Virtual Writing Wednesdays and Writing Retreats

Find out how our virtual writing sessions and retreats can keep you motivated, reduce your levels of procrastination and help you achieve your writing goals.

What are Virtual Writing Wednesdays?

Find out more about our Virtual Writing Wednesday sessions we organise for doctoral students.

Do you struggle to find the time, space or motivation to focus on your writing? Do you really need to finish a thesis chapter, confirmation report, journal paper or funding application? If so, try a Virtual Writing Wednesday session.

'Virtual Writing Wednesdays' provide a supportive online virtual time and space which allows you to work alongside each other to progress your writing projects. These two-hour sessions are facilitated by a Doctoral Engagement Ambassador whose role at the beginning of the session is to help you to set writing goals, keep you motivated to write and towards the end, help you to reflect on your progress.

Join a session

Whether you are planning on joining us on your PC, laptop, mobile or any other device, you can sign up for a session. You will be sent a Teams link in advance where one of our friendly Doctoral Engagement Ambassadors will greet you at the start.

You should be able to dedicate the full two hours for some writing, but if you can't commit to the full session you can still sign up and let the Ambassador know at the start of the session that you can't stay for the full time.

Join our in-person Writing Retreats

Doctoral Writing Retreats take place three times a year during the University's Research Focus Weeks at a location off-campus.

They offer a dedicated time and space for you to focus on the writing project you are currently working on, whether that be a paper, a literary review or a section of your thesis!

The retreats are for a full day and under the guidance of a facilitator, will enable you to work for up to 5 hours on your writing projects with tea/ coffee breaks and lunch also provided.

Read about the success of our first writing retreat. Future writing retreats will be advertised here.

How to make the most of writing sessions and retreats

To help you make the most of your time at virtual writing sessions or in-person retreats, here are our top tips:

identify exactly what your writing project will be: a draft chapter, article, fellowship application or grant bid, for example
do as much reading and researching before the session/ retreat to allow more time for writing on the day
set some goals and break your writing into smaller chunks
be realistic about your writing goals
if you get to a sticking point take a short break
don't try to write the perfect text in one go, write your ideas down and then go back and edit it
think about your writing environment and minimise any distractions
switch the internet off and put your phone in aeroplane mode (until the break)

Contact us

If you have any questions about Virtual Writing Wednesdays or Writing Retreats please contact us.

Fiona Alexander, Doctoral Skills and Engagement Coordinator