Bridge and Gather
Thoughts on words, writing, community, and imagination
A call to practice — academic writing groups & more, 2025 edition
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.
- 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!
- 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
- Academic writer, editor, and consultant Kelly Clancy hosts 8-week online Writers’ Circles — a new small-group session begins in January 2025 — that include goal setting, weekly meetings and separate co-writing sessions, an optional Slack accountability group, and more. There is a fee to attend. Kelly also offers workshops on writing and revision and in-person academic writing retreats.
- 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 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 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 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.
- 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, which may be challenging for writers from the US or Asia. There is a modest fee to register for each retreat.
- 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 available only to writers who have already attended one of her retreats. She also offers a free online half-day Power of Pause retreat twice a year — check it out!
- Academic book coach Jane Jones created 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.
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 focuses on building a writing practice, learning to write and edit effectively, and submit journal articles with confidence. 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!
* * * * *
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.
Celebrating the writing process
Each week of my Writing in Good Company accountability group, I offer a question to reflect on. This is the question I ask on the eighth and final week of a session:
How do you celebrate your writing efforts, accomplishments, and successes?
After 30 minutes of quiet writing on that last day, at the end of the hour, I ask each person to make a list of all the things they accomplished over our time together. Including, very especially including, very small things: things we thought, or felt, or asked for, or showed up for, or tried for the first time.
We then share our accomplishments with each other. We celebrate together.
With the permission of the participants in the very first 8-week session of Writing in Good Company, here is a list of the wins — large and small — that we celebrated:
- Prioritized a commitment to saving one hour a week for writing
- Kept at it even when struggling, with exhaustion, depression, guilt, lack of inspiration, or just afternoon blahs
- Cancelled meetings in order to prioritize writing
- In various other ways made space to write and think and focus on one’s own projects
- Finished a research manuscript, or two
- Submitted a grant proposal, or two
- Finished a book chapter
- Submitted a proposal and syllabi for a new series of classes
- Figured out how to split one dissertation chapter into two
- Wrote (and delivered) presentations, transcribed materials into English from other languages, edited literature searches and thesis chapters for others
- Learned that short writing time can be useful
- Took breaks from writing to go for a walk or a run or to garden or to celebrate family and friends
- Asked for and received support from a colleague within the writing group
- Provided support to a colleague in the writing group
- Connected with another writer in the group for ad hoc daily writing sessions [aka body doubling]
- Joined two additional writing groups per week in addition to this one
- Felt a sense of movement, consistency, confidence, or space to think, which led to a new relationship to writing
- Felt a sense of community in writing
- Thought about starting a writing group of one’s own
- Learned from each other
- Celebrated each other
- Did A LOT of writing
Congratulations to all of the writers in good company!
As one person added to the Zoom chat at the end of our celebration:
“I have to go but just wanted to say I am very grateful to you all and I celebrate all of you and all of your efforts! Thank you for helping me find community!”
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Writing in Good Company is open to early-career professors, postdocs, graduate students, and others writing academic- and research-adjacent work. It is designed for women, people of color, first-generation Americans, and first-generation postgraduate students. Everyone is welcome. At this time, there is no cost to attend.
The next session of Writing in Good Company starts September 9, 2024.
Perhaps you’d like to join us.
A few of my favorite things — resources for academic writers & editors
This is my personal list of favorite writing ideas, tools, and techniques — resources I have learned from, admire, and return to. Please email me (or comment on this post) to share your favorite writing resources!
