Here’s a little boost for those who need a little kickstart to write over the holidays. I first offered a Holiday Writing Challenge in 2005! It’s about time to do it again. Here’s what you do:
Post in the comment section:
- what you’d like to work on (if anything) over the holidays, and
- the maximum amount of time you’d like to spend on it daily.
Please keep this time limit reasonable and low unless you’re under huge deadline pressure — in which case you don’t need this challenge in order to get something done!
For those of you who have had trouble making yourself write, you may want to start with VERY short writing goals. Even 5 or 10 minutes will be enough to get you jumpstarted. Don’t go more than 25 or 30 minutes without a break. Using a timer helps. Many subscribe to the Pomodoro technique of scheduling writing sessions. This article will help you if you tend to aim for too much time and then beat yourself up because you couldn’t do it.
After you post what you’d like to work on and your maximum time per day, what’s next? Go back to this post daily, weekly or just at the end of the challenge (shall we say January 15?) to say how you did, to tell us about your problems or to encourage and commiserate with others. This gives you a teeny tiny feel of the Academic Writing Club.
So, to summarize:
- Post what you’re working on
- Post your daily time commitment
- Post again periodically to tell us how you’re doing — I’ll receive all posts as emails and will comment and encourage you!
If you think you’ll need more than a little boost to get you going and/or keep you going, please join the Academic Writing Club. Thousands of academics like you have used the AWC to boost their writing productivity.
If you’re already a member, get a friend to join: then you can both use the coupon code REFERME to get $10 off!
Good luck and happy holidays!
