Do you use generative AI as part of your own writing practice? If yes, how? If not, why not? 

In July 2025, I facilitated two lively Zoom conversations exploring this theme, broadcast live from my annual Mountain Rise writing retreat in Wengen, Switzerland. In keeping with the inclusive ethos of my 6-week Swordcraft series “I Dream of GenAI: A Playful Perfectionist’s Guide to Writing and Editing with Generative AI,” this WriteSPACE Special Event welcomed AI skeptics and early adopters alike, bringing together a range of human voices around an often contentious theme.

Afterwards, I couldn’t resist asking GenAI — in this case, Anthropic’s amiable chatbot Claude — to sum up the key messages and themes from both sessions.

Enjoy!

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GenAI on the Mountain: A WriteSPACE Special Event

This summary was produced by Claude (Anthropic's AI assistant) based on transcripts of two live Zoom sessions that Helen Sword hosted from her Mountain Rise writing retreat in Wengen, Switzerland. Helen provided the raw transcripts and asked me (Claude) to distill the key themes and insights from both hour-long discussions into a readable blog post, preserving participant voices while maintaining anonymity.

What happens when you gather writers from around the globe—from Japan to Australia to the American Midwest—to discuss generative AI while perched on a Swiss mountainside that once inspired Tolkien's vision of Rivendell? You get two fascinatingly rich conversations that reveal just how complex our relationship with "Genie" (Helen's preferred term for GenAI) has become.

Skeptics, Dabblers, and Early Adopters

The participants represented a delightful spectrum of AI engagement. On one end sat the resistors: one professor revealed that their anthropology department had banned AI entirely, requiring both faculty and students to sign contracts promising non-use. "I have negative feelings towards it," they admitted; “It's like a hundred percent of my students are cheating in AI."

In the middle were the cautious experimenters—those dipping their toes in AI waters with tools such as Grammarly's new generative features or Pro Writing Aid. One participant described a methodical approach: "I don't copy and paste, but I literally look [at the AI’s suggestions] and I type ... because I want to learn." Another used AI for the dreaded task of writing recommendation letters, finding that the tool's "hallucinations" actually proved useful by highlighting qualities they hadn't initially considered emphasizing.

At the enthusiastic end of the scale, a few participants shared more adventurous applications: using AI for grant writing (particularly valuable given Australia's brutal 5-15% funding success rates); conducting comparative analyses across multiple AI platforms; and even late-night therapeutic conversations with AI counselors.

The Craft vs. Convenience Debate

A central tension emerged around AI's role in the writing process. Helen's cardinal rule—"GenAI is not my ghostwriter"—resonated throughout both sessions. Participants grappled with the difference between using AI as a collaborative thinking partner versus a replacement for human creativity and judgment.

One participant noted that AI often produces "very flat" writing that lacks surprise and engagement. Another observed that, while AI can make writing more "productive," it doesn't necessarily make it faster: "I'm doing more rather than less work... it's not necessarily a time saver."

The most thoughtful users employed AI as they might a sophisticated thesaurus or research assistant—helpful for specific tasks but requiring constant human oversight and judgment. As one participant put it: "You're still making the decisions yourself, but at the same time, you're learning new skills."

Teaching in the Age of AI

The educational implications of GenAI sparked particularly animated discussion. While some institutions impose blanket bans, more nuanced approaches are emerging. Several participants described crafting assignments "inviting but not requiring" AI use, asking students to document their process transparently, or using AI detection as a learning opportunity rather than a “gotcha” moment.

One participant shared a brilliant low-tech precursor to AI-assisted recommendation letters: student-completed templates that invited self-reflection while providing the raw material for faculty recommendations. "It became a great coaching tool," they explained.

The Paradoxes of Human-AI Collaboration

Perhaps most intriguingly, participants noted GenAI's unexpected emotional intelligence. One described how a friend used AI to draft a supportive message to her adult son that avoided passive-aggressive undertones—something she struggled to achieve on her own. Another found AI surprisingly effective for empathetic late-night conversations, although Helen wisely cautioned about the seductive nature of such always-available responsiveness.

The sessions revealed a community wrestling thoughtfully with powerful new tools, neither blindly embracing nor reflexively rejecting them. As Helen observed, we can simultaneously worry about AI's broader societal implications while finding empowering ways to use these tools in our own practice.

