Your Words Unleashed

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What happens when you love teaching but can’t make a sustainable living as an adjunct?
In this episode, I talk with Caitlin Luetger-Schlewitt about her winding career journey through higher education and beyond. After eight years of “full-time adjuncting” at three colleges while juggling multiple other jobs, Caitlin eventually decided it was time for a change.
She shares how she moved into mental health counseling before finding her way to career services and eventually back into a full-time faculty role. We talk about things like professional identity, the importance of setting boundaries, and making career decisions based on your actual needs and values.
We also explore the grief of letting go of an academic identity—and how loosening your attachment to one particular path can open up unexpected possibilities.
If you’re an adjunct considering a career pivot, this conversation is for you!
Support the show
Check out Leslie's website at www.YourWordsUnleashed.com!

The three ways Leslie can help you with coaching & developmental editing:

#1: Six-month Your Words Unleashed signature book writing coaching program. Through 8 hour-long sessions tailored to your own needs and goals, we will pinpoint what’s keeping you stuck. We’ll figure out personalized solutions and strategies so you can create direction and lasting momentum with your book writing. I’ll also provide detailed feedback on your writing throughout
#2: Four-month Career Reset Program for Overwhelmed Academics who want to reconnect with purpose. Over the course of 6 hour-long sessions, we’ll clarify your personal career vision, create space for what matters, overcome internal obstacles to change, and define what success means on your own terms so you can work less and live more.
#3: Group Workshops that balance personal well-being with writing productivity. Topics include transforming your dissertation into a book; connecting to the deeper purpose of your work; as well as boundary setting. 
Check everything out! If you're interested, shoot me an email at ...

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Academic leadership often comes with a job description that says “professor” but a reality that says “manager, mentor, conflict resolver, and people leader.” The problem? Most academics receive very little training for that second job.
In this episode, I talk with Dr. Jen Heemstra, Chair and Professor of Chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis and author of Lab Work to Leadership: A Concise Guide to Thriving in the Science Job You Weren’t Trained For. We discuss what leadership really means in academia, why it’s about more than having a formal title, and how academics can develop the skills they need to lead themselves and others.
Jen shares her journey from doubting she could become a professor to leading a research group and writing a book about academic leadership. She talks about a difficult tenure vote that ultimately freed her from trying to fit into academic culture and helped her focus on her values and the needs of her team.
We explore practical strategies for self-leadership, including time management, meaningful goal-setting, redefining success, and being more intentional about where you direct your energy. Jen also shares advice for navigating difficult conversations and resolving conflict by using the same skills academics use in research.
If you've ever found yourself in a leadership role wondering, “Why didn't anyone train me for this?”, this conversation offers practical strategies and reassurance that you’re not the only one figuring it out as you go.
Support the show
Check out Leslie's website at www.YourWordsUnleashed.com!

The three ways Leslie can help you with coaching & developmental editing:

#1: Six-month Your Words Unleashed signature book writing coaching program. Through 8 hour-long sessions tailored to your own needs and goals, we will pinpoint what’s keeping you stuck. We’ll figure out personalized solutions and strategies so you can create direction and lasting momentum with your book writing. I’ll also provide detailed feedback on your writing throughout
#2: Four-month Career Reset Program for Overwhelmed Academics who want to reconnect with purpose. Over the course of 6 hour-long sessions, we’ll clarify your personal career vision, create space for what matters, overcome internal obstacles to change, and define what success means on your own terms so you can work less and live more.
#3: Group Workshops that balance personal well-being with writing productivity. Topics include transforming your dissertation into a book; connecting to the deeper purpose of your work; as well as boundary setting. 
Check everything out! If you're interested, shoot me an email at ...

Send us Fan Mail
Writing a conclusion can feel surprisingly difficult. By the time you reach the end of a book, you just want to be finished! But a conclusion is more than the final chapter—it's your opportunity to help readers understand what your work adds up to and why it matters.
In this episode, I talk with developmental editor Dr. Katherine Wiley about what makes a strong conclusion and why so many scholars struggle to write one. We discuss the difference between summarizing and synthesizing, how to think about scholarly and real-world implications, and why authors shouldn't leave readers to connect the dots on their own. 
Katherine also shares practical strategies for writing stronger conclusions, common mistakes she sees as an editor, and how developmental editors can help authors see the bigger picture in their work.
Rather than treating the conclusion as the finish line, Katherine encourages us to see it as the place where the larger purpose of a book comes into focus.
Connect with Katherine Wiley
Website: https://goldenrodeditorial.com
LinkedIn: Katherine Wiley
Join Scholarly Writing Groups

Support the show
Check out Leslie's website at www.YourWordsUnleashed.com!

