Develop Superior Writing Habits
Get Group Support and Encouragement
Reduce stress and start enjoying your academic writing by working with peers in similar situations. The Academic Writing Club encourages positive, productive group interaction to help refine your writing process. We’ll show you how shared group resources and coaching help members achieve success and satisfaction with their academic writing. Read More…
Manage Time and Maintain Accountability
Learn Strategies for Long Term Success
Develop Productive Writing Habits
A Unique and Effective Online Program for Professors and Graduate Students
Finally, Complete your Dissertation, Journal, Article, Book, or Grant Proposal!
The Academic Writing Club is an innovative combination of accountability tools and productivity coaching designed to jumpstart your writing. Within our supportive online community of experts and colleagues, you’ll develop practical writing strategies, take charge of your progress, and achieve your highest level of productivity.
The easy-to-use software application is only part of the experience. The best part of your writing journey will be the interaction with people just like you, who struggle with the same confusing issues, but who are relieved to interact in this anonymous (if you wish) but supportive online setting.
“This writing group has qualitatively changed the way I work & write. The results should show themselves in my pub record by the end of this year.”
Research-Based Techniques
The Academic Writing Club is based on research by Robert Boice and other experts in the field of writing productivity and psychology. We teach you to write in short, productive sessions that maximize your output and minimizes mental exhaustion. But we don’t just teach you how, we guide you through it. We’ll be right there with you as you learn to develop and maintain ideal writing habits.
End Loneliness, Confusion, and Lack of Support
Work on the Process of Writing with Your Small Group and Coach
Writing with the support of a coach and a small group of peers makes a huge difference! As a member of the Academic Writing Club, you’ll hold yourself accountable to the coach and online group by logging in daily and reporting on your struggles and accomplishments. They will read and respond directly to what you’ve logged for that day. Don’t worry – you won’t be sharing your work; you’ll be sharing your experiences with the process of writing productively.
I can’t thank you enough for this marvelous resource and support. I never expected so much from the writing club; this really was an extremely valuable investment. I do feel like I’ve changed, and it’s really enhanced my productivity.
Although many Club members choose an anonymous online “nickname,” these groups are incredibly successful in developing a community of encouragement, support, accountability and closeness. This kind of environment helps you generate and sustain momentum. Knowing that other writers experience the same feelings as you is priceless. It helps you overcome your own isolation, confusion, and self-blame. That’s our goal – for you to feel good about yourself as an academic, freeing you up to accomplish your goals.
Maintain Your Writing Productivity
Coaching Groups, Classes, and Your Coach Provide Education and Inspiration
Live Workshops, Classes, and Your Coach Provide Education and Inspiration
Every 4-week Academic Writing Club session is packed with ways to help you maintain your newfound level of productivity. Each session features:
- An Orientation/ Writing Strategies Workshop where we present and discuss the“Six Strategies for Productive Writing” class
- A “People Like Me” Live Workshop (e.g. parents, people with disabilities, people of color)
- “Community Conversations — Live Virtual Workshop on topics that can affect your experience in academia.
- Weekly “Monday Messages” with infographics and quick tips to help you write.
You’ll also have access to multiple weekly coach-moderated “Challenge Chats,” a Small-Group Forum and Chat Room, and 3 site-wide Chat Rooms – one for professors, one for grad students, and one for all – where you can plug in and stay motivated.
“Why didn’t I do this years ago?”
“I can’t believe how much I’m getting done. Why didn’t I do this years ago? (Because I was laboring under the myth that ‘If you don’t have hours to write, you can’t accomplish anything,’ that’s why.)”
Access Powerful Online Writing Tools
Proprietary Online Tools and Phone Classes, Coaching Groups,
and Discussions Give you the Structure you Need to Succeed
- Daily Progress Page
- Daily Coaching Questions
- Coach and Peer Support
- Stats
- Club Wiki
- Chats
- Challenge Chats
- Session Themes
- Orientation/ Writing Strategies Workshop
- “People Like Me” Live Webinar
- Community Conversations
- NEW! The Monday Message
Daily Progress Page
The Progress Page is central to the Academic Writing Club’s power. The interactive format helps you build and maintain a daily writing habit by providing progress tracking, accountability, and structure. Each green checkmark represents a member of your group logging in and reporting their daily writing progress or problems. Other icons indicate whose log you’ve already read, the fact that someone commented to you, and who hasn’t logged in. Even though you may remain anonymous, you’ll be surprised how close you feel to your fellow group members and coach.
Daily Coaching Questions
Answering a few simple, but powerful questions about your writing process each day will help you achieve the clarity of purpose you need to overcome any writing blocks. Just a few moments of your time will help you (and your coach) discover patterns in your writing process and hone in on the writing techniques that will work best for you.
Coach and Peer Support
We really want to know how you’re doing! Our goal is to encourage you to persevere and succeed, no matter how much you’re struggling. Your coach and fellow small group members will read your responses and will comment and encourage you. It helps to know that someone cares, that you’re not alone, and that you’re part of a community.
You’ll also get support through the forums and scheduled Challenge Chats, and by participating in the Community Conversations, “People Like Me” Live Webinars and by looking at the resources in the AWC Wiki!
Stats
Automatically generated graphs let you monitor your writing progress and the progress of your group as a whole. Remind yourself of how much work you’ve done, and motivate yourself to do more. You’ll be amazed at how much you accomplish as an Academic Writing Club member! You can track your writing and research time, and find out which days of the week work best for you.
Club Wiki
The Club Wiki is an ever-growing database of resources that helps with academic writing and coping with academia in general. You, your coaches, and fellow group members can continue to enrich it by adding new insights over the course of each Writing Club session. All ideas, thoughts, information, and links are geared toward helping you become a more productive academic writer.
You’ll also find ongoing information about webinars, conversations, Challenge Chats, and other AWC gems, by clicking on the “Academic Writing Club” link (as seen in the screenshot below, just under the “Club Wiki Categories” heading).
Chats
Enjoy access to 3 chat rooms — a chat room just for your small group, one each for grad students or professors, and a site-wide chat we fondly call the Club Cafe©. Have real-time discussions, share tips and encouragement, create group-writing challenges, hold virtual café writing dates, and more!
Challenge Chats
Multiple times each week, you can check in to a coach-moderated Challenge Chat. You’ll announce what you plan to work on, and then you’ll proceed to do your planned writing for 25 minutes. Afterward, everyone will reconvene and discuss how it went! It sounds simple, but it’s a powerful way to keep you on track with your writing.
Session Themes
Each 4-week session, we focus on a different theme for our live webinars* exploring issues you may be struggling with. Our aim is to provide you with a road map for navigating the often unclear roads and pathways of academia.
Sample themes include:
- Writing in Stressful Times
- Avoiding Common Pitfalls
and Getting Tenure - Working with your
Dissertation Advisor - Getting Your Work Published
- Networking Successfully
Join our discussion-based webinars, get valuable ideas and inspiration in an engaging and trust-filled environment. As an AWC member, you can connect with subject-matter experts and peers across higher education to learn writing strategies and help you juggle work, home, and career progression.
*All webinars are archived for on-demand access.
Orientation/ Writing Strategies Workshop
At the beginning of every AWC session, we offer this live, interactive workshop. We’ll introduce you to the Academic Writing Club; but more importantly, we’ll teach you unique and creative strategies that will move you from being stalled or stuck to a confident and prolific writer. Even long-time members drop in on this workshop to remind themselves of the basics, to hear about and share writing fears and issues, and to discuss which strategies they’ll try next. We present research-based strategies that help with procrastination, writer’s block, perfectionism, the impostor syndrome, and much more.
You will leave the workshop with at least one strategy to try in the next 24 hours
“People Like Me” Live Webinar
Our “People Like Me” webinars focus on the life experiences or personal circumstances of those in academia. Connect with members who may share a similar story to your own. We have explored numerous topics relevant to academics, such as people who are:
- Parenting young children
- Living with chronic illness
- Experiencing burnout
- Struggling with imposter syndrome
- Non-traditional graduate students
- Victims of bullying
We frequently ask our members to help us determine the topic beforehand – listen or join in!
Community Conversations
Moderated by our Academic Writing Club Coaching Director and expert guests, Community Conversations provide opportunities for live interaction between AWC members and facilitators. These webinars are shaped by feedback from our members to present strategies and solutions for timely and relevant topics. Each webinar features a facilitated dialog, followed by a lively Q&A session and coaching tailored to help overcome your specific obstacles and activate and inspire your best writing.
Learn, interact, and become motivated by webinars like “Perfectionism, Procrastination, and Paralysis,” “Anxiety and Depression in Graduate School and How to Deal with It,” and “Time Management in the Face of No Available Time.”
The Monday Message
The Academic Writing Club’s mission is to help you become a prolific and creative scholarly writer who enjoys a fulfilling career in academia.
To that end, we are always looking for ways to get academics to engage with the process of writing a little each day. Once you’re over that first hump of starting to write, you’ll experience success and want to keep on writing!
We designed the Monday Message, our weekly email, to support that continuing process of engagement.
Each week, you’ll receive a short, informative article plus infographic that together clarify, simplify and illustrate concepts chosen to help you thrive in academia, particularly in writing and publishing.
In addition, we may send you news about the AWC, a heads up about interesting Community Conversations, updates to the Wiki, inspiration, motivation, or information that may help your writing that day.
In short, our mission is to make sure we’re supporting you in having the best possible experience in the Academic Writing Club!
User Testimonials
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Now, See Your Plan Options
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JUMP START- One 4-week Session
- Just $3.54 / day
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HABIT CREATOR- Four 4-week Sessions
- Just $2.90 / day
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LONG HAUL- Twelve 4-week Sessions
- Just $2.55 / day
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JUMP START- One 4-week Session
- Just $4.10 / day
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HABIT CREATOR- Four 4-week Sessions
- Just $3.35 / day
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LONG HAUL- Twelve 4-week Sessions
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FAQ
What is the Academic Writing Club?
The Academic Writing Club has many components, but the heart of it is the small group accountability system found on the Daily Progress Page (See “Access Powerful Online Tools” above). Our goal is for you to learn the habit of writing for reasonably short periods of time daily. After you do your daily writing, no matter how much you wrote (or didn’t write), you check in with your group online small group, reporting your progress and any challenges, by answering daily questions. The group will then respond to you within the next day, giving you support and encouragement. You will also support and encourage other group members.
Please read this entire page carefully, especially the section entitled “Access Powerful Online Writing Tools.” Be sure to click on each tab on the left, to fully understand all that you get from the Academic Writing Club.
What if I don’t have time for this?
Believe it or not, you will save time in the long run if you join the Club. There are several reasons for this. You will manage your time better. You will find times for your very important long-term writing that you didn’t know you had. The encouragement from your peers and coach will make your emotional state steadier, enabling you to do more and to take time off.
Finally, our extensive data shows that on average, each club member spends seven or eight minutes a day on the site. Surely you can afford that amount of time in order to write and publish more? What is the cost of not getting that paper in, not finishing that chapter, not completing your dissertation, not publishing enough for promotion or tenure? It really is worth 8 minutes a day!
Will anyone read my writing?
No. As a matter of fact, unless you feel the need to share, most people won’t know what your specific area of work is. Neither your coach nor your fellow group members will read your work. The Writing Club is all about helping you write a reasonable amount each day, so that all the distractions or urgent deadlines don’t continue to come before your all-important long-term writing. For that reason, we focus on your process of writing, not the content of your writing.
Will you edit my work?
No. See previous FAQ, “Will anyone read my writing?”
Is this a course? When is the first class?
No, the Academic Writing Club is not a course. The community discussions, classes and Challenge Chats are all extremely useful, but optional. Our main goal is to help you write more by writing for reasonably short periods daily, thus developing a writing habit that allows you to live a manageable and enjoyable life. Therefore, the accountability part of the Club, namely the Daily Progress Page (See “Access Powerful Online Tools” above), is the most important part of your experience in the Club.
We announce the schedule of classes/groups/chats at the beginning of each session.
I’m in Europe/Asia/Australia. How do I get the group support?
That’s the beauty of a program like this, which gives you the most important support you need in an “asynchronous” way. In other words, the members of your group are potentially there 24/7. You might post in the Progress Grid about your writing challenges on Friday, Jan 7, 9:00 am in Australia; and someone in New York City will read your response an hour later at 7:00 pm on Thursday, Jan. 6. That person will then comment, and you will get the full benefit of the comment, along with the support and feeling of collegiality. We have many members in Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan, and of course all over Europe.
Similarly, our coaching groups and classes are all recorded and made available on the site in a downloadable mp3 format, and you are always reminded to submit comments or questions ahead of time. Our Challenge chat sessions will be held at different times of the day to accommodate most time zones.
I’m a tenured professor. Can the Writing Club help me?
Yes. We have many highly experienced professors, some of whom have published a great deal, who find their motivation flagging or are unsure about the direction of their next research project. Often, tenured professors are so drained after being granted tenure that they need some structure to get going again. For whatever reason, most people on earth need accountability, structure, support, or reminders at various stages of their life! Needless to say, you will not be alone when you join.
I’m a grad student just starting my proposal. Can the Club help me?
Absolutely! One of the research-based premises of the Academic Writing Club is the idea that writing helps you find out what you think, and even what you know. It’s difficult to move forward in your thinking if you don’t write. So, even when you don’t know what you’re going to write that day, you should write anyway. You can write messy drafts and delete them, make lists of options for your topic, debate pros and cons of various approaches, or do anything that moves you forward. Even bad writing and dead ends will get you to your goal faster than writing nothing. You will save months or even years of dissertation writing if you use this technique!
About the Academic Writing Club
Since 2006, the Academic Writing Club has helped thousands of academics maximize their writing productivity and optimize their talent. We’ve received hundreds of testimonials attesting to the power of the AWC to help people write, publish, finish their dissertation, and get tenure. Perhaps more importantly, the AWC has helped people enjoy their academic careers.
Featuring a unique combination of proprietary online accountability and interaction tools, professional coaching, and small group support, our program will help you complete your academic work faster, more creatively, more reliably, and with less stress.
Life as an academic doesn’t have to be so hard. Join us today and boost your academic writing productivity in ways you never knew you could!