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news

Interesting Things, May 18th 2015

A few weeks back I did the first of these regenerated round-up posts. A lot has happened since then, not least of which I published my second book. I also had a busy couple of weeks, working on the Manchester GRADschool and a First Year Development Workshop at Liverpool. With finishing a project like publishing a book, my brain is at once happy that it’s done, sad that it’s over and curious to know what I’ll be working on next. As a way to try and wrap things up I wrote a couple of posts about writing The Viva: Who? What? How? last week that you might be interested in. Meanwhile, elsewhere…

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writing

Recent Writing, Part 3: The What

Last week I published my second book, The Viva: Who? What? How? and as part of the process of publishing I want to spend a little time this week thinking over what that has been like. In my day job, we frequently extol the virtues of “Plan -> Do -> Reflect -> Review” – the cycle for experiential learning. And I also really like that call to arms that has done the rounds a fair bit in recent years, “start with Why”. On Wednesday I explored the Why of writing a book, yesterday I looked at How and today I explore What – which in this case means reflecting and reviewing to see what I’ve got from writing a book this time around and what this means for my future writing.

The What

First of all, the outputs from this project. I wrote a book which clocks in at just under 20,000 words, has twenty-seven chapters plus introduction and afterword, and which is now available from two different places, Amazon and Payhip. In the former space it has already entered the top ten for one of the charts it is registered for, and in the latter I’ve seen great engagement from people who want an alternative to the Kindle. There are no reviews for the book (yet!) but I’m optimistic given the few email responses I’ve had so far.

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writing

Recent Writing, Part 2: The How

Last week I published my second book, The Viva: Who? What? How? and as part of the process of publishing I want to spend a little time this week thinking over what that has been like. In my day job, we frequently extol the virtues of “Plan -> Do -> Reflect -> Review” – the cycle for experiential learning. And I also really like that call to arms that has done the rounds a fair bit in recent years, “start with Why”. Yesterday I explored the Why of writing a book, so today I’m looking at How: both in terms of my personal process and also the practical things that I’ve used – software and the like. Tomorrow, I’ll explore What – which in this case means reflecting and reviewing to see what I’ve got from it this time around and what this means for my future writing.

The How

Writers must really grow to hate that perennial question “Where do you get your ideas from?” Answering, in my opinion, can make things seem a bit dull and boring – I like that mystique of divine inspiration or talent! Or perhaps that is just something I’m aspiring to… In any case, the answer in the case of the most recent book does seem a little dull: I was recycling earlier ideas I had had. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about the book itself or the subject matter being dull – quite the contrary! – I mean the means by which I got to that idea.

I had been thinking about a book of useful questions for postgraduate researchers for some time, but had stalled somewhere in the writing process. And then I knew that I wanted to do something useful to follow up Fail Your Viva, but wasn’t quite sure what. I had begun a book of essays on the viva, but was stuck with that too. And then I started blogging, which freed up some of the thoughts that I had. As I said in yesterday’s post, this started to bring things together and suddenly I realised I had the idea.

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writing

Recent Writing, Part 1: The Why

Last week I published my second book, The Viva: Who? What? How? and as part of the process of publishing I want to spend a little time this week thinking over what that has been like. In my day job, we frequently extol the virtues of “Plan -> Do -> Reflect -> Review” – the cycle for experiential learning. And I also really like that call to arms that has done the rounds a fair bit in recent years, “start with Why”. So today I’m exploring the Why of writing a book. Tomorrow I’ll come to the How, and on Friday I’ll explore What, which in this case means reflecting and reviewing the process to see what I’ve got from it this time around and what I would share.

The Why

I’ve been keenly interested in the PhD viva for almost five years. My interest – and in particular my interest in helping postgraduate researchers prepare for it – just keeps on growing. Over the last five years my involvement has looked like this:

  • 2010: Does a few workshops on viva prep in one university.
  • 2011: Expands into other universities.
  • 2012: Still more universities; starts the Viva Survivors Podcast.
  • 2013: More unis, podcast, publishes first ebook (Fail Your Viva).
  • 2014: More unis (!), podcast returns to regular schedule, research into viva experience, first steps at research dissemination, starts writing second book.
  • 2015 so far: More workshops, regular podcast, more research and publishes The Viva: Who? What? How?

Every year I’ve done more on the viva, and in different ways. I think it’s important that PhD candidates know that the viva is something that can be enjoyed. I think it’s important that they know there are useful and effective ways of preparing for it. In the latest book I wanted them to get a sense that it was also something which didn’t have to be a mystery: people have lots of questions about the viva, and there are some answers out there.

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news viva work

The Viva: Who? What? How? is out!

"The Viva: Who? What? How?"

The Viva: Who? What? How? is out now!

What is this?

