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I THINK, THEREFORE I BLOG. THOUGHTS ARE OBVIOUSLY MY OWN.
It's so crazy to think that everything that is happening has already been written. Thank you God. This is for my academicians or those of you, like me, who dibble and dabble in the academy every now and then. I don't have a faculty position, nor am I using my Ph.D. to work for a degree-granting institution of higher education. Still, I find it important to know what's current and be a catalyst for change. I know there are others, like me, who are not "in the academy", but still value research and what it can do. So, here's to us and our contributions! This is my FIRST publication post Ph.D., and I still can't believe it really happened. My journey to publication started with a mentor, Dr. Woods. My mentor was supportive during my doctoral journey and has remained that way. We often talked about publications and the importance of publishing academic work. Like most Ph.D. students, I was rather overwhelmed and bogged down by impostor syndrome, so I never considered writing for the academy outside of my dissertation. I mean come on, I wrote a whole dissertation. I never felt like my writing could be good enough to get published in an academic journal. I just didn't see myself sitting next to these "big dogs" who I was citing in my papers. My mentor made sure I knew my potential and insisted on paying it forward. I could brag on his resume all day, but let's just say its giving "Jay Z". In my eyes, he's a goat! We had somewhat similar Ph.D. trajectories, so seeing him do it made me feel like I could do it too. In December of 2020, he reached out to me to partner on a paper. I agreed instantly. Duh! This was my first opportunity at publishing an article, and I found that co-authoring with my mentor really eased my nerves and made the process less daunting. We met over Teams a few times and shared ideas starting in January of 2021. I remember feeling nervous every time we talked about the article. I was used to my professors critiquing my work, but EDITORS? My mentor put us on a strict timeline, after all, there were things he knew about publications that I did not. After we developed a manuscript we were confident in, he sent it out and we waited. Waiting to hear about the fate of your work is like forgetting to take the meat out of the refrigerator and you hear your mom's keys in the door. It's a weird kind of scary. Months went by and, to be honest, I forgot about the article. That's the reality of the academy at times. Journals can be slow to accept or not want your work at all. It's not that I forgot that I co-authored the paper, but I became so occupied with other things, the lingering thoughts I had about the paper disappeared for a minute. About three weeks after my birthday, a birthday that I considered to be this major rebirth, we received an email from the managing editor of JABE. ACCEPTED In September of 2021, we received notice that our paper was accepted. We had less than a month to provide edits. I remember nervously typing and my fingers shaking. My mentor and I had a follow-up phone calls and he was ecstatic. All I could do was nervously engage. This was my first rodeo, and I was super intimidated. I was wondering how he found it in himself to smile when we were looking at a ton of red ink and recommendations. Again, first rodeo jitters. After reworking through our manuscript and making the necessary modifications, we sent it back off. Then, there was silence. There it was. January 15, 2022, our paper was published! I was published! One year later, the paper that I was so frantic about was officially published. I'm really grateful that my mentor chose me to co-author with him on this work, and I'm extremely proud of myself for overcoming. This experience taught me several things, but one of the most important was the practice of paying it forward and establishing a positive mentor-mentee relationship. It's also why I'm so transparent in my blog posts. It's my hope that if I cannot help someone directly, like my mentor did with me, then maybe my experience can help the next person. I hope you feel seen or inspired by my story. If you've been rocking with me since 2018, thank you! If you're new here, thank you too! Stay tuned guys. There's more where this came from.
XOXO, ARI
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AuthorI write. I blog. I research. I read. Thoughts are obviously my own. <3 Archives
May 2024
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