Building a Writing Practice
that Works for You

An 8-week online workshop & writing accountability group
to help you build a sustainable writing practice and
bring your article or book chapter to completion.

Workshop Runs September 22–November 14, 2025

Workshop Fee: $325 with institutional funding, $225 without institutional funding
Register by Sept. 1st for a 15% discount

As an academic, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed as you try to make progress on your writing while juggling all the other demands on your time.

This workshop provides concrete strategies and support for building a writing practice that helps you make consistent progress on your projects while avoiding burnout.

The workshop offers 8 thoughtful video lessons (20–30 min in length) on the topics below, a workbook with optional exercises designed to help you make the most of the lessons, and weekly group calls over Zoom (which alternate between group coaching sessions and cowriting calls, but always begin with a short “support and accountability” check-in period for sharing goals and challenges). The group coaching calls incorporate short writing prompts and mini-presentations from me (that bring in some additional ideas on the topics in question), and they foster a space for supportive discussion and sharing among participants.

Enrollment will be capped at 8 participants. The live calls will likely be from 12:45–2:00 ET (11:45–1:00 CT, 10:45–12:00 MT, 9:45–11:00 PT) Fridays. I will finalize the time and day of the week after at least four people have enrolled and indicated their preferences. I won’t invoice anybody until then!

We’ll dig into the following topics:

WEEK 1: Finding a Calm Focus & Bringing Pleasure into Your Writing Process

  • Our kick-off meeting! Intros and time at the start to share goals for the coming week, followed by a cowriting session.

WEEK 2: Managing Perfectionism, Your Inner Critic, & Your Urge to Procrastinate

  • Group coaching session on bringing pleasure into the writing process and handling your inner critic. Check-in at the start so that people can share goals for the coming week and talk about how things went the previous week. (Optional reading for the week: chapter 2, “More Than You Think: How Head, Hand, and Heart Make Writing So Hard” from Michelle Boyd’s book Becoming the Writer You Already Are.)

WEEK 3: Planning Your Semester & Setting Achievable Goals

  • Cowriting session. Check-in at the start so that people can share goals for the coming week and talk about how things went the previous week.

WEEK 4: Planning Your Week & Building in Ways to Stay Motivated

  • Group coaching session on setting goals that are realistic, motivating, and flexible and on finding a level of structure for your day or week that feels supportive but not overly restrictive. Check-in at the start so that people can share goals for the coming week and talk about how things went the previous week.

WEEK 5: Protecting Your Time for Writing & Self-Care

  • Cowriting session. Check-in at the start so that people can share goals for the coming week and talk about how things went the previous week.

WEEK 6: Protecting Your Focus

  • Group coaching session on protecting your time and protecting your focus. Check-in at the start so that people can share goals for the coming week and talk about how things went the previous week.

WEEK 7: Getting Unstuck at Various Stages of the Writing Process

  • Cowriting session. Check-in at the start so that people can share goals for the coming week and talk about how things went the previous week. (Optional readings for the week: chapter 3, “Turning Toward Yourself: How Writing Process Can Get You Unstuck,'“ and chapter 5, “Growing from the Inside Out: Exploring and Expanding Your Writing Process,” from Michelle Boyd’s book Becoming the Writer You Already Are.)

WEEK 8: Asking for the Help You Need at Various Stages of the Writing Process

  • Group coaching session on finding ways to move forward at various stages of the writing process. Check-in at the start so that people can share goals for the coming week and talk about how things went the previous week.

If you don’t have time to watch the videos before the live calls, that’s fine! You’ll continue to have access to the videos after the workshop ends.

The weekly video lessons draw ideas from a wide array of books and other sources. Michelle Boyd’s insightful book Becoming the Writer You Already Are will also provide an important piece of our curriculum in weeks 2 and 7 (though it’s not a problem if you don’t read the relevant chapters before the coaching calls!).