Do You Procrastinate When Writing? This Program Helps You Focus.

Retreats for faculty provide structure and space for writing

Sarah Barton holds up a board she uses for writing progress
Sarah Barton displays a magnet board she developed using a technique learned at the writing retreat to sustain her writing momentum.

For many faculty members, writing can be an afterthought – the task you deprioritize in the face of myriad other responsibilities.

Sarah Barton has struggled with that push and pull, which is why she’s such a fan of the writing retreats hosted by the Faculty Write Program, an initiative of Duke’s Thompson Writing Program.

An assistant professor of occupational therapy and theological ethics, Barton has been to three retreats, and she now hosts her own writing group with a small group of colleagues.

“Even for those of us who love writing, it’s another thing we have to do,” Barton said. “I have to teach three classes, and I’m an administrator too so I have a lot of other things going on. These retreats are the times when I meet the newer folks and learn new ideas and about new things happening at the university. There’s real energy there.”

Faculty Write retreats draw faculty members from across campus who work on all sorts of writing – from grants to journal articles to fiction and books. One year, a biologist came to work on a children’s book.

The next retreat is Tuesday, Dec. 10, and will burst at the seams. While most enroll about 30 scholars, this will approach 40 because interest has been so high, said Jennifer Ahern-Dodson, director of Duke’s Faculty Write Program.

It will be one of three retreats the program hosts each year, including one three-day intensive program each summer. It will be held at the Duke Integrative Medicine Center (DIM), an intentional selection for its holistic approach to healing.

“Well-being is a core mission of both Duke Integrative Medicine and the Faculty Write Program,” Ahern-Dodson said. “At DIM, people can write a lot and take breaks and walk around the grounds, see the contemplative gardens and walk the labyrinth, hear the water babbling.  Writing is an embodied practice. We teach them to look up from their work and connect with what’s around them.”

While retreats offer structured writing time, workshops and peer mentoring, attendees can be as solitary as they wish. But generally, those who attend embrace the timed writing practices and group environment.

“There’s something about hearing other people tap-tap-tapping that helps people stay focused,” Ahern-Dodson said. “And then when we break, we break together, chat about their progress, share challenges and celebrate wins.”

“It’s all about lowering the barriers to getting into writing. If we’re at home, we might do chores or watch our kids or make a snack and suddenly writing time is gone. So having a place that’s set up for writing just lowers that barrier.”

Sarah Barton, assistant professor of occupational therapy and theological ethics

Barton has enjoyed the process enough to put together her own writing group funded with a $750 Faculty Write grant she has primarily used for snacks and caffeine, the twin engines that have propelled so much writing for so long. Her small group of six professors meets every Friday during the semester for three hours. It’s a small chunk of time the group protects and remains loyal to, Barton said.

“It’s all about lowering the barriers to getting into writing,” she said. “If we’re at home, we might do chores or watch our kids or make a snack and suddenly writing time is gone. So having a place that’s set up for writing just lowers that barrier.”

For writers who have hit a wall, Ahern-Dodson and co-author Monique Dufour offer a few helpful tips in a commentary published originally in Inside Higher Ed. They include:

Connect with your work: Rather than starting a writing session by naming a task, turn the task into a question. For instance, rather than telling yourself to write the methodology section, you might ask, “How did we select the cases we used in this comparative analysis?” Rather than focusing on filling in the footnotes on page 28, ask, “What are the most relevant sources about the main ideas on this page?” Questions animate your writing practice and bring renewed curiosity and energy to the work at hand.

Connect with others. Retreats offer writers a chance to work in the company of others. However, proximity does not automatically create community or a meaningful connection. Connection to others, not just dedicated writing time, is what supports many retreat goers. When we really take the time to share and listen and learn about our colleagues’ work, we can ask questions about the substance of each other’s projects and be engaged listeners. We can be inspired by others’ projects and may see relationships with our own. Connecting with others reminds us we are part of a larger scholarly community even as we work individually on our own projects.

Join forces: Form writing groups at which you share your ideas and your writing experiences. Multidisciplinary and/or multi-institutional groups work very well for this kind of connection, because writers quickly discover that many writing challenges are not unique to their fields. Outside perspectives can bring fresh insight. Don’t just count words, publications and grant funding. And listen more than you talk. Invest your attention in one another’s questions and projects and truly root for your peers.

Keep the momentum going: At the end of each writing session, write down where you are leaving off and note the first thing you will do the next time that you work on this. (Advanced move: park on the downslope by asking yourself the next question you need to answer when you work on the project again.) Parking on the downslope builds connections between and across your writing sessions in ways that can, with practice, give you a feeling of momentum.