Joy AJ Howard

I walk with you as you establish stability, norms, and new habits that allow you time and energy to process stress.

When you do this, you become more and more comfortable in your own skin as a researcher, writer, and leader.

TOGETHER, we can get your coaching and editing needs met. 4/end

Sometimes one-size-fits-all writing, research, and editing strategies fall a bit short whereas one-on-one coaching allows you to be you.

You are unique. Your writing habits, discourse patterns, editing needs are unique as well. 3/

You probably already know the things that make you productive as a writer and researcher. You’ve worked so hard already to get where you are. Maybe you have taken research and writing bootcamps? You’ve certainly read your fair share of books, blogs, and posts! 2/

Finding daily rhythms of writing and research that bring you peace in a world that is far from peaceful is not easy.

And yet, even though they are tricky, our brains and bodies deeply need daily rhythms that take into account the many things that kick in our fight-or-flight responses.

I am accepting new coaching & editing clients.

There is no one-size-fits-all fix when it comes to writing strategies, but finding some peace is possible.

To schedule a free consult about coaching with me, go to: joyajhowardcoaching.as.me

URGENT ACTION - send a message on the USPS The USPS Board of Governors announced its intention to appoint David Steiner, reportedly the White House’s preferred candidate, as the next Postmaster General. The appointment of a FedEx board member ...

🚨 Don’t let the USPS fall into privatizers’ hands. The Board of Governors is picking the next Postmaster General — tell them: NO privatizers!📬 Take 30 seconds to act: actionnetwork.org/letters/post...

Wild how the Fed chair saying that *entire regions of the United States* won’t be able to get a mortgage in the next decade barely registered as a news event

4. “Once we believe that creative work is central to who we are as a person, we will be willing to accept and cope with a certain level of discomfort and anxiety about potential social disapproval. If it matters that much, we are willing to deal with some tension and stress.” -Zorana Ivcevic Pringle

3. And interestingly, we can manage the stress of risk-taking by folding it into our identity. That part caught me off guard.

2. “The problem is that if we eliminate uncertainty, we preclude creativity. Creative pursuits, by their very nature, take us into the unknown,” asserts Zorana.

Creativity is rooted in risks writes Zorana. When I read this, it felt very true. I am remembering moments in my own intellectual life where I have made leaps forward. It felt risky because it was.

For example, Zorana emphasizes that creativity is not a solo pursuit. So, for an introvert like me, creativity means deliberately making choices to stay connected all the time—over and over—to my communities of fellow thinkers so I do not become isolated as someone who works from home.

Zorana Ivcevic Pringle writes: “Creativity is hard work. The process of creative work includes times of discomfort and doubt and frustration.”

Creativity is actually specific choices we make to stay focused in a particular way.

I am working my way through The Creativity Choice this week! My friend Zorana’s research shows that creativity is not a trait that we are born with.

So great to spend time with you & your clients this morning! It was an honor!

Her new book says that creativity is not something that only a few people are born with. She says creativity is a series of deliberate choices that anyone can make. We all can make choices to fold in creativity into our work and lives. So heads up, this is what I am reading right now. More to come.

I am excited to share with you some writing advice from my longtime friend Zorana Ivcevic Pringle. Zorana studies what happens at the intersections of productivity and creativity. How do some people manage to harness creativity into something really tangible for their ideas?

Big news! Issues of Early American Studies (@easmisc.bsky.social) are now publishing #OpenAccess on ProjectMuse. Our latest winter 2025 issue can be freely viewed here: muse.jhu.edu/issue/54263.

Your thinking about your research subject will progress and improve as you allow your writing to expand and evolve. And your writing will change as the depth of your knowledge changes.
All of that is good!!
Let yourself have the space to grow. :)

Give yourself space. Allow yourself to change.

Maggie’s Smith writes: “It’s fine to let a piece rest, and to give yourself the room and space to change.”

Write what you need to write and then let the thing you are writing go. Your writing will reflect your strengths and weaknesses of the moment when you wrote it.

Here’s some more practical writing advice from Maggie Smith today: Let Go.

“Any piece of writing is a time capsule,” Maggie Smith says. “It reflects the choices—and the abilities, and the limitations—of the writer we are at the time.”

Yes. These things. Going back to the basics helps us clarify our thoughts and write clearly.

Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life by Maggie Smith

#coaching #research #writing #academicwriting #higherEd #writingcoaching #productivitycoaching #hopingisbrave #editing

“Read your work aloud over and over, working out the rhythm, listening for any tongue twisters.”

“Look out for places in prose where your language feels stilted.”

Poetic speech can be a trap, she warns us (and she’s a poet! LOL!). A sentence can feel overdone by too much description.

Sometimes we need writerly encouragement and sometimes we need concrete, practical advice. I’m reading Maggie Smith’s new book and it’s both.

I am excited to share what I’ve been learning with you.

“I want each sentence to sing,” writes Smith in a highly practical chapter of Dear Writer.

6. “Taking care of yourself is taking care of your creativity. Taking care of yourself as a whole human being is taking care of the writer in you.”

(Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life by Maggie Smith)

5. What is your body telling you it needs? You are a whole person deserving of deep care.

4. But caring for your body is resistance against the violence working against you.

Listening to our brilliant brains often needs to begin with our bodies. Are you stuck intellectually?