It started as a week-long writing bootcamp, with participants writing together on a video call. The week was a great success and everyone wanted to continue, so they did another week — and are continuing ever since.
Claire and Thilde talk about their writing group, which started as a week-long bootcamp in June 2023. Claire wanted to push forward with her thesis, and writing in a virtual group with other researchers was helping her a lot.
However, the WritingScientist’s co-writing sessions were only taking place once a month. With Martina’s encouragement, Claire initiated a week-long writing bootcamp, copying the structure of WritingScientist’s monthly co-writing sessions.
Meanwhile, the Bootcamp Writing Group is still running, using the jitsi platform for the calls. They are meeting daily Monday through Saturday at 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM Central European Time (UTC+1) — or even longer, when the group members need it.
Writing alongside others provides motivation and leads to a better focus and less procrastination. Even more, Claire & Thilde extended the community aspect of the sessions by using the main break for getting to know each other, and exchanging experiences, advice and even text feedback. This way they created a truly supportive academic community that goes way beyond simply writing together.
And there are tangible results: so far 8 regular participants graduated since the beginning of the bootcamp writing group. And more are following soon.
Would you like to join the Bootcamp Writing Group? Send a short email to Martina: bootcamp@writingscientist.com
Would you like to start your own writing group (e.g., because the times of the Bootcamp Group are not working for you)? Watch the interview: Claire & Thilde share their tips for starting your own co-writing sessions.
Content
00:00 Introduction: What are we going to talk about?
00:42 What is the Bootcamp Writing Group about? How does it work?
06:22 What is it good for? What are the benefits to the participants?
12:22 How did it start?
17:43 Any advice to those who would like to start their own co-writing group?
24:36 Are there any challenges for you, the group coordinators?
32:20 Closing: Anything else you want to share?