Virtual Writing Workshops by Erin McTigue
 Presenter: After being a tenured professor at Texas A&M University, Erin McTigue started her own business, The Positive Academic, through which she mentors and coaches academics in writing and productivity, as well as runs workshops. While at Texas A&M, she co-directed a university-wide writing support program and developed an academic writing course for international students. Erin is widely published, has won teaching and mentoring awards, and continually aims to bring a lightness of spirit to the weight of academia.
You can select from the following virtual workshops:
Her two-hour virtual workshops delivered via Zoom include up to 150 TAA memberships that provide your faculty with access to TAA's extensive writing and publishing resources. These memberships are available to faculty whether or not they participate in the virtual event.
TAA manages event registration, providing you with a registration link to share with your faculty, and workshop participation information in their confirmation emails. E-mail templates are provided to host institutions to promote the event. Institutions must have an expectation of at least 15 participants per workshop or retreat.
Institution Fee: $1,000
To schedule a workshop, please contact [email protected].
Choose from three workshops:
Fast-writing and “allowing messy drafts” is often recommended as a productivity strategy for academics. But … how do we most efficiently transform the resulting messes into coherent and powerful prose? In this interactive workshop, participants will take a “messy draft” of their choice and try out 3 macro-level revision strategies to hone overall logic and organization of the manuscript. Next, participants, working at the micro-level, will apply 3 revision tools for coherence and writing style. Participants will leave with both a sequential approach and individual tools for transforming their future drafts with efficiency. For those who don’t bring their own messy drafts, two sample messy drafts will be provided to practice strategies and apply the tools learned.
“Darn -- that pesky writing habit!” Wait, when have you heard a writer say that? While faculty are generally wanting good writing habits and research on productive faculty points to adopting such writing habits, these habits can be difficult to achieve. Meanwhile, complicating the situation further, myths about habit formation circulate. In this interactive workshop, mythology is dispelled and findings from recent psychology research are translated specifically to writing habits. Using personal insight, participants first analyze one of their own already strong habits (coffee drinking, toothbrushing, etc.). Then taking such analysis, participants plan for the formation of a new writing habit starting with a trigger, growing from a micro-habit, and being reinforced by rewards, including social reinforcement and tracking. Then to prevent pitfalls, participants discuss and prepare for what may derail their newly designed habits. Participants will leave with self-insight, energy and tools for remaking their writing habits.
It’s 3 AM. Are you waking up to worry about a forgotten deadline to one of your grants or writing projects? Or perhaps, you exhibit such chronic optimism about your ability to get writing done, that your calendar has begun to resemble a “wish list” instead of an accurate plan? And then, of course, … managing collaborators … despite seemingly endless meetings, you find yourself chasing them down to get their contributions. If these descriptions sound like your current status quo, consider: Would you prefer to have a planning approach that moves you to a state of better focus, clarity and calmness? If yes, then join for an overview of applying project management principles to one’s academic writing life.
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