Graduate & Post-Doc Groups

Join a Graduate or Post-Doc Writing Group

What are writing groups?

When we think about successful writing, we often think in terms of the product: a finished paper, a published article, a conference presentation, or a filed dissertation or thesis. To complete these projects successfully, writers need to have a good relationship to the writing process. To foster this, writing groups use goal setting to motivate, manage, and improve the writing process.

Why join a graduate & post-doc writing group?

Writing groups help you:

• Manage procrastination
• Find a supportive community around writing
• Establish focused time and a regular schedule for writing
• Set short- and long-term goals for writing to sustain progress over time
• Maintain motivation by seeing your progress over time
• Develop a better relationship to writing

How do writing groups work?

Writing groups are driven by your writing needs: guided by the group, you will establish, assess, and revise your own writing goals and—most importantly—write to meet your goals. While the majority of the time is spent writing, each session also includes time for goal setting, goal sharing, reflecting on progress and planning for next steps. This self-reflection and active goal-setting—paying attention to process—helps one become more positively mindful of the writing process and may improve your writing process, your relationship to your writing, and your ability to remain productive over time.

Each writing group should establish some ground rules for maintaining focus and productivity during their sessions. You might find the writing group guidelines to be a useful starting point. Feel free to expand, delete, and revise these guidelines based on the goals, needs, and expectations of your group.

Who can join?

Any graduate student or post-doc affiliated with the University of Rochester. See individual group descriptions for eligibility details.

How do I join a writing group?

• If you want to join a writing group, contact the group leader of any listed group
• If you have a group and are interested in some new members, list your group on our site by submitting the writing group registration form
• Need information to get your own group going? Email the Writing Group Coordinator, Liz Tinelli

Join a Writing Group

Group Title	Group Leader
UR Writing Group	Leader: Ajay Macherla - Email
Writing Anxiety Group	Leader: Matt Bayne - Email
Weekly Writing Group	Leader: Emily Lowman - Email