The mountain setting seemed apt for these discussions—a place of perspective and reflection, where ancient landscapes meet cutting-edge technology, and where writers continue the eternal human task of making meaning with words, whether crafted by hand, voice, or in collaboration with our new digital genies.

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Not bad, eh?

I was tempted to rewrite Claude’s clunky image of “a community wrestling thoughtfully with powerful new tools,” but then I had a brainwave: instead, I invited another whizzy GenAI — ChatGPT’s image generator Dall-E — to provide an illustration of what such a wrestling match might actually look like.

True to form, when I asked for an image of “a scholarly writer wrestling thoughtfully with a genie” (I didn’t even try to include the community aspect of the metaphor!), Dall-E defaulted to a stereotypical image of a bespectacled, tweed-clad male scholar grappling awkwardly with a big, blue, naked, bearded genie. I made several attempts at asking GenAI to refine the image — more gender ambiguity, more colorful clothing, explicit referencing of AI tools — but gave up after the fourth try.

AI-generated images of “a scholar wrestling thoughtfully with a genie”

A warm thank you to all the writers who joined us for this session.

We look forward to seeing you all at the next WriteSPACE Special Event!

WriteSPACE and WS Studio members can find the full recording of the two-hour Special Event in their Videos library.  

Not a member? Register to receive an email with a link to the video of the first hour.

Better yet! Join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.

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How can people writing for work or study make their writing more creative? And why should they do so?

In June 2025, I invited Helen Kara, an independent researcher and scholar specialising in creative research methods, radical research ethics, and creative academic writing, to explain why it is important to write creatively at work or university and how we can infuse our writing with creativity. Helen has produced numerous books on these topics, most recently Writing Creatively for Work or Study: Easy Techniques to Engage Your Readers, published by Manchester University Press in May 2025.

In the first hour Helen and I engaged in a lively conversation about these topics, and more. The second hour, for members of our paid writing communities, consisted of a hands-on writing workshop based on exercises from Helen Kara's book.

Here is WriteSPACE Event Manager Amy Lewis’ personal account of the live event.

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Creativity was at the heart of this WriteSPACE Special Event. The two Helens discussed how even the driest workplace documents can benefit from a healthy dose of narrative flair, and they led participants through a hands-on workshop full of thoughtful provocations and story-stems.

Helen K noted that your first draft helps you tell the story to yourself, while the second draft shows you how to tell the story to others. Unless you know the story yourself, you won’t be able to shape it so that the reader will see it. And how do you get to know your own story? You need to take one small step outside your comfort zone. Not a swan dive — just one, sweaty-palmed, toe-wiggling step into creativity.

“Creativity isn’t new, it’s very old,” we were reminded. For too long, academia and professional writing have kept creativity locked in a dusty cupboard labelled “For Poets Only.” Helen Kara is picking that lock. She argued that all writing can be creative. Even reports. Even funding applications. Storytelling isn’t just for novelists and people with MFA degrees and tortured love lives. Are we all poets, artists, creators? Helen says yes, undoubtedly so, because creativity comes in many forms.

One factor essential for storytelling is causality. To take E. M. Forster’s famous example: if you write The king died, then queen died, you have two facts. But if you write The king died, then queen died… of grief, you suddenly have the beginning of a narrative that could be expanded exponentially. Helen encouraged us to think not only about what happened, but why it mattered.

One of the most interesting parts of the workshop in the second hour emerged from a writing exercise involving a fictional writer named Alex, who has been tasked with writing a project report that is truthful and positive, despite the inconvenient fact that one team member hindered the project.  

How should Alex navigate this situation? Could they write a lie that tells the truth? Should they? Are there different kinds of truth—literal, authentic, emotional, statistical, inconvenient? How does this relate to authenticity? What’s the difference between ‘fiction’ and ‘faction’? (the latter being a blend of fact and fiction—which could be considered problematic because readers want to know which category a book falls into).

By the end of the exercise, our collective heads were spinning with delicious ambiguity. Helen Kara’s exercise encouraged us to approach such problems creatively, both in form (sketches, poems, dialogue, prose were all valid) and in content (there wasn’t a right or wrong answer for Alex’s problem).

