Writing Groups

One of the best ways to make consistent progress on a long writing project is to form a writing group with a couple of your colleagues. Writing groups keep you productive by allowing you to establish deadlines, and they get you out of your own giant head on a regular basis. Which is always a good thing.

Fill out the Writing Group Questionnaire below and I will send results to everyone who's interested. Then you can send an e-mail or two and find a couple of people for your group.

I will meet with you and your group the first time you get together and help you figure out guidelines and even pick a team name.

Writing Group Questionnaire

Guidelines for Writing Groups

There is no one "right" way to organize a writing group. But there are a couple of things you can keep in mind to make yours more successful.

1. Have fun with your group. 
2. Create a schedule. Have one member of your group be responsible for producing pages each week or month (whatever works for you) and sharing them with the others.
3. Give honest and thorough feedback on drafts.
4. Set up some sort of rewards system. My graduate school writing group would buy beer for the person who produced pages if they met their goal.
5. Try to meet in synchronously to discuss your pages. It's easier to do things asynchronously, but you can ask questions and chat when you are online together.