An ebook. Twenty-seven chapters, nearly 20,000 words, and answers to the most frequently asked questions about the PhD viva in the UK. I deliver viva preparation workshops, and over the last five years I’ve got a great understanding about the questions that distract PhD candidates. This book helps eliminate those distractions.

There are more details below, but if all you want are the purchase links, here they are!

  • In the UK, The Viva: Who? What? How? is in the Kindle Store here.
  • In the UK and around the world, The Viva: Who? What? How? is available from Payhip here.
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news

“The Viva: Who? What? How?”

Next Tuesday I’m releasing my second book on viva preparation, “The Viva: Who? What? How?” which has the subtitle of Frequently Asked Questions About The PhD Viva. What does it look like? I thought you’d never ask, the cover looks like this:

"The Viva: Who? What? How?"

I had a lot of fun writing Fail Your Viva, and I’m really pleased that people have found it so useful. Last year, as I continued to deliver viva preparation workshops, a thought crossed my mind but I didn’t know what to make of it: people ask me a lot of questions on these workshops, that’s interesting, perhaps I should record them. In the autumn when I started writing this blog regularly I thought that a little series of posts on the common questions about the viva process would be something that people might find useful. The comments and shares that those posts got told me that people wanted more – and then the idea for the book hit me. A book answering the frequently asked questions about the PhD viva.

Et voila!

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news

Interesting Things, April 27th 2015

I used to do a fortnightly round-up of things that I had been sharing or things that I had seen whilst on my travels, and then I stopped doing that. I think it would be a mistake (for now at least) to promise to do that regularly again, so instead I’ll start this irregular series of posts: Interesting Things. The condition for sharing things in these posts is that the thing I’m sharing interests me (or it’s something I’m doing, because I like talking about myself sometimes!).

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quick thought

A new acronym for habit-building

One of the great things about the kind of job that I have is that I often have time to think and time to play – not video games or role-playing games, although I must have mentioned by now at least once that I like to do both of those – but to play in the sense of trying things out. Trying things out to see what happens. Being my own boss and doing the kinds of things that I do for work gives me a great degree of freedom.

Like this blog: I write when I want, I try to stick to a schedule (although, hello, it’s been a month or so since I posted!) and I write about things that interest me and hope that they interest you too.

Last week I was working with my good friend Dr Aimee Blackledge on a First Year Development Workshop. Aimee talked a little about habits, and this got me thinking, because I also knew that we were going to spend some time on the workshop introducing tools and ideas that are bound up in acronyms for shorthand. I wondered, was there a good little acronym just waiting to be discovered for habits?

I think there was! It hit me some time during the day and I shared it with the cohort of 24 postgraduate researchers, and got feedback quickly that this was a neat little tool for thinking about habits as agents of positive change.

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news

Fail Your Viva now available via Payhip!

I’m now using Payhip as a platform where people can purchase my books. My creator page on Payhip is here, and you can go straight to finding Fail Your Viva by clicking here. My book being available on Payhip means several cool things:

  • If you have wanted to buy a copy of Fail Your Viva but couldn’t because the Kindle Store doesn’t operate where you live, now you can buy it: whoever you are, wherever you are, the book is available to you.
  • When you buy via Payhip you get access to both .mobi and .epub files, both DRM free, no restrictions of any kind on what device you read them on.
  • There is a permanent 10% discount available. Simply click the “Share & get 10% off” button to tweet about the book and save.

And from now until midnight on the 31st of March, I’ve set up a 20% off coupon for the book! If you want to buy it, click on the coupon link and enter the phrase FYVLAUNCH to get the book for 20% less. Simple as that.

I’m really interested in using Payhip for future digital releases. I will still be selling my ebooks in the Kindle Store, but will be exploring various possibilities for Payhip – and when my second book is released, I’ll be doing something very special… Watch this space!

Thanks for reading!

Nathan (@DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors)

PS - now available via Payhip!
PS – now available via Payhip!
Categories
review

Another book down

I’ve been away for a week! I don’t want to boast and brag or anything, and I’m straight back to work this week. But it’s important for me to keep tracking my goal of reading ten books from my bookshelf in 2015.

The latest book that I’ve finished is Cosmos by Carl Sagan. This book has been on my to-read list and on my bookcase ever since I started watching some YouTube videos aimed at sharing his work and inspiring others. Sagan had a wonderful way of describing the universe, of laying out the way the cosmos is and how amazing it all is. I started reading this book about eighteen months ago when my daughter was born. I would hold her in one arm and read to her, but because there was so much going on around then it returned to the bookcase in favour of sleep.

I can whole-heartedly recommend this book. It will make you appreciate just how marvellous the world and the universe is, and how life is a wonderful, amazing thing.

Four books down, six to go on my list…

Thanks for reading!

Nathan (@DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors)