How to celebrate Academic Writing Month in style!
There's no denying it - academics who know when it is Academic Writing Month will feel a sense of expectation as November creeps up on them. Will they be able to make the time for squeezing in a bit more writing than usual? Will they be able to find the mental space to keep the structure of the writing days going? What strategies should they employ this year to keep up a sustainable pattern of writing during and beyond #ACWRIMO?
With these same questions in mind, I set about planning the November calendar at Chapelgarth Writing Retreats with the firm intention to offer the opportunity to write to as many retreaters as possible! We managed to run three residential writing retreats and two virtual writing retreats.. so we feel we have done our bit this year!
In early November we ran one of our regular two and a half days writing retreats, open to academics from all disciplines and institutions: it was an all-women writing retreat, which included a couple of returners, some experienced retreaters and some new to the experience. From senior lecturers, planning books, to a Master student working on her funded PhD proposal, we probably had the greatest range of experiences to date. We had a couple of colleagues who had come together from Newcastle University - and who promptly started planning for their next retreat here in 2022 ; we also had academics who had come from further afield - from Edinburgh and from Bristol University. As always, it was a supportive community of writers, and the writing certainly got done: it felt like an excellent start to #AcWriMo.
The following week was completely different. We hosted a facilitated residential writing retreat for a Group of academics from SOAS (University of London - School of Oriental and African Studies). The week coincided with the university reading week - and what a clever way to maximise the departmental outputs potential! The idea of organising the writing retreat had stemmed from the awareness that the pandemic had often badly affected the productivity of many academics - mostly women, many from ethnic minorities. The group leader was determined to turn things around.
The SOAS group writing retreat was also the perfect way to get colleagues to reconnect as well as write, after the stresses and pressures that many of them had experienced.
In between residential writing retreats I was able to deliver a couple of virtual writing retreats for the Society for Research into Higher Education. This was the perfect way to connect to academics, beyond our location in North Yorkshire and it was lovely to see again - albeit virtually - some familiar faces. I was particularly curious to meet Vadna at our online retreat, as I knew that she would be coming to stay during the upcoming residential writing retreat, which Vadna had signed up for.
Vadna, who is writing a piece of historical fiction based on her own family history in Guyana, had many of us spellbound during the convivial evening meals, as we learnt about the extraordinary characters amongst her ancestors, as well as the many tales about her own life as a Lecturer to undergraduates and English teachers at a Provincial University in China.
With the weather in Yorkshire still being mild our retreaters were able to continue profiting from the outdoors. We provided warm throws so that everyone could 'walk and talk' in the quadrant while planning their goals...
Finally, with the winter sun shining on us, our wood was in full glory throughout the writing retreats, and it was great to see how the large majority of our retreaters was happy to join us on our mindful walks - the perfect way to recharge in between sessions!
