Renata Vogel
quit one PhD in 2011, finished another in 2019, now I coach people through the stuck years
$26/hour , set by Renata Vogel. Your first session with them is free.
I left a molecular biology program at Wisconsin in 2011 with six chapters of nothing and a lot of shame. Took a lab tech job, told everyone I was done. Then in 2015 I enrolled again, different field, different school, and defended in 2019. So I have been the person who quits and the person who finishes, and honestly the quitting took more nerve.
The humbling part came in my second-year committee meeting at the new program, when my advisor asked why my literature review read like an apology. She was right. I was still writing for the committee I had walked out on.
Sessions with me are working sessions. You bring the stuck chapter or the email you cannot send to your advisor, we open it together, and you leave with your next 40 minutes of work defined. I don't do pep talks. I do next steps.
More background
I know cold: dissertation structure in the sciences and social sciences, advisor relationships gone quiet, mastering-out decisions, ABD limbo, the funding-runs-out year, writing again after a long gap. I can also talk honestly about leaving, because I did it and survived it.
Good fit: doctoral students in years three and up, people deciding whether to quit, people returning after a leave. Not a fit: undergrads, admissions coaching, or anyone wanting line-by-line editing of their prose; I coach the process, not the copyediting. I am not a substitute for your advisor or for mental health care, and if something is beyond an accountability coach I will say so plainly and point you toward real support.
Availability: weekday mornings US Central, occasional Sunday blocks during defense season (March through May fills fast). Between sessions I will read up to two pages you send and reply with three questions, not comments. I expect you to report your weekly word count even when it is zero. Especially when it is zero.