"Write from your heart"

Salaam.

I'm in my final semester after the only possible extension I could ask for after three years of enrolling into this Masters degree programme. Yesterday, despite having my eczema resurfacing, I did my write-up since 10 in the morning up to lunch hour, and attended a talk on journal and book publishing at 2pm.

I kept doubting I'll make it through, and had thoughts of leaving the room because my arms were starting to itch. But I managed to put my mind off it and focused listening. Amazingly, I managed to digest probably 85% of the speaker's points - with the help of note-taking and taking a picture of his slides (also mainly because my glasses degree aren't any close to my failing eyesight).

The topic caught my attention of course - 'Write from your heart'. He was a doctoral student of V.T. King, and is now a Editor-In-Chief of IJAPS (stands for International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies). What really struck me was the fact that back in the days where universities weren't that pressured to keep up to a KPI of publishing this and this amount of journals and books, him and academics like Prof King kept writing anyways, because they were curious. I'll list down here some take-home points I got from his talk:

• Send your manuscript to main publishing house of your area of expertise, not to obscure journals
• if you were rejected by publishers, look at the comments from the reviewers as a learning point and advice to improve (although you don't have to agree to all of it)
• keep on writing and you will get the hang of it
• way to bid an academic goodbye (especially fellow graduate students in your office/ faculty) "see you in print" hehehe
• don't spend your own money to do research. ALWAYS ask for grants.
• International grants are better than local grants even if the amount is less. If you are a Bruneian, and works/ studies in a local university, and were given a grant from that same university, the grant looks insignificant to your CV.
• The more grants you have been given, the easier for you to be given more grants.
• Nobody works for a Nobel prize, they just get it - because they just do what they want to do. They do it for passion, they want to know.
• Don't submit manuscripts of the same research to different journals at the same time. Only when you were rejected from one, then you can submit to another.
• What should you publish? NEW, groundbreaking work.
• One solid work is better than 10 small ones. So invest time and thinking to have one.
• Find a niche area in field of specialization as your area of expertise. Then if you want to have a secondary area that's fine but stay focused on the one main area, always.
• All work must be professionally presented, hire a proofreader, talk to fellow academics, annoy them with your idea.
• Work with you supervisor, make sure you get one that you are comfortable with. If you can't work with them within the first few months, try to change.
• Reasons why journals get rejected: out of scope, unclear abstract, poor English, no more room for publication at that time
• don't worry about people stealing your work, they can never write as you.
• your first two books should be your MA thesis and your Phd thesis.
• Getting no response from publishers is common. Being rejected is also common. Getting reviews from reviewers even when you are a top scholar is common.
• If you are presenting a paper, do your best because you don't know who your audience might include. Possible someone who is looking for a scholar to give a grant to 

All in all, I imagine having my article being published in his journal - if not soon, one day. InshaAllah.


Love,
Fadz.