Recent Posts

The book Grad School Life: Surviving and Thriving Beyond Coursework and Research by Jacqueline M. Kory-Westlund, standing up on a bookshelf with a stack of more copies behind. The cover shows a piles of papers behind the title, with a small potted plant on top of one stack, and the bottom half of the page covered in blue as if underwater

PUBLICATION DAY: Grad School Life: Surviving and Thriving Beyond Coursework and Research

Publishing a book can be a long road—but here we are at the destination! Read about my book: How to thrive in graduate school while keeping a healthy personal life!
cover of the book Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne with Lisa M. Ross

Book Review: Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids by Kim John Payne with Lisa M. Ross

Make your home quieter and calmer, with less clutter, less media, and less stress. Home is supposed to be your restful home base. This book shows you how to make it so!
book cover for Grad School Life: Surviving and Thriving Beyond Coursework and Research by Jacqueline M. Kory-Westlund. It shows a piles of papers behind the title, with a small potted plant on top of one stack, and the bottom half of the page covered in blue as if underwater

Book Update #5: Grad School Life: Publication Day is March 19, 2024 + Cover Reveal

Exciting news: I have a book cover and pub date! Plus, details on the rest of the book production process, receiving page proofs, and figuring out book promotion.
great horned owl in flight over a meadow of flowers

3 Years Blogging: Why Write a Blog? How Do You Balance Blogging with Life?

Time flies like an owl! Here's why I continue to write a blog, and why—even when scaling back to fit blogging better in my life—it's still worth it.
the little blue engine that could pulling the train of toys over the mountain

Book Update #4: Chugging Through Copyediting

How is a book edited and produced? Here what's happening with my book on the slow road to publication.
a book with its pages fanned out in the air reting atop three other thick volumes that are also open

Book Update #3: Revisions Complete, Entering Production!

I'm inching my book from idea to final product! Here's what the review and revision process was like, and my next steps as the book moves into production.
Jacqueline smiling, wearing glasses and a tshirt saying I <3 my, holding a blue dragonbot robot in front of a stripy background at the MIT Media Lab

How Do You Decide What Projects to Work On as a Scholar?

How do you know you're working on the right projects and not wasting your time? Here are ways to know whether you've taken on the right work, and ways to improve daily task management, too.
purple jacaranda flower blossoms fallen on a brick walkway, scattered, wet from rain; green trees blurred in the background

How Women Scholars Manage Stress, Goals, and Self-Care—and How You Can, Too!

Is stress from work and life inevitable? How do you reframe goals and success? What do you do when decisions are mutually exclusive and mutually desirable?
a rock cairn of angular stones with a river blurred in the background

Productivity and Balance as a Parent: Challenges, Ideals, and Strategies

Balancing work with family life presents unique challenges for mothers and primary caregivers. How do we do our research, writing, and other work while also giving enough time and attention to our families?
the cover of the book Is Graduate School Really for You? by Amanda I. Seligman, featuring a road splitting left and right with the title in a big yellow street sign above, and a person looking out of a stopped red car on the right road

Book Review: Is Graduate School Really for You? The Whos, Whats, Hows, and Whys of Pursuing a Master's or Ph.D. by Amanda I. Seligman

A practical, informative question-and-answer book about the culture, expectations, and experiences of graduate school.
notebook laying open in the grass with a pen above it

Why Write a Book? How Do You Meet Deadlines? And Other Answers

When is the right time to write a book? Why a book and not something else? How do you manage caregiving and writing? How do you stay motivated? And other answers!
book cover of Leaving Academia: A Practical Guide by Christoper Caterine

Book Review: Leaving Academia: A Practical Guide by Christoper Caterine

As billed, practical advice for both grad students and faculty on transitioning from academia to the wide world beyond—though it does leave a few things to be desired.
book cover of So what Are You Going to Do with That? by Susan Basalla and Maggie Debelius

Book Review: "So what Are You Going to Do with That?" Finding Careers Outside Academia by Susan Basalla and Maggie Debelius

A helpful book for anyone in the academy—grad student or faculty—who wants out!
silhouette of a person with arms outstretched on wintery day, in front of bare-limbed trees at sunset

Book Deal Announcement: #PhDone

I'm writing a book! Specifically, a pragmatic, up-to-date guide to thriving in graduate school while keeping a healthy personal life. Here's the scoop.
jacqueline in fencing gear on strip, lunging at an opponent during a college fencing tournament

It's Just Fencing: On Approaching Life with Playfulness and Sincerity, Not Seriousness

My fencing coach used to tell me to train hard... but in the end, it's just fencing. It's the paradox of play: real and not real, serious and not serious. Here's how to apply that paradox to the rest of life.
sunlight and blue sky behind wide green leaves

Book Review: Forest Therapy by Sarah Ivens

A book filled with suggestions for seasonal ways to embrace nature, ideas for incorporating the outdoors into daily life, and research on how being outdoors improves well-being.
Shoreline by Couer d'Alene Lake in North Idaho

Adjusting to Life in North Idaho

How I began switching from being a full-time academic in Boston to some mishmash of stay-at-home-mom, scholar, gardener, and writer. Change is a process; here's part of the story.
Baby Elian stands on Randy's lap and types on his keyboard in front of three monitors

Opting for Flexibility in Work

Self-employment enables me to achieve the work-life balance I want. Here's why I love the flexibility—and how you can get the same flexibility in your own life.

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About

We're Jacqueline and Randy, a blogging duo with backgrounds in tech, robots, art, and writing, now raising our family in northern Idaho.

Our goal is to encourage deliberate choices, individual responsibility, and lifelong curiosity by sharing stories about our adventures in living, loving, and learning.

Learn more about us.


Connect:

whoo@deliberateowl.com

Start here

Curious about our life and journey? Here are some good places to start reading:

Jacqueline and Randy leaning their heads together smiling at the camera

A Blog About Education, Lifestyles, and Community

A brief history of how the Deliberate Owl came to be and why we're writing a blog about us, our lives, and how we're living out our values.
Priests in red and gold celebrate a traditional Latin Mass

Discovering the Traditional Catholic Mass

How I discovered the traditional Latin Mass a few years ago, why that discovery changed everything for me, and what was wrong with the Novus Ordo Masses I'd attended.