Writing and Community
On November 14/15, I engaged in a lively discussion on “Writing and Community" with Max Orsini, co-editor of Student Writing Tutors in their Own Words: Global Voices on Writing Centers and Beyond (Routledge 2022). Unfortunately, Max’s co-editer Loren Kleinman was unable to join our conversation due to illness in her family.
In the first hour of this WriteSPACE Special Event, Max spoke about his academic background and his experience of co-editing the book, a polyvocal celebration of collaborative learning, on-the-job education, and the vital role of university writing centers in empowering both students and tutors to find their own voice. In the second hour, Max prompted us to reflect on our own most memorable experiences of writing in community.
Here is WriteSPACE Event Manager Amy Lewis’ first-person account of the live event:
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This session was a very helpful reminder for all that at any and every stage of your project and career, it’s essential to find a supportive and engaging writing group that suits you and your goals.
A few standout quotes from this session:
“Good thinking and good writing happen in discussion.”
“While swimming in the sea of untrained learning, doubt can creep in. We all need barriers, boundaries, and pathways because we can’t always solve every problem on our own.”
“I’ve learned how to let go of the reins and trust the process more, which has been beneficial for me both as a musician and a writer.”
We began the session with Max discussing how he discovered his passion for student teaching and writing communities. From a background in comparative literature, he became interested in creative writing communities while working as an advisor at his university’s academic writing centre. His book project Student Writing Tutors in their Own Words: Global Voices on Writing Centers and Beyond (Routledge 2022), co-edited with Loren Kleinman, came to fruition from working as a graduate student and English Language Learner writing specialist. The book celebrates 26 different voices from around the world and is divided into three parts:: ‘How We Help’, ‘A Voice of One’s Own’, and ‘How Writing Communities are Made’. Tutors and tutees, mentors and mentees share their experiences on writing with others and the impact that collaboration had on their writing practice.
Max shared his personal experiences as a mentor facilitating meet-up groups for post-graduate academics to help people find their voice and a space to express process writing. More than anything, he wanted to hold the space for them as a place to work through ideas. It was especially interesting to hear Helen and Max’s discussion about process writing and the imposter syndrome felt by many early career academics. Some writers, academic writers in particular, get enculturated to think that their writing is not valuable unless every word is going to get published. So, in this sense, process writing becomes seen as “a waste of time.” Max offered an insightful metaphor to challenge this assumption: the writer as a musician. A musician needs to practice articulating every note again and again before the final performance, the process of preparation is fundamental. In this way, the processes of playing an instrument and “writing to think” are very similar!
Process writing in a community helps provide resources and feedback to fuel your thinking. Writing communities can also offer pastoral support and are a space where you can alleviate your doubts about writing; chances are that someone else in the group has had a similar experience. It is precisely in this context that the energy and impetus for Max and Loren’s book emerged.
Another useful metaphor from the discussion was the writer as a swimmer. When you ask an academic where they learnt to write, Helen noted, they usually respond with something akin to the mantra ‘sink or swim!’ The untrained writer is either adrift or desperately treading water. In isolation, this is a terrible challenge! Writing communities can be a place to inspire and uplift adrift writers and redirect them towards the fast lane. (See Helen’s Times Higher Education article “Academic Writing: How to Stay Afloat.”)
Max then led us through a reflective freewriting activity to examine the writing communities we have been a part of. We were asked to recall a time when we inhabited a ‘centre of writing’ and had gathered together to explore ideas, create collaboratively, or write alone together. We discussed the different kinds of communities that can exist: for example, process writing groups, virtual writing groups, mentored groups, non-hierarchical groups, and immersive workshops with others, just to name a few. This exercise highlighted the important notion that you may need different kinds of writing groups at different times.
Writing groups, we learned, can focus and improve the quality of your work as well as your positivity towards your own writing. If you missed this stimulating session, why not take the time right not to reflect on the writing communities that you have been a part of? Start by freewriting for 10 minutes or so about the various types of groups you’ve been part of, then spend some time imagining the ideal writing group for your current project.
It was a fascinating session! A hearty thank you to Max and Helen for sharing their experiences and expertise with us all.
We concluded our session with a collaborative poem:
The cloak of writing
Across oceans
Included
Comfortable togetherness
Compassion
Abundance
Generosity
Empowerment
A recording of this WriteSPACE Special Event is now available in the WriteSPACE Library.
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