This post was originally written in February 2021 as a follow up to Planning Your Winter Semester and was shared in the Academic Writing Studio. It has been edited and divided into a series of shorter posts for ease of reading. The general principles—habits, routines, and default responses—are explained in the first post in the […]
Read More »Meeting With Your Writing
Posts originally written to promote A Meeting With Your Writing. These address various issues that help you take the stress out of writing and get more writing done.
A Meeting With Your Writing is a virtual writing group. It runs in 12-week sessions. Registration opens about a month before a session starts and remains open until about 3 weeks into the session.
If you are interested and registration is not currently open, you can subscribe to my advance notice list. You'll get an email when the next session is open for registration.
Why join the Studio in the summer?
You probably think of summer as the easiest time of year to focus on research and writing. You’ve probably been looking forward to it for months because of that. So why would you want to join the Studio? Some people who attend A Meeting With Your Writing regularly during the main part of the year, […]
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Introducing: the Academic Writing Studio
The Beginning When I started A Meeting With Your Writing back in September 2011, I didn’t even know if it would work. All I knew was that virtual accountability and community was needed, and that I was prepared to facilitate something that might help. Now, it feels central to everything I do. Participants have told […]
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Optimizing Focus: The impact of time available on your focus
In Focus: 3 elements to consider, I outlined three elements that affect your focus during a writing session: the task itself, how you are feeling, and the context. This article is updated from one published 21 April 2014 to connect it more clearly to that framework. I use the term “optimize” purposefully. Your goal is […]
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Using all 3 types of writing time
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Using all 3 types of writing time Writing is a core activity for academics. Writing, as far as I’m concerned, encompasses anything that moves your projects forward. I advocate establishing a writing practice, while making writing a priority when you plan the rest of your schedule. Finding and protecting […]
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A story from… A Meeting With Your Writing
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · A Story from A Meeting With Your Writing If you’re a long-time member or someone new researching how you can add some accountability to your writing goals, here is a story from A Meeting With Your Writing – my weekly series of virtual writing groups to help you learn […]
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One thing at a time?
I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up my mother was big on finishing one project before starting another. In my life, I’ve found that this kind of advice isn’t very helpful. What tends to happen when I get stuck and try to “not give up”, “push through”, “drive on”, or whatever, is […]
Read More »4 years of A Meeting With Your Writing
A long term participant in A Meeting With Your Writing recently mentioned that it has been 4 years. Wow, where does the time go? I remember when I came up with this idea. I wondered what I would do if no one signed up. Or, worse, if only 3 people signed up and then I […]
Read More »Decisions take energy
making decisions is one of the most energy-intensive things we do as humans. Making a decision just plain takes a lot of calories. With a complex life, our brains are exhausted most days, too exhausted to make good decisions. Mark Silver A common scenario You have a sense that you should be writing regularly. You […]
Read More »Is working at or just beyond your limits really effective?
We live in a culture in which we are often demanded to do more. How much writing can you do in a year/semester/week/hour? How many students can you teach effectively? This constant striving for more leaves many of us feeling inadequate a lot of the time. It also privileges an approach to work that is […]
Read More »Thoughts on work, creativity, and “bureaucracy’s perverse attractions”
An article about university bureaucracy by Elaine Glaser in the Times Higher contained this thought provoking paragraph: In The Utopia of Rules, Graeber offers a convincing account of bureaucracy’s perverse attractions. It offers a chimera of absolute transparency, consistency and fairness. It is like a game with perfect rules – and which is also not […]
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Distraction: not the usual suspects
Distraction is the enemy of productivity. There’s all kinds of time management and productivity advice telling you to track what you are doing and get rid of all the meaningless tasks that don’t contribute to moving your project forward. There are apps and strategies for doing that. But are you focused on the right culprits? […]
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