The next REF is always around the corner

With the next REF always around the corner, the pressure is on to produce, produce, produce. Is that article finished? Have you written up that conference paper for submission? Finished that draft of your next chapter? Got that contract for your book yet? Sorted out the comments you got back from the peer review process and started your re-write?

We’ve all been there – questions like these pursue us, whether they are spoken out loud or not. But keeping up a regular writing habit can be hard, especially when there are many other pressures on your time as an academic researcher.

If you are planning a writing day or a writing retreat to get your writing practice rolling, contact me at Writing Works. A former academic, research writing mentor, and experienced writing group facilitator with a proven publication record, I offer a range of academic writing workshops and writing facilitation sessions designed to get you writing and keep you writing.

I offer a hands-on, problem-solving approach that focuses on the writing process – specifically your writing process. In my workshops, you’ll

• Bring a specific piece of academic writing you want to work on

• Identify a specific issue with that piece of writing you want to resolve

• Be introduced to a range of practical writing techniques to help you address the writerly issue you’ve identified

• Have the chance to try and test those techniques, and integrate them with your own process

• Be encouraged to make active, conscious decisions about the writing issue you are seeking to resolve, and the techniques you’ve experimented with

• Be invited to reflect on and record these decisions and their effects and what you learned, and share this with the group

• Pick a specific writing deadline for the piece you are working on and make a regular writing schedule to achieve it

• Leave with ideas for how you can sustain the gains you’ve made and embed a regular and frequent writing practice into your academic life after the writing day or retreat is over

If you are, like many academic writers and researchers, struggling with your literature review, I specialise in workshops on how to roll up your sleeves and really write your literature review. You may also be interested in these workshops. For a flavour of the unique approach I bring to my literature review workshops, join nearly 6,000 other readers and have a look at my blog, Literature Reviews: A Guide for the Exasperated.