Section Editor for this Edition: Aneesa A. Baboolal
Creating a Graduate Student Writing Group
A consistent writing schedule is a necessary part of not just graduate education but also building habits that will be critical to one’s post-graduation success in academia. Perhaps the most well-known online academic writing platform for refining one’s writing toolkit is the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity, specifically, the 14-Day Writing Challenge. While this two-week online program occurs a few times a year and provides a much-needed space for academic writers to maintain a schedule, build community and find general support, it is very short term. Thus, after participating in a few sessions and reviewing many, many writing sites, blogs, and books, it inspired me to aid in creating a hybrid writing group among advanced graduate students in my department.
Below are some tips based on our writing group that has been in successful rotation for about a year and a half, including summer and winter sessions! Keeping in mind that these are suggestions that many writing groups recommend, it is also important to consider that some of these tips can also be implemented in solo writing sessions as well, thus encouraging an increased sense of self-discipline and more productive writing sessions.
- Decide on your format–in-person, online or hybrid.
While many writing groups require in-person attendance and a strict commitment, online writing groups can provide more flexibility especially for participants with busy schedules. In my experience, hybrid writing groups combine the best of both –the flexibility to write when you can, the accountability of logging every day (or at least on week days) and the accountability of having face-to-face meetings to set up goals at the start of the session, the middle—to address obstacles and setbacks, and at the end–to celebrate accomplishments.
- Optimize your layout for goals, productivity, and self-reflection.
The layout utilized for our writing group to log productivity is hosted in a Google Sheet that is vibrantly colored and includes columns for goals by day (only week days), accomplishments (what did you get done that day?) and self-reflection on how to make the next writing day better. This not only allows for accountability but also helps in planning better future writing sessions.
- Indicate a clear schedule for the duration of your writing group.
Ours mostly runs on an 8 to 10-week session but can span a shorter or longer period based on the Fall, Spring, Winter or Summer schedule. For example, we meet and start our log the week the semester starts, set our midpoint about 4 to 5 weeks after and usually plan to wrap up before a major department conference (usually, ASC in Fall) as the semester gets hectic and ends shortly after that.
- Remember to take care of yourself and seek out inspiration.
The formatting of the Google sheet starts with a ‘Self-Care Rewards’ column to remind writers to reward oneself for achieving small goals. A reward can include a small treat or a walk–a brief celebration of your achievement. There is also a weekly affirmation that is sent out on Mondays by the person leading the session (we rotate every 8-10 weeks) but also sits atop the first row of our writing log for weekly inspiration. Our motivational quotes are reminders from successful writers to keep going!
- Be accountable to yourself and others.
Perhaps the most important aspect of a writing group is accountability in various forms. We indicate our daily goals and achievements and slowly work towards each one. When we meet in person, we verbalize our goals for the session and attempt to achieve them within the timeline proposed (usually, by end of the writing session). While this has gotten a bit looser as we’ve progressed into different phases of dissertation research, it remains an integral part of a successful group.
Creating a writing group requires commitment and the willingness to protect your scheduled writing time every day. Regardless of the type of group you choose to create or participate in for accountability, writing groups remains an opportunity to learn more about your own writing patterns and will help you to figure out what works (and doesn’t work) for you. At the end of the day, any writing is good writing!