Let’s Talk about Writing!

Description

As academics, we spend our time teaching, doing research, and writing. Our training in graduate school focuses mostly on research although very few of us spend the majority of time collecting and analyzing data. Some of us are lucky enough to have some training in pedagogy. But very few of us are ever trained to be writers, either of academic articles, book chapters, or whole volumes.

This lack of training---and perhaps maybe even more importantly, the real lack of mentoring toward a writing life—is what precludes so many from daring to identify as writers. This hinders not just confidence in the work produced, but it also stymies one’s career and often interferes with our ability to believe in their capacity to translate their work to the larger public.

This workshop will be a highly interactive session where we focus on how to make breakthroughs in writing. We do this by focusing on developing our identity as writers, as well as sociology. We help those with heavy teaching loads or administrative responsibilities reinforce their identities as writers. We provide interactive exercises to help participants develop or reinforce their identity as a writer, as well as develop efficient writing practices.

Amidst spirited and inspiring dialogue, the aim is that participants will emerge with practical tips and strategies to create and sustain writing momentum, and we hope that connections might be forged among participants that ignite writing groups and continued conversations.

Our learning objectives include:
Adopting techniques to overcome writing blocks
Exploring adding “writer” to one’s identity as a teacher and researcher
Identifying ways to work smarter not harder by recycling current academic work (from classrooms or service) into writing projects.

Sub Unit

• Workshops / Professional Development Workshop

Presenter

• Deborah J. Cohan, University of South Carolina Beaufort

Session Organizer

• Barbara Jane Risman, University of Illinois-Chicago