Each January (and truth be told, each August, given the ebbs and flows of the academic calendar), I reassess my professional projects and writing goals. Looking at Writing Faculty, it’s obvious that this site didn’t get any of my attention over the past year. With settling into a new academic position, chairing two conferences, and working on my own writing projects, I had to prioritize writing over writing about writing. Nevertheless, the Writing Faculty concept – supporting both faculty who write and faculty who teach writing across the curriculum – remains central to my own professional identity even as I embark on researching other high-impact practices.
In an effort to revitalize this site and to reconnect with my goals for it, I’ll be trying something new in 2014. Once or twice a month, I’ll post a quick tip, writing strategy, or heuristic. All will be techniques that readers can try to move their own writing projects forward. Although many will correspond with my own stages in writing projects, they aren’t intended to be practiced linearly. Instead, bookmark an idea to try later, mix the strategies up, and come back to the ones that work best for you. Then share them with students and colleagues.
In addition to these short, week-day posts, I’ll occasionally post about relevant publications, conferences, and resources. Have suggestions for these annotation-type posts, or interested in writing a guest post? Please contact me.
Happy writing in 2014!
-Jessie
P.S. In case you were wondering why the posts will only appear on week days… While my work and writing does often slip into weekends, I put firmer boundaries on the type of work activities that I’ll pursue on weekends and on how much time I’ll devote to them.