If you stumbled across this blog via the NYTimes Education Life supplement, welcome! I started this blog about a year ago to chronicle my adventures in grad school and to write about writing. I’m a fourth year PhD student at Rice University. I’m also a writer, blogger, book reviewer, and copy editor. I like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain … just kidding. But seriously, given the current drought in Texas, some rain would be really awesome right now.

Over the past year, I’ve written on a number of subjects relating to writing, graduate school, and academia. If you want to know more about getting into grad school, I recommend my post on graduate school applications and its corollary post, 3 reasons why I love graduate school.

If you are currently a grad student and wondering how in the world you got here, I recommend my post on the Impostor Syndrome (trust me, we’ve all been there). For those trying to get a job in academia after grad school (aka publishing before your career perishes), I’ve written on Academic Journals, and I’ve given advice on how to write an academic book review, answer a call for papers or CFP, and write a conference paper.

And for those wondering what blogging and academia have in common, I submit my post Academia and Web 2.0 for your perusal.

As with everything I do or write, the opinions expressed on this blog are my own. That said, I do have a lot of opinions and will write for money and/or free books. If you are reading this blog and are an Important Person at a Major Publication, and need a writer or book reviewer, please feel free to email me: annasaikin [at] gmail.com.

I love social media (sometimes). You can find me on Google + and I will soon be on Twitter. Follow me and stuff.

Thanks for stopping by!