Here are some resources that the Helens and their fellow participants recommended for anyone craving a more joyful, authentic, and creative approach to research and writing:

• Doing Rebellious Research: In and Beyond the Academy (Brill, May 2022), edited by Pam Burnard, Elizabeth Mackinlay, David Rousell and Tatjana Dragovic. This book of essays encourages doctoral and higher degree research students to depart from traditional forms of research and writing.

• Refining Your Academic Writing (Routledge, December 2022) by Pat Thomson. This short book by the author of the legendary Patter blog treats revision as not a boring mechanical process but a creative, imaginative craft.

• Creative Research Methods in Practice (Bristol University Press), edited by Helen Kara. A series of how-tos for creative research methods.

• Reimagining Doctoral Writing (University of Colorado Press, April 2022) edited by Cecile Badenhorst, Brittany Amell and James Burford. For those wondering how to make their PhD feel less like a hostage negotiation.

• Co-creating stories: Collaborative experiments in storytelling (In Management Learning, 41(5), 2010) by Yiannis Gabriel and N.A.D. Connell. About the power of collaborative storytelling, inspired by the Japanese art of ‘renga’ poetry.

• The Centre for Arts and Social Transformation’s Strategic Plan: The CAST centre at the University of Auckland wrote their strategic plan as a poem!

• Is your PhD supervisor neurodivergent? A blog post by the Thesis Whisperer, Inger Mewburn. Vital reading for anyone navigating academia.

• Helen Kara is hosting the International Creative Research Methods Conference in September this year, which you can learn more about on her website.

Creativity belongs to everyone. It’s how we connect, persuade, reveal, and (sometimes) survive. So whether you’re penning a dissertation or drafting an email about the upcoming office party, ask yourself: could this be 5% more creative? Answer: Always yes.

A warm thank you to both Helens for their insights, and to all the writers who joined us for the session.

We look forward to seeing you all at the next WriteSPACE Special Event!

WriteSPACE and WS Studio members can find the full recording of the two-hour Special Event in their Video library.  

Not a member? Register to receive an email with a link to the video of the first hour.

Better yet! Join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.

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I first published this image in a post titled Aides-Mémoire, which recounts a cross-disciplinary collaboration that I undertook years ago with a visual artist I’d never met. Every week, I would mail her a notebook containing a new hand-written poem, and she, in return, would send me a notebook containing a new drawing or a delicate paper sculpture unfurling from its pages:

I can still vividly remember the anticipation that I felt each week as I opened the mailbox to find Anne-Sophie’s latest envelope/artwork inside. I would tear the package open and flip through the notebook to find how she had responded to my last entry: subtly, obliquely, never in an obvious or literal way. I did my best to respond in kind, not just with poems but also with glued-in photos and cards and scraps of paper, items inspired rather than directly informed by Anne-Sophie’s enigmatic line drawings.

I must have carried a visceral memory of that playful, tactile, serendipity-affirming exchange when I decided last February to give away 50 handcrafted notebooks as part of a Special Event celebrating the fourth anniversary of my WriteSPACE community. This time, however, it was a one-way affair: all you had to do was register for the event, type your name and address into an online form, and voilà — a free notebook was yours for the asking, no strings attached.

Between the effort involved in designing, producing, and mailing out 50 unique notebooks and the agonisingly slow speed of snail-mail these days, many of my colorful creations have only recently arrived in their new homes. A few, it seems, have been lost in transit — although you never know, even migratory birds sometimes blow off course before finding their inner compass again! A number of recipients have not yet responded to my plea for news and a photo, but I trust that they will soon. 🥰

In the meantime, here are some of the many inspiring images I’ve received so far from writers around the world:

Notebooks at home: Collaboration (Kathy, USA); Compass Points (Karen, USA); Diving Deep (Lynne, UK); Freewriting (Kate, New Zealand); Ideas (Nicola, UK); Lines (Kirsi, Finland); Morning Pages (Bibi, Aruba); Notes (Katharina, Germany); Research (Soundarya, India); Structure (Catalina, UK)

A special shout-out to Heather S, a US-based historian on sabbatical at Oxford, who sent me this stylish blank book from Blackwell’s Bookshop, upcycled from the cover of a French novel:

What a treat it was to receive a package in the mail! In the words of author Lewis Hyde,“the gift must always move” — and these world-winging wordbirds aren’t just moving but flying high as they circle the globe.

