{"id":422,"date":"2017-10-26T10:18:30","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T17:18:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/gradwriters\/?p=422"},"modified":"2017-11-07T08:53:58","modified_gmt":"2017-11-07T16:53:58","slug":"write-on-increase-your-productivity-with-a-web-based-writing-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/gradwriters\/2017\/10\/26\/write-on-increase-your-productivity-with-a-web-based-writing-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Write on! Increase your productivity with a web-based writing group"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Madeline Walker with Kate Turner<\/p>\n

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Kate Turner is a SSHRC post-doc student at the School of Environmental Studies at UVic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Kate Turner\u2019s husband got an academic job in Bogota, she knew she would need some help finishing her dissertation. Writing a dissertation is challenging in familiar surroundings with supportive colleagues, but accomplishing this goal in an unfamiliar city with few local contacts is even more difficult. \u00a0Help, however, was closer than she imagined. When Kate heard that her friend, Daniel, a postdoctoral fellow at Yale, had committed to daily writing with another friend, Marieka, she asked to join them. Daniel and Marieka called their initiative \u201cDiMoWriMo,\u201d short for \u201cdissertation to monograph writing month.\u201d Taking their inspiration from novel writing month every November (https:\/\/nanowrimo.org\/<\/a> ), Daniel and Marieka\u2019s goal was to turn their recently completed dissertations into books. Kate\u2019s final goal was slightly different from Daniel\u2019s and Marieka\u2019s, but her objective\u2014to write a lot every day\u2014was the same.<\/p>\n

The three writers entered a period of intense productivity.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how it worked: Daniel, Marieka, and Kate committed to write or revise 1,000 words per day for a month, posting daily word counts on Facebook and Twitter and keeping a record in Google Sheets. On Fridays, they chatted on Skype.\u00a0 The penalty for not reaching the goal? A $50 donation to an organization you don\u2019t agree with.<\/p>\n

Kate was part of the DiMoWriMo group for January and February 2016, and during that time she wrote and revised 55,000 words. Yes, you read the number correctly: 55,000 words! \u00a0 Kate reflected that \u201cwriting a thesis is really hard and can feel isolating and disempowering. You are flooded with this bulk of information. It can be helpful to know how others are going through it and deal with it in a practical way.\u201d\u00a0 She credits goal setting, daily writing, frequent sharing, and friendly competitiveness for her stellar productivity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Kate and her friends used Google Sheets to track their progress.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kate finished her article-based dissertation at the University of Manitoba, and is now a SSHRC post-doc student at the School of Environmental Studies at UVic. She is working on a study about rural development and food heritage on the Pacific Coast of Colombia under supervisor Ana Mar\u00eda Peredo.\u00a0 Continuing to commit to regular writing with friends, Kate uses this method to keep her accountable for her academic writing goals. Although the rules may have relaxed a little since the initial group was formed (for example, writers may write several days a week rather than every day), the key idea persists\u2014if we harness the power of social accountability, we are likely to be more productive and feel more supported than if we write in isolation.<\/p>\n

As November approaches, perhaps you are thinking of ramping up your writing to meet a goal.\u00a0 Check out Academic Writing Month<\/a>, a month-long web-based writing event held every November for all academic writers. You can join in a supportive network, declare your goals, share your progress, and post results\u2014all the while learning tips and strategies from other writers.<\/p>\n

If you would like to start your own web-based writing group<\/em>, here are a few tips from Kate to get going:<\/p>\n