10th May 2023

WRITESPACE STUDIO 10th May 2023

Please introduce yourself by telling us where you live (country, city/state/region) and what kind of writing you do.

Jose: Jose from Berlin… I will be dealing with a paper on gender and work-family conflict in the global south in the coming months

Sandra: Hi Everyone, I am Sandy, a PhD student writing my thesis. I live in Brisbane, Australia. 🙂

Anita: Anita from Cape Town, academic writing on issues around helping engineering mathematics students thrive.

James: James, Stockport, UK – academic writing on design education mostly

Lynne: I'm Lynne, a linguist in Brighton, England, who writes about language for both academic and non-academic audiences.

Vicky: Vicky, in Essex, UK - working on a history monograph on living with lodgers in Victorian England

Stephanie: Stephanie, writing my PhD in art history on 14th C Italian art. On unceded Gadigal country (Sydney, Australia)

Creative warm up: Measure your writing practice (or any aspect of your life) with SPACE:
In what ways is it Socially balanced, Physically engaging, Aesthetically nourishing, Creatively challenging, Emotionally uplifting?
How might you grow, develop, and enlarge your SPACE of writing (or other aspect of your life)?

Jose: I used to "nudge" weekly with a colleague on WhatsApp—“how is ur writing this week?” I must recover that tradition of mine with that colleague

Lynne: it’s pretty stunning the extent to which I’ve made my writing social—I could think of five groups I more-or-less regularly write with now…

Vicky: I'm working on a book review at the moment, so I reflected on that. A key takeaway is how it is emotionally uplifting celebrating the achievements of others.

Anita: Setting a test is my more urgent writing task for now. It could be more emotionally uplifting (for me and the students) if I include a growth mindset angle by getting students to do a self-review on what they know before the test, then compare what they have learned through the test experience.

Sandra: Simplify my thinking/writing to ensure it is not too complex

Stephanie: Recently, I have been letting the PhD take precedence over "physically engaging" activities, but now my neck is starting to pay the price. I am going to make sure I attend one more thing (dance rehearsal, walk, yoga, run) a week.

Vicky: during the pandemic lockdowns, a group of us had Zoom reading groups

James: Remember your thesaurus, the aesthetic pleasure of introducing a new/different word.

Pre-pomodoro: What do you plan to work on?

James: Public and Private Spheres of the Studio

Vicky: cutting words from the book review -- I am normally so concise, but it is 300 words over the limit

Lynne: progress on a discussion section

Sandra: Rewriting a draft methodology chapter following feedback

Stephanie: Finish editing a paragraph on the symbolism of small white dogs

Anita: A task for a paper on using rubrics

Post-pomodoro: Please tell us one thing that you accomplished

Stephanie: Finished the para and started on the next one

Lynne: A footnote that I’ll probably end up deleting!

Jose: read the first pages of a draft that I will need to re-write entirely

Vicky: some words added, some words taken away -- but identified some paragraphs I can cut right down

Anita: Understood my task better

Sandra: Deleted some information from the paragraph, aiming for clarity

James: made an abstract paragraph palpable* (word found via thesaurus = aesthetic nourishment!_

Post-WINDOWs: How did that go for you?  Please tell us one thing that you discussed, noticed, or learned

Anita: TextExpander. The different ways Please is used by Americans and the British.

Lynne: It helped to talk through the purpose of my discussion section to help me think more about what really needs to be in it

Sandra: I have learned to try and include 'the human’ in my writing.

Jose: A reminder of people: ME in the text, as the author; and the PEOPLE doing something, on the phenomena I am exploring

Vicky: cut the word 'necessitated' :)

Lynne: I’ve been writing about please for TOO LONG!!!!

Stephanie: Remember to explain what I am talking about and not move on too quickly; the reader doesn't know what I know

James: Be wary of sentences that are smuggling in too many concepts

Vicky: not always dogs!

One word poem:

TextExpander: chatbot fresco-dog hat tea & coffee palpable stars