Illustration by Selina Tusitala Marsh for Writing with Pleasure

Write more, right now! For exclusive access to live workshops, craft-focused coaching, and premium writing and editing tools, join me and writers from 30+ countries in the WriteSPACE, a vibrant international writing community and resource treasury. To try free for 30 days, click below and enter the discount code WRITEWELL at checkout.

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What can we learn from the daily rituals of famous writers, and how can “subtle maneuvers” in our writing habits help us “wriggle through” (in the words of Franz Kafka) to a more productive writing life of our own?

For this WriteSPACE Special Event in May 2025, I invited Mason Currey, the author of two books on the daily rituals of famous writers and artists, to tell us about his experiences, both as an expert on other people’s writing routines and as the architect of his own. Mason publishes the fabulous Substack newsletter Subtle Maneuvers and facilitates a weekday “Worm Zoom” for anyone craving a daily dose of accountability and camaraderie in support of their creative work.

In the first hour of this free event, Mason and I discussed examples of creative rituals employed by well-known writers — including Mason himself! — and explored the difference between rituals and routines. The second hour, for members of our paid writing communities, featured a hands-on workshop based on Mason’s “Worm School,” a collection of small but significant strategies to help you move forward with your writing even in the face of resistance. 

Here is WriteSPACE Event Manager Amy Lewis’ personal account of the live event.

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Mason Currey’s books are a compendium of 300 mini-biographies that read like portraits of creative weirdness. From Beethoven counting exactly 60 coffee beans for his morning brew to Tchaikovsky walking for precisely two hours a day to ward off bad luck, his book Daily Rituals is less a how-to manual and more a testament to the glorious chaos of the creative process.

You might pick up Mason’s books hoping to uncover the secret formula to creativity. Sadly, Mason says there isn't one. Each writer's ideal schedule is a delicate cocktail of personal quirks, energy cycles, and often, pure necessity. (And your cocktail might even include childcare, a day job, and/or a dog that needs walking). But one trend does emerge from Mason’s narratives: many creatives find they do their best work at a particular time of day, so that’s definitely a habit worth experimenting with.

A question that hovers over Mason’s vignettes: how could any of these people afford to be artists? The answers range from menial jobs to grand inheritances, dubious side hustles, and the occasional theft (perhaps not literally, but some schemes might raise eyebrows). This messy financial backdrop is the subject of Mason’s next book, Making Art and Making a Living, forthcoming in 2026.

It was deeply affirming to hear that even some of the greatest writers struggled to get their work done. Writing is hard! And it should be hard. If it feels too easy, Mason warned, you might not be doing your best work. (Cue a collective sigh of relief from everyone who's ever stared into the void of an empty Word doc. Side note: if that’s you right now, you may appreciate Inger Mewburn’s post ‘The Valley of Shit’ from her Thesis Whisperer blog).

Mason’s philosophy of "wriggling through" stems from a Kafka quote: "Time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy... one must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers." It’s this very spirit that fuels his excellent newsletter and his Worm School, an offering for paid subscribers. When facing creative paralysis, Mason doesn’t prescribe vague mantras such as "Trust the process." He prefers wildly specific, delightfully zany hacks, such as these gems offered courtesy of an ADHD coach crowdsourcing on social media:

• Make things messier so you have to tidy them up (which could apply to your kitchen or your intro paragraph).

• Create an alter-ego who always gets things done.

• Tell your family you finished a task... and then race to actually finish it before they get home.

Helen and Mason also discussed where the line lies between routines (often we see this as the ideal version of our day) and rituals (small, meaningful habits that actually happen). The psychology research backs up the need for rituals: sensory cues and consistent behaviors can nudge your brain into productivity mode.

Habits work when you make them for yourself. That said, a route that works for one book may not work for another. Mason told us that during an interview, novelist Nicholson Baker confessed that he invented a new ritual for every book—including recording pretend lectures on camera and transcribing them in order to find the character’s voice. As Mason put it: "It’s about sticking to things, and also knowing when not to stick to things."

