Workshop to put the magic into your

It's Five-Minute Friday! What's one small thing Today You can do to make Monday You's life easier? No ideas? Wipe your doorknob/windowsill/desk with a damp paper towel, or return a library book.