how not to get pubs

When I first started thinking about my long-term goals, I realized that I needed some advice. So I emailed a friend and assistant prof, SeriouslyProductive at TheDarndestUniversity. Here is the original advice she gave me about writing. This advice helped me get Postdoc manuscript #1 (Killmenow) to a place where it could be submitted to Dr.Add'EmUp and one senior collaborator.

What is the status of this fully written manuscript? This saga is not worth going over again. Suffice to say, I think that this may be of the reasons why this lab has had trouble getting external funding. The manuscript is on hold until Dr.Add'EmUp sorts out things on his end. I can't tell you how frustrated I am about what seems like an indefinite holding pattern. How did I find myself here? I finished the manuscript back in January but now I have to sit on it! For a postdoc this is death.

When I think about it, I should have known better and listened to my gut about SmallUniversity. The lab I went to do Postdoc#1 was not super productive. In fact, when I got there I found out that it took Dr.Add'EmUp two years to get his first empirical paper out. That should have been a red flag.

Okay, stop crying over stupid spilled milk chiquita. If I want a fighting chance at a tenure track position, I need pubs. Early in January, I joined a postdoc writing group in YummyLargeCity and it has been super helpful. First thing we did, is write out all the "open loops" or projects/manuscripts that were still lurking in the deep recesses of our computers. Open loops are any project that lead to a manuscript. This included collaborations where you weren't the first author as well as any grant applications that would eventually lead to manuscripts.

I had 8 open loops but I'm only presenting a few here:


Scale represents my interest in the project, where 10=totally juiced and 0=can't stand it get me far far away. From this table, we picked the projects closest to being done and each week set small goals that could facilitate the completion of the manuscript.

Although KillMeNow looks like the one I should be pushing given the pain and saga surrounding it, I've written it off for the moment. What emerged as the project to work on was StillHangingOn and the surprise for me, SmallButAvailable. StillHangingOn is the third of four manuscripts from my PhD. So its an obvious priority. SmallButAvailable is this little experiment I ran in my first postdoc at SmallUniversity that got some cool results. All the data is collected so really, I just need to chip away at it.

Each week, we meet and set small tasks and then we're accountable to the group for the previous weeks' tasks. If there is a series of weeks where the same tasks don't get done, then there is an intervention. The intervention is to help the individual figure out why the tasks aren't getting done. For some, it's a matter of interest in the project. For others, it's simply just stuckage in terms of what to do. And that's where the group dynamic really helps. Because we come from various backgrounds we can prod each other with questions, excite, and inspire the lifeless and difficult projects.

Plus, don't knock the need to be a "disgruntled postdoc" in a group of seriously "disgruntled postdocs", who bitch about the full throttle stupidity of our supervisors and the system.