Working towards becoming a better writer, Allanté attempted to write 100 days and shares how she did it. Following the exercises in Patricia Goodson's Becoming an Academic Writer (reviewed in the last episode, check out Ep. 81) Allanté Increased her average writing time amongst other things. There was a lot to gain in terms of establishing a writing practice, improving writing and tracking the progress. Lastly, Allanté shares two essential tools to help during the writing process.

Mentioned during the episode:
Click here to get the Writing Log
Work Log: Get FREE access by signing up to the Balanced Scholar Challenge https://www.blkingradschool.com/balance
Academic Phrasebank: http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/
MyTomatoes, Pomodoro Tracker: http://mytomatoes.com/

In Episode 54: 2018 The Recap Allanté shared her goals for the next year and from one of those goals came a necessity to sharpen her writing skills. With her goal in mind and a recommendation on Instagram from @higheredincolor she decided to read Becoming an Academic Writer by Dr. Patricia Goodson. On this episode, Allanté gives her opinion on the book, the best parts of the book, how to use it and some of the new habits she has developed as a result of reading it.

Blog Post Book Review by Dr. Raul Pachecho-Vaga: http://www.raulpacheco.org/2017/07/becoming-an-academic-writer-patricia-goodson-my-reading-notes/

Don't forget:

Sign up for the free Get to Grad School Course ---> blkingradschool.com/apply

It is grad school application season. If you are getting ready to go to graduate school sign up for my free 7-day course, Get to Grad School at blkingradschool.com/apply

This week's guest is Allanté's very best friend of 15+ years, Ashley!! Ashley has always had a heart and passion for community where her path led her to a career in non-profit. After she finished undergrad at Michigan State University, she jumped right into a Master's degree in Educational Psychology to bolster her non-profit career trajectory. In the first few years in the sector, Ashley was searching for opportunities to move up and in her searches she'd often see librarian openings.

After a few years in non-profit without the advancements she desired and deserved, Ashley decided to pivot to library science after seeing so many postings when she was searching for positions in the past. She's now earning a second Masters degree, now in Library and Information Science as a pivot to a job that still allows her to serve her purpose in the community.

She shares her story to and through the grad school journey on this week's episode.

This week's episode is a throwback! Allanté rewinds back 50 episodes to episode 29 when she finished up her first year and also created her first week-by-week action plan! Inspired by Side Hustle Pro's Goal Getter Action Plan, Allanté shares how she organized her plan as a graduate student (instead of an entrepreneur). She also shares plenty resources you can try to explore for putting together a 12-week plan to accomplish your goals!

Mentioned During The Episode:

If you want to get access to the 2018 Strengths Not Strikes Virtual Summit (now called the Grad School Success Summit--you can view it on the YouTube Channel youtube.com/blkingradschool

You can also e-mail me about working together on your action plan for your semester. Say hi at [email protected].

"I know there's always rooting before blossoming." - Tracy G.

This affirmation is a whole word, which inspired this week's episode on setting your goals. If you're a scholar, rooting is the planning and blossoming is the goal achieved. That goal could be a paper, a research project, building your network, etc. Setting a goal in our heads may be as easy as writing that goal down however the process of actualizing the goal can be frustrating and confusing without some careful considerations taken into account. This week Allanté shares three critical pieces to setting goals so that you'll actually accomplish them, not just set and forget.

You can sign up for a free 30-min goal setting session at this link: blkingradschool.com/goals