I am an introvert. My work is solitary. My hobbies are solitary. Yet when I struggle, I seek company. I want to hear from people in similar struggle. I want to share my questions. I want to share what I learn. I want to be and breathe in company.

This is one of the inspirations for Writing in Good Company — the online academic writing accountability group I host.

If you are looking for company to motivate and celebrate your academic writing practice in 2025, here are some opportunities:

University-sponsored writing accountability groups

Many universities have created ways to help people find or start a writing accountability group (or WAG). Look to your department or college, to writing centers or faculty development centers, or to disciplinary or postdoctoral centers or societies. 

For example, university-affiliated WAGs get organized at the Iowa State Center for Communication Excellence and the University of Pittsburgh Writing Institute, at the Stanford Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and the University of Arizona Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, and at the Johns Hopkins Office of Faculty Development and the University of Illinois Chicago Center for Clinical and Translational Science.

If you don’t find the right group for you within your institution, you can start your own WAG or join a group hosted online, independent of specific universities.

DIY writing accountability groups

You already have all the skills you need to create your own writing group on your own schedule. You can also read more about how WAGs were designed to work, and find both written and video resources, at WagYourWork.com. 

If you are already doing more than enough organizing in your life, you can also join a group that someone else hosts and organizes. Read on for more options.

Hosted online writing accountability groups

• Writing in Good Company will continue in 2025, with the first 8-week session beginning in early January. I started this group to create a space for folks who haven’t yet found the right space for their writing life. I approach accountability through acceptance and respect, because I believe we accomplish more the more we respect and care for ourselves. To join us in January — or to be notified of future sessions — please fill out this Google Form. (I also announce upcoming sessions on LinkedIn and Bluesky.) It is absolutely free to attend; tips are welcome too.
• Academic writing coach Leanne C. Powner hosts a weekly online co-writing group on Wednesdays. There is a no-cost option, or you can contribute a small amount when you register to attend. Leanne also offers workshops and small-group coaching for academic writers.
• Jennifer Polk of From PhD to Life also hosts free weekly 90-minute co-working sessions on Zoom. Register on the website or follow Jennifer on LinkedIn to get information about 2025 dates.
• Academic developmental editor Katherine Wiley hosts 8-week Creating in Community scholarly writing groups that meet for 2 hours each and include discussion and activities. There is a modest fee to register. Katherine also offers writing coaching and developmental editing services.
• Academic writers, teachers, and coaches Candace Epps-Robertson and Beth Godbee host semester-long Weekly Writing Groups with a choice of Wednesday or Friday meetings. Each meeting lasts 2.5–3 hours to include time for check-ins and goals along with writing time. There is a modest fee to register, with sliding fee and payment plan options. When you sign up for this group, you get a one-day writing retreat each semester, too!
• Novelist Sara Read and academic editor Tes Slominski together host the No Time to Write Club on Substack, with approximately 10 synchronous and asynchronous writing sprints every month. Members join through a modest paid Substack subscription and have access to all sprints, an online chat, and other activities. Open to academics and fiction writers (and academics who write fiction!).
• Starting in 2025, editors and writing coaches Beth Wright and Eliot West host a weekly online writers support and accountability group that is focused on discussion of writing process and practice (no co-writing time). This group is open to writers of all genres; there is a modest fee to attend.