The second hour of the event was a hands-on workshop run by Helen and Mason, which included fun prompts such as:

1. Identify your creative objective.

2. Think of the most obvious/logical/straightforward ways to accomplish that objective.

3. Now you’re not allowed to do those ways. Brainstorm as many other ways as possible.

Some of the standout responses:

• Barricade yourself in a hotel room.

• Set an alarm every two hours, day and night. Stay up until the draft is done or delirium sets in.

• Get a burner laptop with no distractions.

• Plagiarise. (Just kidding!)

• Don’t clean your house, exercise, or do any of the other tasks you need to do, just finish the chapter.

• Don’t do the research. Just cut the section that needs it.

• Hire a butler to smack you with a spoon every time you procrastinate.

Everyone left the session laughing, energised, and oddly inspired. If Kafka could wriggle through the horror of his office job, surely we can wriggle through our inboxes, frustration, and existential writing dread toward a more satisfying writing practice?

A warm thank you to Helen and Mason for their insights, and to all the writers who joined us.

Now go forth. Be routine-ish. Ritual-adjacent. Wriggle with flair!

WriteSPACE and WS Studio members can find the full recording of the two-hour Special Event in their Video library.  

Not a member? Register to receive an email with a link to the video of the first hour.

Better yet! Join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.

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How do you develop the confidence to navigate life’s transitions and take on new personal and professional challenges – such as, for example, the challenge of writing and publishing a book when you’ve never done so before? 

For inspiration and answers, I asked Lois van Waardenberg, a self-described “cross-disciplinary thinker, empathetic leader, coach, author, and human being who believes in the power of personal evolution.” In the space of just a few short months last year, Lois conceived of, researched, outlined, wrote, revised, and published Confidence Constellations: Insights and Action for Changing Humans, which then went on to win the 2024 Firebird Book Award in the Personal Growth category — an inspiring example of confidence and courage rewarded. 

In the first hour of this WriteSPACE Special Event, we discussed how Lois empowered herself to write her book; in the second hour, we conducted a hands-on writing workshop based on Lois’ five “Confidence Constellations,” which spell out the acronym MAJIC.

Here is WriteSPACE Event Manager Amy Lewis’ personal account of the live event.

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This two-hour live session was an invitation to embrace confidence, courage, creativity, and the challenges that come with stepping into new arenas. Helen and Lois were inspiring us to illuminate a path toward writing — and living — with greater self-trust.

Lois’ story is extraordinary: In under 6 months, she wrote her book Confidence Constellations, a project that not only culminated in a published book but also won a 2024 Firebird Book Award. Yet, as Lois shared, her journey wasn’t fueled by sudden bursts of bravery or a linear roadmap. Rather, it was a layered, iterative process building on her lifelong work of navigating transitions, overcoming personal and physical challenges, and guiding others through change.

Helen and Lois’s conversation ranged widely but always circled back to one central truth: confidence is not a fixed trait but a practice. Lois encouraged us to rethink the very idea of confidence, challenging the ways it is often narrowly defined. She illuminated several important topics: the gender confidence gap (check out The Confidence Code by Claire Shipman & Katty Kayand), internal versus external validation, and the role of visualization as a neural "shortcut" for building new patterns of action.

Another key theme was the power of feedback — not as a threat to the ego but as a gift that fosters growth. Lois described how, at the beginning of her writing process, she sent her very raw manuscript to several people to get feedback — the thought of which would make most writers squirm (myself included)! But Lois reminded us that risk is essential and truly confident people are often those most willing to learn, unlearn, and evolve. “To ask someone to put their eyes on your work is such a hard thing to do. But feedback is essential—A single tiny concept really really changed the book for the better! The smallest things can have the most incredible impact, like colour seeping through.”

She also introduced us to her beautiful MAJIC framework, which consists of five Constellations, each containing a number of separate Stars (inspirational anecdotes, quotes, and actions):

• MYSELF: The foundation. Confidence begins with understanding and trusting oneself.

• ACTIVATION: The art of taking baby steps, performing small actions that rewire your brain and gradually expand your capabilities.

• JOURNEY: Recognizing that growth is neither linear nor predictable — we travel in loops, revisiting lessons and weaving new meanings along the way.

• ILLUMINATIONS: Embracing paradox and reclaiming misunderstood ideas to forge your own philosophical path.

