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I can't tell you how excited I am to bring you my first writing 'product'. Well, technically a pre-order product at the time of writing! This has been hard work to put together; a 2025 summer holiday project if you will. It's amazing what 30-60 minutes here or there can do. Much like what my workbook is designed to reproduce, but on a smaller scale. 😅
Producing this workbook, is not only a time-based challenge, but also a huge personal one. I've put aside personal pride, imposter syndrome, feelings that I might be rejected, a sense of failure, a skewed sense of life's priorities ... You name it, I've probably felt it. But I love experiments and personal challenges and this has been the ultimate experiment of discomfort. I'm sitting in it right now as I write this! Every bone in my body says: don't do this! It's not worth it. You'll fail.
But I am. And I won't, because failure is not trying in the first place.
So here it is 👇🏻. Buy if you'd like. Spurn if you choose. But nothing beats the feeling of pushing past personal barriers.
The Joy of Writing | A 30 day workbook for researchers
😱 Find writing a struggle?
You sit down to write, and suddenly your brilliant research ideas feel impossible to capture. That blank page stares back at you, and what used to be exciting thinking now feels like wrestling with every sentence. You are not alone - many researchers regularly feel this way.
The pressure to be perfect, the imposter syndrome, the endless rewrites... it's kind of exhausting?
But here's what I found: what if writing for research could be more joyful?
After years of struggling with the stuffiness of academic writing, I found inspiration in two places: nature and the gentle teaching method of a certain classic TV art instructor*... I learnt the writing process can be more calm, and often needs some gentle step-by-step tutorials to get started. I learnt there are no mistakes, only learning opportunities. This approach completely transformed how I write.
Instead of forcing myself through writing sessions, I learned to approach my research writing like creating art - with patience, joy, and the understanding that every attempt teaches us something valuable.
I started writing for just 10-20 minutes a day, treating it like a creative practice with short tutorials rather than a stunted performance to an unknown audience. Within a few weeks, I was looking forward to my writing time. My ideas flowed more naturally, my confidence grew, and - most surprisingly - my writing improved without it feeling like a struggle.
So I created this guide to share everything I've learnt, designed to take you from viewing writing as a struggle to looking forwards to exploring and communicating your ideas.
🔬 What you'll discover
- 30 daily writing practises designed specifically for researchers (10-20 minutes each)
- Weekly themes that gently build your confidence and creativity
- Research-backed techniques for sustainable writing habits
- Environmental experiments to find your optimal writing conditions
- Creative exercises that make academic thinking playful again
- A complete guide inspired by nature and gentle teaching methods
- Access to a continually updated system of this guide and additional notes on how to be a better researcher
What it's not
I also have to be clear on what this workbook is not. It isn't a productivity bootcamp designed to help you do more. It isn't about becoming a writing output machine or hitting punishing daily word counts. I can't tell you how to write a research paper and I'm not going to tell you how to write word perfect prose.
What I am aiming to do is to help you discover that writing can be joyful. I can help you see it as a way to think, explore, and play with the ideas that fascinate you every single day. It is then up to you how you wish to use that writing as a launchpad for your own journey.
It's about confidence in writing what you want to say, not how it needs to be written. That bit comes later.
🌿 Your Happy Little Guarantee
Try the guide for 14 days (after your delivery date). If it doesn't help you rediscover joy in your writing and the research process, I'll refund every penny. All I request is a little helpful feedback so I can make it better - but that's optional.
📅 Delivery
The link will take you to a pre-order page. You'll receive access to a password-protected section of my website, via the email address provided, to the full workbook within 10 days of purchase. At the time of purchase, you'll just receive a link to freely available website which is in development. Feel free to have a look around in the meantime and sign up to my newsletter Brain STREAM.
As a thanks for your patience, I've taken 20% of the full purchase price, so you'll pay just £7.99 GBP today (approx. $10.80 USD).
You will also be first in the loop as I expand this work to other platforms e.g. eventually a printable PDF, along with improvements and iterations to the product.
🗺️ Where the money will go?
All money from the sales of this product will go back into developing it further, development of other products (yes, there will be more - I'm just getting started 😜), offering discounts to those less able to afford things like this, plus my own personal development with the idea of returning my experiences back to you, my lovely early supporters.
Here is the link:
Not looking to buy right now? That's OK! I love that you have spent the time to read this page. If you have any queries or questions, please email me: annette@knowledgeecology.me
*It seems everything about him is trade-marked...
A note on how I used AI for this post, and more generally
Some of this article was written in collaboration with Claude AI (Anthropic). While the experiences, insights, and core content are entirely my own, I used Claude to help structure the piece, refine the flow, and optimize it for clarity. Spelling and grammatical errors are entirely my own😜 Claude helped analyse drafts for readability and suggested organizational improvements, much like a skilled editor would. All examples and personal experiences remain authentic and drawn from my PhD journey. I believe in being transparent about AI usage while maintaining the genuine, human perspective that makes this writing valuable.
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