Defend, Publish & Lead Podcast
by Christine Tulley, Executive Writing Coach & President
Defend, Publish & Lead (formerly Defend & Publish) offers a weekly podcast designed to help get you started (or restarted) on your academic writing projects. Episodes feature a range of topics on writing productivity, including writing project management, strategies for managing writer's block, dissertation advice for students and committee members, pandemic writing strategies, techniques for balancing parenting and writing, promoting your writing and research, and more. Every podcast offers strategies to try and resources to check out.
Episodes
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DPL Podcast Episode 304: Old School Paper Planning
In this Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast episode host Christine Tulley describes four different old school paper planning systems she uses for monthly, weekly, and daily tasks. Link to Slides Links to Products Mentioned Habit Tracker The Weekly Plan The Sunday Basket Episode Resources Join us…
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DPL Podcast Episode 303: Five Actions to Frame Your Writing Session for Success
In this Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast episode host Christine Tulley describes the five actions contributing to how you prepare and motivate yourself to write, begin writing in a writing session, take breaks, and close the writing session. Episode Resources Join us for Targeted Revision for...
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DPL Podcast Episode 302 - Anatomy of a Writing Session
In this Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast episode host Christine Tulley describes why writing sessions are so complicated and explains the 16 pieces that make up an individual writing session. Slides from Episode Episode Resources Join us for The Writing Session Makeover (use PODCAST for free...
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DPL Podcast Episode 301 - Four Signs You Need a (Writing Session) Makeover
In this Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast episode host Christine Tulley describes the four signs that you are not as productive as you could be in your writing sessions. Episode Resources Join us for The Writing Session Makeover (use PODCAST for free admission). Check out our DPL playlist…
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DPL Podcast Episode 300 - The Five DPL Strategies Writers Find Most Helpful
In this Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast episode host Christine Tulley describes the five most popular writing strategies that really resonate with clients. #5 – Sort revision feedback into four categories Episode 130 – Categorizing Revision Tasks Episode 46 – Using a Asana to Manage a Big...
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DPL Podcast Episode 299: Write a Closing Note
In this Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast episode host Christine Tulley describes the best elements of a closing note at the end of a writing session that lead to better writing in the next session. Helpful Past Episode: Episode 164: Closing a Writing Session DPL Resources It's not too late to…
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DPL Podcast Episode 298: ENCORE EPISODE - The Rule of 5s
We are opening up the podcast vault this week to bring you a fan-favorite Encore episode! Whether you missed it the first time around or just need a serious productivity reset, this timeless strategy is exactly what you need to kickstart your momentum. In this replay, you'll learn: What the Rule…
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DP&L Episode 297: Book Revision Battle Plan
In this Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast episode host Christine Tulley discusses the process of categorizing revision tasks before tackling them and making a battle plan for a book revision. Episodes Mentioned: Episode 130: Categorizing Revision Tasks Resources Mentioned: It's not too late to…
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DP&L Episode 296: Boomerang Projects
In this Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast episode host Christine Tulley explains what to do when your boomerang projects come back around and interrupt what you are currently working on. Episodes Mentioned: Episode 130: Categorizing Revision Tasks Resources Mentioned: It's not too late to join…
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DP&L Episode 295: Clear Decision Making with Writing Project Management
In this Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast episode host Christine Tulley explains clear decision making through writing project management. She discusses looking at the ebb and flow of a semester such as specific semester nuances, then months within the semester, and then days to choose what...
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DP&L Episode 294: Make a "Right Now" to Do List
In this Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast episode , host Christine Tulley explains her "right now to-do list" strategy for the chaotic first week of the fall semester, when standard to-do lists become useless due to sheer volume. Rather than planning days or weeks ahead, she advocates writing…
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DP&L Episode 293: Matching Your Writing Project Mix to Your Semester
In this episode of Defend, Publish, and Lead, Christine Tulley argues that the most productivity happens when writing projects are matched to the nuances of the semester and offers strategies for making decisions about what projects to work on. Episodes Mentioned: Episode 108 - Your Writing…
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DP&L Episode 292: Writing Project Management Is Part of the Scholarly Writing Process
In this episode of Defend, Publish, and Lead, Christine Tulley argues that writing project management isn't separate from the scholarly writing process but an essential part of it, since standard "writing process" models (drafting, revising, publishing) only look at a single project in isolation...