Language skills
Tools, templates, and self-paced online courses in academic writing skills from Dr. Crystal Herron at Redwood Ink
A variety of resources available on Dr. Letitia Henville’s website, Short Is Hard, including her online course on Becoming a Better Editor of Your Own Work
Guidance on conscious, inclusive language in academic and science writing at the ACS Inclusivity Style Guide
Writing and publishing skills
Academic writing coaching, workshops, and online resources from Dr. Malini Devadas at MD Writing & Editing, including an upcoming free webinar on “How to write, submit, and publish regularly”
For those writing an academic book, the Book Proposal Accelerator course and associated online resources created by Dr. Laura Portwood-Stacer at ManuscriptWorks
A series of videos on Practical Strategies for Pain-Free Academic Writing, from a writing workshop by Dr. Alexis Shotwell
Technical skills
Lists of academic editors for hire, including BIPOC editor directories, along with BIPOC and white editors volunteering time to support Black and/or Indigenous scholars at the Academic Editing Circle
Tips, tricks, and training on how use Microsoft Word more easily and skillfully from Adrienne Montgomerie at Editing in Word
Additional training in Microsoft Word, PerfectIt, and Endnote from Cadman Training Services by Dr. Hilary Cadman
Resources on diversifying reference lists:
- The Cite Black Women movement and website
- The Cite Black Women+ in Physics bibliography founded by Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
- The Decolonizing Science Reading List curated by Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
- Why Dr. Letitia Henville of Short is Hard believes that “auditing your list of references leads to better science”
Tools for focus and scheduling:
Research and ideas
Books that have shaped my approach to academic writing groups:
- Community as Rebellion: A Syllabus for Surviving Academia as a Woman of Color by Lorgia García Peña
- The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom by Felicia Rose Chavez
- Pathways to Nonviolent Communication: A Tool for Navigating Your Journey by Jim Manske
Books that have shaped my approach to editing academic writing:
- Writing Science in Plain English by Dr. Anne E. Green
- They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein
- The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century by Dr. Steven Pinker [1]
- Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing About and By Indigenous Peoples by Dr. Gregory Younging
- The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself by Susan Bell
— notes —
[1] I am aware of Dr. Pinker’s reactionary politics. I also found that reading the first half of this particular book on language changed my editing eye radically for the better.
Writing in good company
You are invited to join a weekly online writing group for early-career professors, postdocs, graduate students, and others writing academic- and research-adjacent work. I am calling this group Writing in Good Company.
I have designed this group to support especially women, people of color, first-generation Americans, and first-generation postgraduate students, who frequently do not receive adequate cultural and institutional support for their careers. Everyone is welcome. At this time, there is no cost to attend.
The next session will begin in the week of September 2, 2024, and run for 8 weeks.
If you’re ready to join in, click this link to fill out a short sign-up form.
Writing in Good Company is loosely organized around the concept of academic writing accountability groups, or WAGs. (Read more about WAGs at the Washington University Postdoc Society writing accountability group page or in the paper on Intentional and Unintentional Benefits of Minority Writing Accountability Groups published by Trends in Microbiology.) At Writing in Good Company, instead of rigid ideas of what constitutes “accountability,” the goal is for each participant to learn what kinds of practices support them individually as a writer, scholar, and career scientist. This learning will take place through practice, reflection, and sharing.
Each weekly meeting will provide a quiet, structured space for dedicated writing time. The only requirement is to show up as often as possible. There will be options to participate (or not) in brief weekly check-ins on anxiety levels and accountability goals; to join a writing-silently room or a chat-and-ask-questions-as-needed room; and to join a room dedicated to people of the global majority. There will also be time to ask and answer questions and share resources about the writing side of academic life.
The group will be held on Zoom at a time arranged based on the current members’ schedules and re-evaluated for every 8-week session. It will be organized and hosted by Kyra Freestar, of Bridge Creek Editing and the Academic Editing Circle.
We will begin with the following goals:
- To increase your writing productivity
- To increase your writing awareness, confidence, and satisfaction
- To meet and build connections with other early-career academic writers
- To build the skills and confidence to lead your own academic writing groups in the future
We will begin with the following group agreements:
- We focus on our own and each other’s strengths and believe in each other’s success.
- We participate (or not) in the ways that work for us.
- We take care of ourselves. Stretch, eat, drink, take a break, etc.
- We give each other the benefit of the doubt and ask questions.
- We keep confidentiality: Learning goes, stories stay.
To learn more or sign up, click here to fill out a short survey.
To meet Kyra and ask questions directly, click here to sign up for a 20-minute Zoom call.
To recommend this group to others — friends, colleagues, and colleagues you’d like to be better friends with in the future! — please send them the link to this page or the link to the online sign-up form itself.
You are always of course welcome to email me, at kyra@bridgecreekediting.com, at any time.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Kyra
For Black and/or Indigenous scholars
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What a client of mine once said about discovering the existence of academic editing: "Why has nobody told me about this magic trick?" #amediting https://t.co/CMo6Q5iLwU
— Kyra Freestar (@KyraFreestar) January 22, 2021