What
are Shut Up & Write! Sessions?
I'm
currently in the second of our Shut Up & Write! sessions writing
this blog post, so I thought I'd explain a little bit more about what
the sessions are and how to get the most out of them.
Shut
Up and Write! sessions are designed for people to come along and get
some writing done.
They
are not designed to help you with how to write an article/book/thesis
or anything else. They do not include any critiquing or feedback on
the work you are doing.
You
simply turn up and write.
Why
would you need to go somewhere to write?
You
can do that in your home/office/favourite café etc…
If
you can get writing done in in those places then that's great, keep
doing it. However, it is very easy to get distracted by students,
colleagues, friends, family, Facebook (insert your distraction of
choice) in your normal working environment.
Shut
Up & Write! sessions are designed to give you some focused
writing time without distractions from other people. It doesn't work
for everyone, but some of the reasons it might work are:
-
You turn up with the intention to write
-
You are surrounded by other people quietly writing
-
It puts an external pressure on you to write
How
to get the most out of the sessions:
-
Decide beforehand what you are going to work on
-
Bring anything with you that you will need to get your writing done
-
Set a small, achievable goal for the session
-
If you're on a device with the internet – turn off your wireless connection during the session!
The
goal for the session will vary tremendously. It depends on what you are working
on and how quickly you write.
For
example, I know that in a 2hr (with break) fiction writing session I
can usually manage at least a 1,000 words of first draft writing –
but only if I already know who the characters are and where the story
is heading. Non-fiction writing is much slower for me, so I might aim
for 500 words to allow for thinking time.
Types
of goal for an academic session might be:
-
Outline a journal article
-
Write a short book review
-
Work on a specific part of a longer project e.g. introduction, methods etc.
-
Edit a section of a project
-
Make notes for a peer-review of a paper
The
main thing is to feel you have achieved something by the end of the
session. It will mean you are much more likely to carry on writing on
your own time or in the next session.
If
you like the idea, but can't make it to the organised sessions…
The
nice thing about the principle of Shut Up & Write sessions is
that you can also organise them yourselves.
It
can work even if there's only two of you, as long as you turn up with
the intention to write and at least one of you is willing to enforce
the rule that after a chat/break you get back to writing!
You
just need:
-
A time and place to meet
-
Preferably somewhere with power sockets & refreshments
-
A structure to the session
-
e.g. get set-up/chat, write for a specified amount of time – rinse/repeat.
-
If
you don't know anyone locally then you can even run sessions online:
-
Decide on an online form of communication e.g. Twitter, Google Hangout, Chat
-
Decide on a time to start the session
-
Join the chat/hangout/twitter hashtag (e.g. on Twitter see #suaw)
-
Introduce yourself & say what your goal for the writing session is
-
Write for a set amount of time
-
Go back online and say whether you met your goal & chat with the other participants
More
resources:
ShutUp & Write blog post by The Thesis Whisperer
Writeswell with others blog post by The Research Whisperer
ShutUp & write - so hot right now blog post by The Research Whisperer
The
Library Research Services Team are running Shut Up and Write!sessions every Friday morning in August.
We'll
be collecting feedback at the end of August to find out if the
sessions were useful and if there is a demand to run further sessions
in the future.
Any
comments about Shut Up & Write – email Selina on stl5@le.ac.uk