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DP&L Episode 291: Map Your Pre-Writing Session Trail
In Episode 291 of the Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast, host Christine Tulley describes a useful short exercise to find out why it is taking so long to start writing when you sit down to write. Slides from this Episode Resources Mentioned: Join our Fall 2026 Writing Accountability Group - just…
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DP&L Episode 290: Zombie Writing Projects
In episode host Christine Tulley describes "zombie writing projects" - projects that remain perpetually on to do lists but are never completed. The episode covers how to identify zombie projects and four actions to take to finally clear them from your writing backlog. Slides from this Episode...
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DP&L Episode 289: Mid-Year Scholarship Check In
In this episode, host Christine Tulley describes how to conduct a 6-month review of your writing productivity to see if you are on track to meeting your writing goals and how to adjust the remaining months to close out the year with a focus on completion. Resources Mentioned: Free Fall 2026...
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DP&L Episode 288: How Do You Start When You Sit Down to Write?
In Episode 288, host Christine Tulley describes a variety of ways to start a writing session and encourages self-study of starting processes with strategic questions. Resources Mentioned Five Entry Points to Writing free webinar! Join our Summer 2026 Writing Accountability Group - just $25 for...
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DP&L Episode 287: Office Move!
In Episode 287, host Christine Tulley describes how she's planning for her upcoming office move and the decision-making process for what stays and what goes. Resources Mentioned Five Entry Points to Writing free webinar! Join our Summer 2026 Writing Accountability Group - just $25 for entire…
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DP&L Episode 286: Five Updates to Your Scholarship Profile to Do This Summer
In Episode 286 of the Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast, host Christine Tulley describes five tasks to update everything from your CV to your ORCID ID. Resources Mentioned Five Entry Points to Writing free webinar! Join our Summer 2026 Writing Accountability Group - just $25 for entire summer and...
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DP&L Episode 285: Scooped! Now What
In Episode 285 of the Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast, host Christine Tulley tackles the anxiety of being scooped, when another scholar is about to publish something strikingly similar to your work-in-progress. She offers four practical strategies: carefully examine the competing project to...
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DP&L Episode 284: Interview with Laura Vanderkam, Author of Big Time
In Episode 284 of the Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast, host Christine Tulley interviews productivity author Laura Vanderkam about her newly released book Big Time. In this book, Vanderkam centers on the idea of viewing time as abundant rather than scarce. She introduces the concept of "golden...
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DP&L Episode 283: Starting a New Project on the List
In this episode host Christine Tulley builds on Episode 281 to walk listeners through the transition from finishing one writing project to launching the next. She introduces the idea of thinking in two buckets: short-term, temporary projects (like an upcoming conference presentation) and the next...
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DP&L Episode 282: How AI Is Impacting Scholarly Publishing: An Interview with Bryan Alexander
In Episode 282 of the Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast, host Christine Tulley interviews Dr. Bryan Alexander about how AI is reshaping textbook and academic publishing. Alexander is a futurist, Georgetown senior scholar, and keynote speaker for the TAA Summer Institute. He offers a broad,...
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DP&L Episode 281: You Finished a Project, Now What?
In Episode 281 of the Defend, Publish, and Lead podcast, host Christine Tulley shares a practical post-project workflow for academics who have just completed a major writing project — drawing directly from her own experience of turning in a book manuscript days earlier. She outlines five key…
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DP&L Episode 280: Interview with Dr. Greg Lewbart about Textbook Authoring and TAA Institute
In Episode 280 host Christine Tulley interviews Dr. Greg Lewbart, a veterinarian and board-certified zoological medicine specialist at NC State, about his three-decade journey as a textbook author and editor. Lewbart traces his path from working as a corporate fish veterinarian in the 1980s to...
