Date/Time
Date(s) - 27/07/2020 - 30/07/2020 9:30 am - 12:30 pm
Audience:
Some rise to the pressure of writing the 4* piece, while for others it can be the main hindrance to their writing. Creating a productive writing habit is a challenge for many academics, often leading to frustration and a feeling of never having done enough. That can soon become a feeling of anxiety and a sense that “I’m not good enough”. Fortunately the demands of the job mean other tasks can get done while the big challenge of writing gets pushed aside until that evasive blocked-out time appears.
Under the current situation of uncertainty, establishing an effective writing practice while sustaining personal resilience is critical for academic research. Will Medd’s sessions offer a unique format that brings together the space of a writing retreat with the provocation of live coaching to enhance and sustain an effective writing experience. The basis of these retreats emerged from coaching academics to take a step back, realign with the purpose of their writing and engage in strategies to bring writing back into the heart of their work. The retreat provides a powerful format to get writing done, harnessing the collective energy of the group, while the live coaching invites greater awareness of how to shape the writing experience. By bringing a focus on maximising the potential of the writing, and learning to creatively manage interferences, performance becomes the outcome of an effective practice rather than a hindrance. Key to this is writing in a way that is in balance with the rest of life, and enhances your resilience.
This unique combination of retreat and live coaching means that, while working on a current piece of writing, participants also engage in a series of coaching-based experiments. These experiments are designed to embed motivation, instill confidence and generate productive writing habits beyond the retreat itself. They will also be oriented towards learning more about your personal resilience. The retreat combines the power and wisdom of group learning, individual provocation and writing practice.
This online course will take place over four morning sessions.
About Will
Will Medd, a professional certified coach, developed the one-day, live coaching writing retreat (WriteHere, Right Now) which sets the foundation for WriteClub. He regularly delivers this programme around the country, inviting people to find what works for them and supporting them in developing effective, regular and balanced writing practices. He is passionate about enabling people to be at their best while balancing academic work with the rest of life.
Will is a highly qualified coach and combines this skill set uniquely with robust experience in scholarly writing. As PhD student (1995-2000), contract researcher (2000-2006) and lecturer (2006-2013), Will was an REF active researcher, well versed in the challenges of interdisciplinary and cross-institutional research. He started coaching in 2009 and has been full-time since 2013, running coaching programmes including workshops, 1-1 coaching, coach supervision, ‘train the trainer’ and team coaching. He has co-written coaching training material for VITAE and two coaching books, Your PhD Coach (2013) and Get Sorted! (2015), as well as a resource ‘FailuretoLearn’ (www.failuretolearn.com).
Will is deeply committed to developing conditions of challenge and support which are conducive to all participants engaging and learning. His sessions are regularly scored as ‘excellent’ and comments have
included: “respectful, sensitive to needs of the group”, “fantastic, created a really safe atmosphere to expose the issues raised”, “excellent, very patient when dealing with quite a few of us, kept us on track”,
and “exceptional – humane, forgiving, thoughtful and able to bring out the best in a diverse group.”
You can find out more about will at www.willmedd.com and www.academiclives.com
How to Apply
Places are limited and will only be offered to those who can commit to participating in the full programme. If you would like to apply, please email narti@lubs.leeds.ac.uk by no later than Wednesday 10th June and include a brief paragraph detailing why you wish to be considered for a place and how it will benefit you at this stage and that you are able to commit to the full programme.