Before working with Susanne, I felt like my entire academic career was stuck in “almost there,” but with constant rejection and a growing sense that I was falling behind my peers on the publication pathway, even though I had plenty of ideas, papers in development, and solid theory and methodology. I look at the world through a telescope, while journal articles seem to demand a microscope, and that mismatch left me feeling like I was always “too much” and “not enough” at the same time. I had tried everything—from collaborations (which were a disaster because I only brought my mess to the table), to article-writing guidebooks, to asking colleagues for advice—but nobody really understood my problem, and their well-meaning suggestions simply didn’t work. I didn’t need more discipline; I already work intensely. I just couldn’t keep absorbing the rejection and the crushing sense of failure anymore.
Working with Susanne changed the way I write, but also the way I think about my work. I was never frozen; I got so deep into my papers that the editorial feedback was almost always the same: “too dense.” Susanne helped me see that I was trying to describe the whole map rather than offering readers a clear path through it. Even though I understood the logic and structure of articles in theory, the technique of actually writing them had always eluded me—until she began breaking it down into concrete steps that matched how my brain processes ideas. For the first time, I feel like my thinking is not a liability but a strength that can be shaped into clear, publishable work and I have more confidence to collaborate with colleagues.
