Dr Maria Afonso

What is AcWriMo?

AcWriMo (short for Academic Writing Month) is an annual event that takes place every November.

This project is all about making space for writing. I.e. carving out the time needed to focus, reconnect with our ideas, and build a bit or a lot of rhythm and momentum for academic writing. It is all about developing a sustainable, supportive writing practice alongside others who are doing the same.

As highlighted on the original page for the initiative (hosted over at phd2published.com) this month helps us:

1. “Think about how we write,”
2. “Form a valuable support network for our writing practice,”
3. “Build better strategies and habits for the future,”
4. “And maybe – just maybe – get stuff done!”

My take on the AcWriMo rules

1. Set my goal: Firstly, we need to decide what we want out of this month… What do we want to achieve? According to the official rules this can be a word count goal, hours spent writing or maybe number of finished projects. My current time and capacity are limited so, for this year, I am choosing to focus on quick(-ish) wins…
2. Write it down and share it publicly: Accountability is helpful so I am sharing my goal here as a gentle nudge for when motivation eventually falters. Here it goes: this month I want to finish (and publish) at least one long-form reflective scholarly blog post and also share 2-3 compact (200-400 word) reflections. The format of the latter can be flexible, for example, this could be a post on how AcWriMo is going (low hanging fruit, I am fully aware), a brief reflection on another piece of writing I came across, something I learned during the week, etc.
3. Plan it: It’s already 4th of November. I should have planned for this ahead of time but alas…hindsight is 20-20. For the rest of the month, I will block out time for writing in my diary and maybe even try to join some virtual writing groups during that self-allocated time.
4. Check in + connect: There is a big focus on community building for AcWriMo. I am already engaging with a local scholarship group for this month but also plan to share and follow updates via social media (on X, Bluesky and Linkedin).
5. “Write like there’s no December” (but grounded in my own personal reality): I am going to use this month to see what works for me, learn from others and try to (re)build a consistent writing practice I can take beyond AcWriMo.
6. Reflect + share: By the end of the month, I will be thinking through what works, which blocks I faced along the way and sharing back with the community what I managed to achieve (and hopefully tick the boxes for what I believe to be very realistic goals for what I can accomplish this November).

You can find the “official” rules here.

Join me?

I am particularly keen to hear from folks who are fellow Learning & Teaching & Scholarship track academics. If you’ve been meaning to carve out some intentional time for writing maybe this is your sign? Or, maybe you already have a strategy or practice that works – if so, please do share in the comments!

Either way, let’s write our way through November!