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DP&L Episode 279: Summer Accountability and a Plan
In Episode 279 of Defend, Publish, and Lead, host and Executive Writing Coach Christine Tulley tackles one of the most common struggles for faculty: the summer that gets away from you. With the best intentions but little structure, academic summers often slip by before meaningful writing or...
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DP&L Episode 278: Parenting While PhDing with Dr. Jackie Hoermann-Elliott and Dr. Jenna Morton-Aiken
In Episode 278 of Defend, Publish, and Lead, host Christine Tulley talks with Dr. Jackie Hoermann-Elliott and Dr. Jenna Morton-Aiken about their co-edited book, Parenting While PhDing (Rutgers University Press). The book tackles a topic largely ignored in academic literature — what it's really…
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DP&L Episode 277: Interview with Dr. Pat Goodsen author of Keep Writing
In Episode 277 of Defend, Publish, and Lead, host Christine Tulley sits down with Dr. Pat Goodson, health education professor turned prolific academic writing coach, to explore practical strategies for building a sustainable writing life. Dr. Goodson shares how her journey into academic writing...
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DP&L Episode 276: Textbook and Academic Authoring Careers
In Episode 276 Christine Tulley sits down with Dr. Wendy Tietz from Kent State University and Dr. Tracie Miller from Franklin University to talk about textbook authoring careers. This is a path many academics never consider, yet one that can become a defining and decades-long creative endeavor....
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DP&L Episode 275: Do One Thing Today
In Episode 275 of Defend, Publish, and Lead, Christine Tulley tackles the particular chaos of April in the academic calendar — a month packed with grading, end-of-year wrap-up, graduation requirements, and summer prep, all while writing obligations quietly fall by the wayside. Using the image of…
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DP&L Episode 274: Catch Up on What You Owe
In Episode 274, Christine Tulley addresses the familiar end-of-March crunch that faculty and graduate students face — a point in the semester when obligations to others have quietly piled up. Her solution is a "catch-up list" of everything she owes other people, which she walks through in detail:...
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DP&L Episode 273: How Long Does It Take You to Start Writing in a Session?
In Episode 273, host Christine Tulley looks at how long it really takes to start writing—and why it matters. She tracked her own startup time over four days. After a multi-day break, it took about 15 minutes to get back in. She reread five pages and made notes. On back-to-back days, it took as...
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DP&L Episode 272: Choosing a University Press for Your Work
In this episode Christine Tulley guides academic authors through the process of selecting the right university press for their work, a high-stakes decision particularly for tenure-track faculty at research institutions. She walks through key strategies: using the Association of University…
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DP&L Episode 271: The Next 30 Days
In Episode 271 of Defend, Publish, and Lead, host and executive writing coach Christine Tulley shares a practical productivity strategy she calls the "Next 30 Days" plan, designed to help academics avoid the common springtime trap of giving up or procrastinating as the semester winds down.…
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DP&L Episode 270: Dissertation Rescue
In Episode 270, Christine Tulley describes dissertation support efforts at Defend, Publish and Lead this month. Resources Mentioned Sign up for our free Dissertation Rescue sessions on Eventbrite Sign up for a free writing coach hour to support your dissertation or dissertation writers at...
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DP&L Episode 269: Four Reasons Your Dissertation is a Mess (Big Things)
In Episode 269, Christine Tulley walks through all four "big picture" problems that might cause a dissertation to be derailed. Episode Resources Slides Shown in this Episode Sign up for our free Dissertation Rescue sessions on Eventbrite Consider attending this year's Textbook and Academic…
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DP&L Episode 268: REMIX Make Writing an Event
In this remix of an earlier episode, Christine Tulley invites you to start thinking about writing as an event—something you actually look forward to rather than squeeze in between everything else. She shares how she treats her writing sessions like a "hot date," complete with a fancy coffee, a...
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DP&L Episode 267: Faculty Writers Need Love
In Episode 266, Christine Tulley walks through ways faculty developers can show faculty writers some love including programming, resources, and support strategies and how faculty writers can support themselves with free resources and writing organizations. Slides used in Episode Resources...
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DP&L Episode 266: Book Completion Battle Plan!
