Writing Retreats and Courses for Academic Writers
Retreats
Residential Writing Retreat with Rowena Murray
The retreat starts on Wednesday at 5pm, ending Friday at 4.30pm. Venue is Glynhill Hotel, Renfrew. If you haven’t attended a structured writing retreat before, the Murray and Newton (2009) article seems to work well as an introduction.
At this retreat you can work on any writing project: chapter, book, report, PhD, conference abstract, AHE Fellowship, article, research proposal, grant, fiction or other non-fiction. Cost to be confirmed here soon.
Dates:Booking Codes
March 25-27 2503 WRITIN April 30-May 2 2304 WRITIN
Cost of full board is £350, payable to Glynhill Hotel. Plus £100 fee to Rowena Murray Educational Services
To register, email annette@glynhill.com and use booking code above.
Email me for how to pay £100 fee: r.e.g.murray@btinternet.com
3 Day Structured Writing Retreat Programme
Retreat works best when you
Focus exclusively on writing.
Agree not to use internet in the writing room.
Discuss your writing-in-progress –> mutual peer support.
Define and discuss content and structure for writing sub-goals.
Take stock of your achievements of these goals throughout the programme.
Set specific goals and sub-goals, i.e. sections of paper/chapter, number of words.
References: Evidence of outputs and outcomes
Murray R (2015) Writing in Social Spaces: A Social Processes Approach to Academic Writing. London: Routledge.
Murray, R (2012) It’s not a hobby: Reconceptualizing the place of writing in academic work, Higher Education, 66(1): 79-91.
MacLeod I, Steckley L & Murray R (2011) Time is not enough: Promoting strategic engagement with writing for publication, Studies in Higher Education, 37(5): 641-54.
Moore S, Murphy M & Murray R (2010) Increasing academic output and supporting equality of career opportunity in universities: Can writers’ retreats play a role?, Journal of Faculty Development, 24(3): 21-30.
Murray R (2011) Developing a community of research practice, British Educational Research Journal, 38(5): 783-800.
Murray R & Newton M (2009) Writing retreat as structured intervention: Margin or mainstream?, Higher Education Research and Development, 28(5): 527-39.
Murray R (2020) Writing for Academic Journals, 4th edition. Maidenhead: Open University Press-McGraw-Hill.
Before you go to retreat
Read Murray and Newton (2009) article – available at www.rowenamurray.co.uk
Decide on a writing project. Do reading and other preparation.
Review retreat timings: plan writing tasks for timeslots in each day.
Collect notes and plans. Outline the structure of your paper/chapter.
Mobile signal may be poor. See landline numbers above. Cash machines nearby.
Online 1-day Writing Retreat
Facilitated by Rowena Murray
This writing retreat uses the ‘typing pool’ model, meaning we all write at the same time, for fixed time slots, using goal-setting and peer and self-monitoring for our individual writing projects. We discuss our writing goals at the start and end of the day for 10 minutes. Almost all the retreat time is writing time.
Email me to commission/register: r.e.g.murray@btinternet.com
Prepare for retreat:
Choose a writing project to work on – article, chapter, grant etc.
Do reading and research on your target journal/publisher/funder/criteria and your topic.
Pre-retreat reading: Murray, R. and Newton, M. (2009) Writing retreat as structured intervention: Margin or mainstream?, Higher Education Research and Development, 28(5): 541-53.
After retreat:
Murray R (2015) Writing in Social Spaces: A Social Processes Approach to Academic Writing. London: Routledge.
Murray, R (2012) It’s not a hobby: Reconceptualising the place of writing in academic work, Higher Education, 66(1): 79-91.
Online 2-day Writing Retreat with Rowena Murray
Briefing Note
This is dedicated writing time in a supportive, non-surveillance environment: most of the time for writing, all of us writing at the same time. Please read Murray and Newton (2009) before the retreat, so you know what to expect. Brief scheduled discussions between writing slots generate solutions to writing problems, research conversations and/or feedback on writing-in-progress. See www.rowenamurray.co.uk for details.
People work on their writing projects: chapters, books, reports, PhDs, conference abstracts, AHE Fellowships, articles, research proposals, fiction or other non-fiction. Retreat outcomes include increased productivity, reduced stress, constructive conversations, confidence in writing, quality of writing and cross-disciplinary talk. For these reasons, regular retreats or writing groups are recommended (see refs below), and/or the benefits of Structured Writing Retreats can be consolidated by writing groups, workshops and micro-groups in many other settings and groupings.
This retreat will be facilitated by Rowena Murray, working for Rowena Murray Educational Services . Email me to commission/register: r.e.g.murray@btinternet.com
Retreat works best when you
Focus exclusively on writing.
Agree not to use internet during writing timeslots.
Discuss your writing-in-progress –> mutual peer support.
Define and discuss content and structure for writing sub-goals.
Take stock of your achievements of these goals throughout the programme.
Set specific goals and sub-goals, i.e. sections of paper/chapter, number of words.
Before you go to retreat
Read Murray and Newton (2009) article – available at www.rowenamurray.co.uk
Decide on a writing project. Do reading and other preparation.
Review retreat timings: plan writing tasks for timeslots in each day.
Collect notes and plans. Outline the structure of your paper/chapter.
Online 3-day Writing Retreat
Briefing Note
This is dedicated writing time in a supportive, non-surveillance environment: most of the time for writing, all of us writing at the same time. Please read Murray and Newton (2009) before the retreat, so you know what to expect. Brief scheduled discussions between writing slots generate solutions to writing problems, research conversations and/or feedback on writing-in-progress. See www.rowenamurray.co.uk for details.
People work on their writing projects: chapters, books, reports, PhDs, conference abstracts, AHE Fellowships, articles, research proposals, fiction or other non-fiction. Retreat outcomes include increased productivity, reduced stress, constructive conversations, confidence in writing, quality of writing and cross-disciplinary talk. For these reasons, regular retreats or writing groups are recommended (see refs below), and/or the benefits of Structured Writing Retreats can be consolidated by writing groups, workshops and micro-groups in many other settings and groupings.
This retreat will be facilitated by Rowena Murray, working for Rowena Murray Educational Services . Email me to commission/register r.e.g.murray@btinternet.com
Retreat works best when you
Focus exclusively on writing.
Agree not to use internet during writing timeslots.
Discuss your writing-in-progress –> mutual peer support.
Define and discuss content and structure for writing sub-goals.
Take stock of your achievements of these goals throughout the programme.
Set specific goals and sub-goals, i.e. sections of paper/chapter, number of words.
Before you go to retreat
Read Murray and Newton (2009) article – available at anchorage-eduation.co.uk.
Decide on a writing project. Do reading and other preparation.
Review retreat timings: plan writing tasks for timeslots in each day.
Collect notes and plans. Outline the structure of your paper/chapter.
