No critiquing, exercises, lectures, ego, competition or feeling guilty<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The concept builds\non the Pomodoro Technique<\/a>. Usually what happens in a SUAW group is you sit\ndown and write for 25 minutes, and then you have 5 minutes to talk, chat, have\nsomething to eat & drink, before you go back to writing. A typical session\nmight be 4 or 6 of these repeats (for 2-3 hours all up). Quick sprints of\nwriting followed by a chance to let out all your nervous energy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The key concepts of Shut Up and\nWrite are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Meet a regular, pre-arranged time <\/li>
- Have a single, easy contact point for new people<\/li>
- Keep the writing sprints short <\/li>
- Work on anything, so long as it is actual work.\n(You could do transcription, analysis, reading, organising notes, even admin\nthings for your research. I\u2019d suggest, though, that this is a good time to put\nmost things aside and just write. Don\u2019t even put your references in, just make\na note of where they need to go, and move on.)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
But does it work? A month ago, I sat down to test this out.\nI opened a brand-new document and looked at the blank page. Within 2 hours I\u2019d\nwritten out 1700 words of a methodology chapter, and the next night I spent\nanother 2 hours to round it out into a finished (draft) chapter. Somehow (no\nidea how) this technique helped me to get around my writers\u2019 block and get\nwords onto the page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Now, of course, Shut Up and Write won\u2019t be for everyone, but\nit is certainly worth giving it a go. It helps remove some of the social\nisolation that comes hand-in-hand with research, and being in a room with\nothers who are working can dissuade you from watching another YouTube video on\nhow the Dutch dredge canals (a rabbit hole I went down one day when I was\nsupposed to be studying). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others have posted online about their successes with the\nSUAW model. Tseen\nKhoo at RMIT<\/a> wrote a year\u2019s reflection about her group. Inger Mewburn,\nLindy Osborne, and Glenda Caldwell wrote\na paper about the groups at RMIT<\/a> and QUT. Sabine\nCalleja and Heather Cunningham wrote about a group at the University\nof Toronto<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Want to know the good news? AUT has our own Shut Up and\nWrite group, and it is open to all staff and research students. We meet twice a\nmonth in WU524 (because good seating, good lighting, and easy access to wifi\nand power outlets). If you\u2019d like to know more, please feel free to email scott.pilkington@aut.ac.nz<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n