Peer Review: Letting Go Of Doubt

During the month of December I am participating in #reverb14 as a means of getting my writing habits back on track. I will be altering the prompts as needed to fit within the scope of this blog. Today's prompt: Letting go: Next year I'm letting go of...

A couple of longstanding project I've been working on have wrapped up this year.  I finished an article on community archives that uses the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre archives as a case study.  It took me a long time to address the peer review comments on this article. Procrastination combined with fear of the revisions not being adequate made it easy to avoid working on this project.

 I found a session Jo VanEvery offered on dealing with criticism particularly helpful in getting myself motivated to address the peer review comments. It helps to have an outsider remind you that you are capable of doing good work and that you should take reviewer comments with a grain of salt while still responding to them in a meaningful way.

This past year taught me a lot about letting go of self doubt and the importance of believing in your work.  Imposter syndrome is fairly common amongst academics and tends to be even more prevalent amongst women. Building supportive communities which provide criticism in a nurturing way can be extremely valuable. Finding good role models and supportive peers can be invaluable and provide much needed sounding boards in times of self-doubt.