November is Academic Writing Month (#AcWriMo). I promote faculty writing productivy and time management through my academic writing and productivity company, Defend, Publish & Lead, LLC, and this is one of the challenges we’ve promoted.
Academic Writing Month challenges typically encourage faculty to write more hours, produce more words, or produce more pages during the month of November. At DPL, and in my own work with faculty and graduate student writers, these approaches don’t match up well with the month of November. November is a busy time for professors and graduate students with grading, job interviews, tenure and promotion applications due and more. Instead, I propose that any increases in writing time happen in September and October, when fall energy and schedules might be more forgiving.
That said, at DPL we promote our own version of #AcWriMo with a focus on tweaks to sustain and reinvigorate writing and scholarly productivity. Directions are simple. Complete one or all tasks in each category. You can do one a day (there are 22 – we stop at US Thansgiving on November 23).
If you complete one task in each category, more than that, or all 22, email us at christine@defendandpublish.com with #AcWriMo in the subject heading and receive a free workshop code or DP&L swag. Please share this challenge (and your progress and pictures of completed tasks on Twitter and LinkedIn to receive ADDITIONAL BONUS CONTENT.
Category 1: Try a writing tool in your VERY NEXT writing session
- Try Helen Sword’s Writer’s Diet Test to trim your wording and see where you overuse categories of words. Go to site, drop your text of up to 1000 words in the box, take the test, and revise.
- Use Manchester University’s Acdaemic Phrasebank to start writing in a section or impose organization. Select buttons at top for sections of your article or book and toolbar at left for writing moves you need to make. Click in either area and select an option by clicking the plus sign. Once you do, a drop down menu will appear of “sentence starters.” Try one (or more) to start your next sentence.
- Try a free brainstorming/mindmapping tool to refocus your current project or start thinking about a new one. We recommend XMind or an old fashioned whiteboard (check out our podcast episode on this).
- Voice dictate your writing using Inkpad or a similar tool (check out our podcast episode on how to “voicewrite” quickly using Inkpad.
- Find “related words” to your project. Type a major concept or overused word into the Related Words search box and see a list of related words to add word variety or clarification.
- Make an extra document to store writing.
- Post your thesis on the wall (idea courtesy of Tara Gray)
- Highlight key sentences in each paragraph to find the underlying structure (idea courtesy of Tara Gray)
- Look at the sources in your writing project. Determine reasons why each source is there and look at places where you need more or less. Determine the role each source plays.
Category 2: Read a scholarly writing blog to get new tips and keep writing top of mind
- Weekly tips from Writing Scientist. A favorite (and I’m not even a scientist!)
- Prolifiko. My dear friends Bec and Chris have a happy, realistic approach to writing
- Helen’s Word. More from Helen Sword, author of Stylish Academic Writing.
Category 3: Develop or “clean up” your current writing project management system
- Ask three questions: 1) Where do I store a new idea as it comes to me? 2) Where do I stick notes on projects in progress 3) Where do I put projects when I’m finished with these? Write down your answers on a post it and stick it inside your laptop, on your computer monitor, in the car, and anywhere else where you need the reminder of where items go. MIssing an answer? See #14
- Track projects from idea to publication/presentation on Asana, Trello, something similar, or an old school chart.
- Insert calendar reminders to update your project management system once a week. Block 15-30 minutes of writing time per week to update projects and load new project ideas.
- Look at all of your partially completed projects. Determine which one you will prioritize to finish before the end of the semester and which projects, if any, can be abandoned. Use this article to help you take stock (through written for summer, it’s useful at any mid-point to determine how to move forward).
Category 4: Fight to hang on to your regular writing time/hours per week
- Make a holiday writing plan. Determine how many hours to write and when you have the best chance at success.
- Make a contingency plan for writing. Determine backup writing times. Fight to get writing back after an interruption.
Category 5: Set yourself up for spring writing success
- Set up your spring semester with writing as a central focus.
- Determine a writing project mix for spring semester.
- Use the Sunday Meeting strategy.
- Schedule a FREE 30 minute meeting with DPL to talk through spring projects and challenges.
Christine Tulley 