Image © Amy Crook
Since I made the decision to hold another Establishing A Writing Practice class on 3 April with a focus on transitions, it’s become even more relevant. I was thinking of the normal disruptions to your routine at the end of the semester. In the past couple of weeks most of you have had the additional disruption of adapting your work to be able to work remotely, including delivering your modules/classes, meetings, etc. Furthermore, you are often being asked to do this while other members of your household may also be staying at home and possibly required to work remotely.
By 3 April you will be in a position to make longer term plans
Writing may have fallen off your agenda in the face of more urgent demands of the past couple of weeks. The pandemic crisis is not going to go away soon though. You will settle in to a new normal in a week or so. And you will want writing to be part of that, not least because of the things that prompted me to schedule the class in the first place: Easter break, scheduled teaching ending, the end of semester.
Establishing a Writing Practice will help you figure out how writing fits in your new normal. It can also help you decide that it doesn’t fit and how to deal with that (in relation to career goals, confidence, etc). A big part of this class is an opportunity to have me coach you through specific decisions. The group context means that you also get the benefit of other participants’ relevant experience and a sense of shared challenges. You are not alone in your specific challenge. Someone else might raise exactly your issue. Someone else might have found a solution to your issue. The things you’ve found a solution to might help someone else.
Finding a new normal will help you through the crisis
The initial week or so has been dominated by anxiety, uncertainty, panic, confusion, and “this will do for now”. Establishing routines for riding out the crisis will help reduce your anxiety. You’ll be able to focus better. Routines, practices, and structures help reduce the cognitive labour of deciding what to do and how to do it so you have more cognitive capacity for doing your work and dealing with the unexpected.
Do you also want to join the Studio?
You are more than welcome to just join this class. However, the form has an option to also join the Studio to get more support. You can wait until after the class to decide. I’ll refund your “just the class” fee if you join within 30 days.
I have also started offering Office Hours for Studio members. This is a group coaching call where Studio members can come to ask for support with specific issues they are dealing with, get reassurance, and share strategies that are working. My goal is to make you 5% less stressed. My hope is that it helps more than that. Although this is the Academic Writing Studio, everything else affects your writing. I can help you decide whether something else really is more important, how to make some of your other things take less time or be less disruptive, how to juggle work and home when you have no physical barrier between the two, etc. ALL Studio members can come to these. If I remember to record (and hey, stress affects us all), I put the recording in the Studio for members to access later. I also send a summary email to folks later. And you can email me questions even if you can’t attend.
A full membership would also mean you can come to A Meeting With Your Writing. This is designed to give you focused time to work on your writing. It helps you structure your week without feeling oppressive. It also helps you get back to your routine if you’ve had to drop it temporarily.
You decide. Just the class will help you make some decisions.
Register for Establishing A Writing Practice:
Date: Friday 3 April 2020, 10 EST/3 UK/other time zones for about 2 hours.
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Fee: included in Studio membership or £10 (+ applicable taxes)
Studio members can find details of how to join the class on the Live Classes page. If you are not a member of the Academic Writing Studio and would like to take this class register here:
