Coaching For Academic Writers
In academe, the stakes are pretty high and writing is an important part of obtaining degrees, landing jobs, and earning tenure. Yet all too often, writing is viewed more as a skill than as a habit. As a result, too few doctoral programs and faculty development programs teach habits of fluent writing. In addition, admissions of struggling with writing are misinterpreted as “not having what it takes” rather than as simply never having been taught how to write a long research monograph or to write articles and books amidst otherwise busy schedules.
Far too often doctoral students and faculty members struggle with writing unnecessarily. If you were accepted into a doctoral program, chances are you have a long history of excelling academically. While in graduate school, you were not expected to somehow know the subject matter, methods, and theories in your field, but you were taught them in required courses. Yet too often, graduate students are expected to know how to plan, organize, conduct, and write the longest, most complex piece of research or scholarship they
have undertaken to date, without explicit training in writing a dissertation. If you have landed an academic position, you may be struggling how to get your writing completed while preparing for courses, teaching classes, advising students, writing grants, and serving on committees.
I have worked with doctoral students and new faculty members for over 15 years. I have seen doctoral students at risk for ABD successfully complete dissertations. I have worked with new faculty members who overcome writer’s block and struggling with writing to earn tenure and enjoy writing. I have worked with comfortable writers who, by applying some pointed techniques, catapulted forward their writing productivity. I have found that a little goes a long way, especially with those who have a history of excelling at learning.
If you are interested in working with me as a writing coach, I would be very happy to work with you. I love to see people overcome their writing struggles and improve their writing fluency, productivity, and enjoyment.
Individualized Coaching
We’ll work together to set writing goals and then I’ll provide you with the information, support, and accountability for you to reach your goals. We can talk each week on the phone. For each week, you will send me your writing and your writing graph for the week in time for me to look over it before we talk on the phone. I will read, edit, provide comments on your writing, and identify your writing trends. We can do this whether you are at the stage of interactive note-taking, developing outlines, writing prose, or revising. Also, I will review your writing graph and we will discuss your writing habits, any writer’s block you may experience, and how to make sure that you use your writing time the most productively.
Depending on where you are at in your process, I often exchange email contact during the week with my clients and sometimes supplement our weekly phone calls. For each week, we’ll have a 50-minute conversion by phone during the weekday, reviewing your progress from the last week and creating goals, strategies, and regimens for the next week. For this service, I charge weekly and I work with clients for a minimum of a month, preferably more.
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If you are interested in working with me as a writing coach, I would be very happy to work with you. I love to see people overcome their writing struggles and improve their writing fluency, productivity, and enjoyment.
Individualized Coaching We’ll work together to set writing goals and then I’ll provide you with the information, support, and accountability for you to reach your goals. We can talk each week on the phone. For each week, you will send me your writing and your writing graph for the week in time for me to look over it before we talk on the phone. I will read, edit, provide comments on your writing, and identify your writing trends. We can do this whether you are at the stage of interactive note-taking, developing outlines, writing prose, or revising. Also, I will review your writing graph and we will discuss your writing habits, any writer’s block you may experience, and how to make sure that you use your writing time the most productively. |
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Depending on where you are at in your process, I often exchange email contact during the week with my clients and sometimes supplement our weekly phone calls. For each week, we’ll have a 50-minute conversion by phone during the weekday, reviewing your progress from the last week and creating goals, strategies, and regimens for the next week. For this service, I charge weekly and I work with clients for a minimum of a month, preferably more. |
Writing Workshops/Seminars
Below are sample writing workshops from two recent seminars.- Workshop at DePaul University co-sponsored by the Departments of Biology, History of Art and Architecture, Public Policy, English, Latin American and Latino Studies, and Sociology.
- Workshop at Portland State University sponsored by the Center for Interdisciplinary Mentoring Research.