In Episode 266, Christine Tulley walks through the process of creating a "book completion battle plan" when facing a tight deadline, sharing her real-time approach to finishing a book manuscript due March 1st with only 23 days remaining. She demonstrates how to audit your available time by...
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DP&L Episode 265: Do One Paragraph
In Episode 265, Christine Tulley offers practical advice for overwhelmed academic writers on how to make progress when time is limited by focusing on completing just one paragraph. She explains that paragraphs can serve various purposes—proposing new frameworks, introducing evidence, synthesizing...
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DP&L Episode 264: Time Blocking Alternatives
In Episode 264, Christine Tulley explores alternatives to traditional time blocking for academic writers who struggle with scheduling designated writing periods. While acknowledging that time blocking works for some people, she presents three alternative approaches: dedicating entire days to...
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DP&L Episode 263: Interview with Brenda Ulrich, Academic Publishing Attorney
In this episode of Defend, Publish, and Lead, host Christine Tulley interviews Brenda Ulrich, a publishing attorney and board member of the Textbook and Academic Authors Association (TAA), about the organization and the upcoming 2026 TAA Summer Institute. Brenda discusses TAA's unique value as a...
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DP&L Episode 262: Five Tweaks to Streamline Your Teaching
In Episode 262, host Christine Tulley offers practical strategies for faculty to optimize their spring semester teaching while protecting their scholarly writing time. She presents five countdown tweaks: Establishing and knowing your teaching, grading, and prep schedule Implementing pattern...
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DP&L Episode 261: Five Decisions to Make about Your Writing in 2026
In Episode 261, Christine Tulley, President and Executive Writing Coach at Defend, Publish & Lead, presents five key questions for academics to consider about their writing in 2026: whether to commit to or abandon zombie writing projects that have stalled, clearing out outdated writing debris…
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DP&L Episode 260: Celebrate Wins
In Episode 260, Christine Tulley, President and Executive Writing Coach at Defend, Publish & Lead, emphasizes the importance of celebrating writing wins as the holiday season approaches, arguing that CVs often function more as stress-inducing evaluation documents than celebratory records of...
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DP&L Episode 259: When Do You Start Writing After the Holidays?
In Episode 259, Christine Tulley, President and Executive Writing Coach of Defend Publish & Lead, addresses the common question of when to start writing after the holiday break, emphasizing the importance of making this decision ahead of time rather than letting it remain nebulous as the calendar...
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DP&L Episode 258: Skill Up Future You
In Episode 258, Christine Tulley, President and Executive Writing Coach of Defend Publish & Lead, discusses the importance of planning ahead for summer 2026 writing opportunities and skill development, even though it's only December 2025, because many programs open registration in January. She...
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DP&L Episode257: 2025 Gift Ideas for Writers and Yourself
Christine Tulley, President and Executive Writing Coach of Defend Publish & Lead, presents her annual holiday gift guide for writers. This year the list focuses on budget-friendly items all priced at $50 or less. Here is her countdown of the Top 10 gift items for 2025 for writers or yourself: 10)...
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DP&L Episode 256: Keep an Origin Story of Your Writing
Christine Tulley, President and Executive Writing Coach, explores the concept of maintaining an "origin story" for academic writing projects in the context of surveillance, power dynamics, and emerging technologies—the theme of the 2025 Big Rhetorical Podcast Carnival. She examines how various...
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DP&L Episode 255: On Location Conference Strategies
Christine Tulley, President and Executive Writing Coach, shares practical strategies for maximizing conference value while attending the POD (Professional and Organizational Development) conference in San Diego. Rather than focusing on pre-conference planning or post-conference follow-up, this...
About this show
Defend, Publish & Lead (formerly Defend & Publish) offers a weekly podcast designed to help get you started (or restarted) on your academic writing projects. Episodes feature a range of topics on writing productivity, including writing project management, strategies for managing writer's block, dissertation advice for students and committee members, pandemic writing strategies, techniques for balancing parenting and writing, promoting your writing and research, and more. Every podcast offers strategies to try and resources to check out.
Hosted by
Christine Tulley, Executive Writing Coach & President
Categories