Shut up and Write! turns writing from a solitary, to a social experience.

The concept is simple: meet up with others in a cafe (hopefully one with plenty of power points), and write. The concept originated in the San Francisco Bay Area, amongst creative writers, but, thanks to social media, has spread amongst research students around the world. The idea is to make the act of writing fun and relaxing, as the San Francisco group puts it:

No critiquing, exercises, lectures, ego, competition or feeling guilty

Anyone can start a Shut up and Write! group – you don’t need permission or any extra resources, but we have found it works best if you:

• Meet at a regular, pre-arranged time: this means there is no organisational work required and anyone can join at any time. Have at least one person committed to turn up at the assigned time and greet new members. You might want to share this duty with another person so it doesn’t become onerous.
• Create a contact point for new members. This can be someone’s email, or a social media presence, such as a Facebook page, which acts as a rallying point. Some groups even make posters advertising their sessions and put them up around campus.
• Keep the writing sprints short. Use the Pomodoro Technique (a pomodoro is a 25 minute stretch of focussed concentration). Between the pomodoros, take as much time as the group would like to drink hot beverages, talk and eat. Have one person willing to act as “Pomodoro chief” who will do time calls (there are many free Pomodoro apps which you can use to keep time).
• Work on anything, so long as it’s work — transcription, analysis, reading, organising your notes – even email (although we don’t recommend it). No exercises or judgment remember? The only rule is to be silent when everyone else is.
• Accept that Shut up and Write! is not for everyone. Some people may only come once; others will be regulars. If no one else turns up, Shut up and Write! is almost as much fun on your own (it’s nice to work somewhere other than office every now and then).
• Remember, it doesn’t just have to be PhD students who do it. Early career academics, professional staff and others need to put time aside for writing too. And it’s the perfect opportunity to create cross insitutional links – be open to people from other universities coming along.

Want to know more? read the original post I wrote about the concept at RMIT and a follow up post from our sister blog, The Research Whisperer “Writes well with others”.

Looking for a convivial cafe to write in? Have a look at this amazing map put together by Thesis Whisperer readers showing writer friendly cafes around the world, from London to Outer Mongolia! If you know of another great cafe for writing, share the love by dropping a pin.

You don’t have to start your own group, there might be an existing Shut up and Write! group near you which has a meeting schedule and a venue. It’s a great way to make friends during your study. Have a look at the Google Map below to see if there are any near you that you can join (please note, not all are regular):