Scholarly writing courses, communities, and retreats

• Your Year of Focus and Writing: The Bootcamp is a free three-day online training to be held January 13–16, 2025. Presented by Ana Pineda of I Focus and Write, the three 1-hour classes and three 2-hour co-writing sessions focus on writing strategies for scientists, goal-setting, and planning for a productive writing year.
• Directed Draft is a guided writing group for scholars in the social sciences and humanities hosted by academic developmental editors and writing coaches Micha Rahder and Karen Dewart McEwan. It includes multiple weekly co-writing sessions, opportunities for ad hoc private consultations with the hosts during those sessions, and structured individual coaching. There is a fee to attend: slightly higher with the individual coaching, slightly lower without. A new session begins January 27, 2025.
• Academic writer, editor, and consultant Kelly Clancy hosts 8-week online Writers’ Circles  that include goal setting, weekly meetings and separate co-writing sessions, an optional Slack accountability group, and more. A new small-group session begins in January 2025, and there is a fee to attend. Kelly also offers workshops on writing and revision and in-person academic writing retreats.
• Academic developmental editor Ellen Tilton-Cantrell will offer a 9-week online workshop and writing accountability group called Building a Writing Practice that Works for You, in the fall of 2025. She also hosts online workshops on writing scholarly books specifically. Fees are posted on the website, and there are discounts for early registration.
• Academic writing coach Katy Peplin hosts the online writing community Thrive PhD, which includes a structured curriculum, accountability groups, coaching and more. It’s intended for PhD students; there is a very small monthly fee to participate.
• Academic publishing consultant Lisa D. Munro’s 14-week Scholarship Success Collective combines co-writing, community, and instruction focused specifically on writing academic journal articles. There is a fee to attend.
• Academic career guide Jo VanEvery hosts the Academic Writing Studio: an academic writing community built around virtual co-working, group coaching, and additional online resources. It is open to faculty, postdocs, and PhD students alike. There is a monthly fee to participate, with two membership tiers plus options for a sliding scale.
• The Researchers’ Writing Academy hosted by academic writing coach Anna Clemens includes a training course on how to write journal articles, an online writing community, co-writing opportunies, and small-group coaching calls. This course focuses on empirical research articles and is not appropriate for scholars in the humanities. The annual fee can be paid all at once or in modest monthly installments. (Anna also offers a free online webinar on writing journal articles efficiently.)
• Wendy Baldwin, academic editor at Linguaverse, hosts multi-day structured online writing retreats for academic writers that look quite interesting. Note that they are scheduled on Madrid time. There is a modest fee to register for each retreat.
• Also in Europe, Structured Writing Retreats — both online and in person versions — hosted by the Writing for Research and Academic Practice (WRAP) network.
• In the United States, Michelle Boyd, founder of InkWell Academic Writing Retreats, hosts in-person Composed Writing Retreats twice a year (fee information on website) as well as an online program which is available only to writers who have already attended one of her retreats. However! She also offers a free online half-day Power of Pause retreat twice a year — so check it out.
• Academic book coach Jane Jones hosts the Elevate program, which includes a structured curriculum for writing an academic book paired with coaching, critiquing, and editing support, along with an online community. This program is designed for minoritized women; it is one of the most comprehensive options on this list, with corresponding cost.
• Helen Sword, writing teacher, writing researcher, and author of multiple books on the art of academic writing, offers an abundance of resources on her website. The WriteSPACE is an international online writing community that includes online resources and community forum, events and workshops, and live online Writing Studio sessions. There are two levels of monthly membership fees, both extremely reasonable. (See also the free video series with inspiration and structure for a 5-day personal writing retreat at home or in the vacation spot of your dreams.)

Online academic writing courses

While I was researching writing groups, I also collected links to several interesting online courses in academic writing. In case you might be interested!

• Crystal Herron hosts Scientific Writing Simplified, a self-paced online course in academic writing that includes access to an online writing community.
• Malini Devadas’s course The Scholarly Writer also focuses on building a writing practice, learning to write and edit effectively, and submit journal articles with confidence. She also offers webinars, workshops, and an online writing community.
• Letitia Henville offers an 8-week asynchronous online course on Becoming a Better Editor of Your Own Work. (And a synchronous version, co-hosted with several other amazing editors, each May and June; 2025 dates TBA.)
• Laura Portwood-Stacer offers online courses and workshops such as the Book Proposal Accelerator for writers of academic books.
• Katelyn E. Knox and Allison Van Deventer offer an online Dissertation-to-Book Workshop, as well as other workshop options for those writing academic books.
• D. Scott and Thoko Kamwendo offer an online course on using Conscious and Inclusive Language in Academic Contexts. 

Most of these people also offer writing coaching, workshops, academic editing, and/or other such services — do check them out.

And … just trust me!

I encourage everyone to watch the free video replay of Laura Portwood-Stacer’s conversation with Black women’s studies scholar Stephanie Y. Evans (author of the recently released book Black Feminist Writing).

“This 60-minute webinar is for scholarly authors who want to learn how to write in ways that center mental health and wellness.”

I wish you all happy writing in 2025!

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Do you host a writing group or teach a course relevant to academic writers? Tell us about it! Add your info to the comments or email me with information to add to this post.