The science behind academic writing retreats: What they are and why they work.
Did you know there are researchers who study academic writing? They investigate, for example, what obstacles there are for academics to publish more and what may help them to be more productive. Hence, for academics, their research can immensely valuable – yet most aren’t aware of this resource.
Academic writing research has found that one promising strategy to increase the publication output of academics are writing retreats. However, it seems that academics and institutions aren’t aware of this. I learned about academic writing retreats only after I had left academia.
What is an academic writing retreat?
One of the leading researchers in this field, Rowena Murray, professor of education at the University of the West of Scotland, defines a writing retreat as “a total immersion experience, writing support and mentoring, focused engagement in the writing experience and a community of practice and reflexivity”.
Writing retreats are either hosted off-campus, often in quiet places close to nature, or online and that last from half a day up to a whole week. Writing retreats typically offer fixed blocks of time dedicated to concentrated and distraction free writing. Some retreats also facilitate group discussion, goal-setting, peer review, writing workshops or coaching. In the Researchers’ Writing Academy, for example, we frequently offer half-day online writing retreats that include a short goal-setting session.
The benefits of academic writing retreats
Sounds fantastic, right? Indeed, the literature demonstrate a whole bunch of profound benefits of academic writing retreats for academics in all sorts of fields. Here are the six most important advantages:
1) Long lasting increased academic output
Studies on academic writing retreats agree on this: Academics who attend writing retreats publish more. Take for example a study published by Edward Boyer and colleagues who report on writing retreats for junior and senior health researchers that ran once per year for four consecutive years. Each retreat, running from Monday to Friday, was attended by six to seven participants. Remarkably, the output of the participants averaged to three NIH grant proposals and eight manuscripts per retreat!
And the writing retreats seemed to have long-lasting effects. After the writing retreat, the participants produced about four scholarly products – such as papers, proposals and book chapters – per year, while in the three years before the first retreat they averaged fewer than two.
Monthly writing meetings for researchers in various fields following a course on academic writing were also very successful. Over the course of the two-year program the eight participants had produced 24 publications in total. Before the monthly retreats, they only totaled 9 publications.
2) Undistracted focus in a creative and safe atmosphere
Nine studies found that having uninterrupted time away from workplace distractions was vital to achieving the remarkable writing outputs, Rachel Kornhaber writes in an integrative review on academic writing retreats. Boyer concluded in his study that the off-campus location of the retreat and the lack of distraction were key to the success of the writing retreats.
Many authors have described writing retreats as ‘sanctuaries’, which, according to Kornhaber, implies that they experience retreats as safe, supportive, secure and comfortable spaces. One retreat participant was quoted in a paper describing how the surrounding nature had a calming effect and helped them focus.
3) Strengthening the identity as a writer and prioritising writing
Another remarkable benefit of writing retreats is that they strengthen an academic’s identity as a writer. Every academic is a professional writer but only few consider themselves to be one. As a result, writing often slides to the bottom of a scientist’s to-do list. Writing on evenings and weekends has become the norm in academia.
After assistant professors attended monthly structured writing sessions within a mentoring program, some “individuals began to see writing not as an elective activity but as one that was integral to academic-medicine and evolution of their careers”.
A similar comment was made by a participant of a writing retreat for academic women. She said that after attending the retreat she values writing time and see it as part of her “real work”. The writing retreat had a lasting impact on that participant who afterwards prioritised writing in her daily work instead of leaving it to last.
Women in academia, in particular, have many roles to play in their life and often experience competing demands on their time. Elisabeth Swaggerty and her colleagues from the East Carolina University in the US summarise the experience of academic women at a writing retreat: “Members were not teachers, wives, or mothers for the weekend; rather, they were writers, who reported their progress, worked through and talked through tough parts in their manuscripts, and tapped away at their computers.”
4) Increased motivation and peer support through the experience of community
It’s common for academics to write in solitude – either typing away in their office or at home. Participants of writing retreats reported, however, that they particularly valued working around other writers, which led them to experience a sense of connectedness.
Another benefit of the writing community during a retreat is the collegial support, for example, by receiving peer feedback and group discussions about writing practices and writing struggles. Several studies showed that the experience of peer support at a retreat increased the motivation and productivity of the participants, such as this one that includes data from three different retreats.
Participants of writing retreats also have the chance to foster professional relationships beyond the writing retreat, some even developed research collaborations with other attendants or teamed up as writing buddies after the retreat.
5) Developing of academic writing skills
Writing retreats strengthen the academic writing competence of the attendants in two ways. Firstly, academics develop their writing process. The distraction-free writing sessions in structured retreats model an ideal writing process. Murray argues in her book “Writing in Social Spaces” that academics can develop a writing discipline in writing retreats. Some academics that she interviewed for her studies told her that they hadn’t realised that they were capable of concentrating deeply for prolonged periods for several days. Similarly, academics learn to set boundaries around their writing, as Rowena Murray writes. Many participants documented in the literature were also able to adapt their writing style after the retreat by practicing setting achievable goals for each writing session and retreat day.
The second way in which writing retreats help to develop academic writing competence is by including writing courses and workshops that focus on the craft of writing. Despite the importance of writing in an academic’s career, scientists above the PhD student level seldomly have a chance to develop their writing. (And that, by the way, is the exact reason why I founded the Researchers’ Writing Academy.)
6) Discovering the joy of writing
Last but not least, writing retreats have shown to change how academics feel about their writing. It saddens me to see that writing for many academics is a necessary evil at best or anxiety-inducing at worst. What I love about our online course, the Researchers’ Writing Academy, is how members report that they suddenly enjoy writing, both the sense of flow and the accomplishment.
I’m pleased to learn that academic writing retreats enable academics to experience the same. Studies have reported that academics who attended retreats feel more motivated and confident as writers, and less fearful of writing. Responsible for the latter was that academics developed their writing skills (see benefit #5) and experienced peer support (benefit #4).
There you have it: The six most important benefits of academic writing retreats. Are you as blown away by the results of all those studies on writing retreat as I am? With all this evidence I wonder why it is still common practice for scientists to attend a few conferences per year but not writing retreats?!
PS: If you ask your institution for funding to attend a writing retreat, tell them about the remarkable benefits of retreats mentioned in this blog post and the literature, in particular this recent review on academic writing retreats by Rachel Kornhaber. Your institution will hugely profit from you attending a retreat for very little investment on their part, so do make the ask if you want to go! And if you don’t know HOW to make the ask, head over to my pitch template to ask for professional development funding.