The three ways Leslie can help you with coaching & developmental editing:

#1: Six-month Your Words Unleashed signature book writing coaching program. Through 8 hour-long sessions tailored to your own needs and goals, we will pinpoint what’s keeping you stuck. We’ll figure out personalized solutions and strategies so you can create direction and lasting momentum with your book writing. I’ll also provide detailed feedback on your writing throughout
#2: Four-month Career Reset Program for Overwhelmed Academics who want to reconnect with purpose. Over the course of 6 hour-long sessions, we’ll clarify your personal career vision, create space for what matters, overcome internal obstacles to change, and define what success means on your own terms so you can work less and live more.
#3: Group Workshops that balance personal well-being with writing productivity. Topics include transforming your dissertation into a book; connecting to the deeper purpose of your work; as well as boundary setting. 
Check everything out! If you're interested, shoot me an email at ...

Send us Fan Mail
Feeling the weight of the upcoming semester? You’re not alone. In this listener's choice episode, I explore why so many academics head into fall already exhausted—and how you can change that. 
I share a simple but powerful three-step approach to reduce your teaching load without sacrificing student learning. You’ll hear why it’s essential to put your own priorities at the center of your semester planning and how a few intentional choices now can save you from burnout later. 
Whether you’re facing large classes, heavy grading, or endless course prep, these strategies will help you reclaim time for your own well-being. If you’ve ever wished you could teach less but still feel good about it, this conversation will show you that it’s not only possible—it’s necessary.
Support the show
Check out Leslie's website at www.YourWordsUnleashed.com!

The three ways Leslie can help you with coaching & developmental editing:

#1: Six-month Your Words Unleashed signature book writing coaching program. Through 8 hour-long sessions tailored to your own needs and goals, we will pinpoint what’s keeping you stuck. We’ll figure out personalized solutions and strategies so you can create direction and lasting momentum with your book writing. I’ll also provide detailed feedback on your writing throughout
#2: Four-month Career Reset Program for Overwhelmed Academics who want to reconnect with purpose. Over the course of 6 hour-long sessions, we’ll clarify your personal career vision, create space for what matters, overcome internal obstacles to change, and define what success means on your own terms so you can work less and live more.
#3: Group Workshops that balance personal well-being with writing productivity. Topics include transforming your dissertation into a book; connecting to the deeper purpose of your work; as well as boundary setting. 
Check everything out! If you're interested, shoot me an email at ...

Send us Fan Mail
Academic writing often asks us to keep ourselves out of the story. Memoir asks us to do the opposite.
In this episode, I talk with sociologist and intersex scholar-activist Georgiann Davis about her new book, Five Star White Trash, a research-driven memoir that weaves together personal narrative and sociological analysis. We discuss what it means to write about deeply personal experiences as an academic, how memoir can help readers understand larger social issues, and why storytelling can be a powerful form of scholarship.
Georgiann shares her journey from middle school dropout to professor, the challenges of writing openly about family trauma and identity, and how sociological concepts helped her make sense of her own experiences. We also discuss audience, accessibility, and the possibilities that emerge when scholars move beyond traditional academic genres.
If you've ever wondered what memoir can offer that other forms of academic writing cannot, this conversation provides a thoughtful exploration of the connections between lived experience, research, and public scholarship.

Support the show
Check out Leslie's website at www.YourWordsUnleashed.com!

The three ways Leslie can help you with coaching & developmental editing:

#1: Six-month Your Words Unleashed signature book writing coaching program. Through 8 hour-long sessions tailored to your own needs and goals, we will pinpoint what’s keeping you stuck. We’ll figure out personalized solutions and strategies so you can create direction and lasting momentum with your book writing. I’ll also provide detailed feedback on your writing throughout
#2: Four-month Career Reset Program for Overwhelmed Academics who want to reconnect with purpose. Over the course of 6 hour-long sessions, we’ll clarify your personal career vision, create space for what matters, overcome internal obstacles to change, and define what success means on your own terms so you can work less and live more.
#3: Group Workshops that balance personal well-being with writing productivity. Topics include transforming your dissertation into a book; connecting to the deeper purpose of your work; as well as boundary setting. 
Check everything out! If you're interested, shoot me an email at ...