• COMMUNITY: Remembering that confidence is relational; the act of engaging with diverse perspectives, even (and especially) when they challenge us, can strengthen our inner compass. As Lois so wisely put it: "We would have little use for confidence if we lived in a world on our own."

In the second hour, Lois guided participants through a hands-on writing workshop inspired by her MAJIC framework. One of the exercises included a visualization challenge, which I encourage you to try for yourself!

Writing prompt: Bring all of your senses into a visualization of one of the following: (1) a reader (either a real person or a made up persona) engaging with your finished or draft text; (2) yourself engaging in a part of the writing process that you struggle with.

A warm thank you to Helen and Lois for this inspiration, and to all the writers who joined us. For more wisdom from Helen and to hear about upcoming WriteSPACE events, stay connected with us — and let’s keep writing with confidence!

See you at the next event!

WriteSPACE and WS Studio members can find the full recording of the two-hour Special Event in their Video library.  

Not a member? Register to receive an email with a link to the video of the first hour.

Better yet! Join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.

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Are you a Lone Wolf? A Seabird? A Bullet Train?

Of all the free writing resources I’ve created over the years, the Writing BASE is my favorite. It’s colorful, interactive, and illuminating — and, best of all, it provides you with a clear action plan for broadening and strengthening your BASE, the foundation on which your writing practice is built.

My research suggests that more than one quarter of academic and professional writers worldwide self-diagnose as the Pebble, a profile associated with low self-confidence in four key dimensions of writing: Behavioral, Artisanal, Social, and Emotional. But if the Pebble profile describes you, take heart! While you may feel small and unpolished in your writing practice right now, you have the potential to grow into a cornerstone of strength, broadening and deepening your BASE until you achieve the coveted profile known as the Rock.

To try out this whizzy free tool for yourself:

1. Go to the Writing BASE website and drag the colored dots to find the four statements that best describe your behavioral, artisanal, social, and emotional habits:
   B) How productively do you write?
   A) How skillfully do you write?
   S) To what degree are other people a part of your writing practice?
   E) How do you feel about your writing?

2. Next, click the pink “See My Profile” button to reveal your individual profile and diagnosis. (You may wish to save a screenshot as a reference, so you can try the tool again a few months from now and see how your BASE has grown).

3. For a more detailed analysis and a custom blueprint for broadening your BASE, click “Get Action Plan” and follow the link to your WriteSPACE or WS Studio membership area. (If you’re not a WriteSPACE member, use your profile name as a discount code to try free for 30 days, then log into your membership area, navigate to the BASE page, and click on your profile name).

You can learn more about the origins, functions, and applications of the Writing BASE by downloading this research article and exploring the About and Profiles pages on the website.

Better yet, why not invite me to run an online or onsite writing workshop on “Productivity without Pressure” for the writers in your organization? I’d love to see you there!

Write more, right now! For exclusive access to live workshops, craft-focused coaching, and premium writing and editing tools, join me and writers from 30+ countries in the WriteSPACE, a vibrant international writing community and resource treasury.

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Please forgive my appropriation of one of Paul Simon’s most famous songs — but I’m feeling a bit giddy! Over the past few days, from my home down here at the bottom of the world in Aotearoa New Zealand, I’ve dispatched 50 hand-crafted notebooks to destinations ranging from Austria to Austin, from Switzerland to Shrewsbury, from India to Aruba, from Brighton in East Sussex to Brighton in Queensland.

Each of these notebooks is unique: no two share the same cover image, and their titles, likewise, are all different — some inviting their owners to work (Research, Meetings, Study Log), others to play (Serendipity, Ground & Sky, Desire Lines). Each individual notebook cover started life as a hand-made cut-paper collage, which I then digitized, printed onto adhesive-backed paper, and stuck onto the front of one of 50 lined booklets.

When these colorful Valentine's Day gifts arrive at their snail-mail destinations, I hope that their recipients will photograph them in their new homes and email me the images: digital boomerangs retracing their analog journey as they wing their way back to me through cyberspace.

Illustration by Selina Tusitala Marsh for Writing with Pleasure

To learn more about my lifelong love of notebooks and notebooking, you can read this delightful Substack post by Noted author Jillian Hess or log into your WriteSPACE and WS Studio Video library to watch a bonus video of my hour-long conversation with Jillian about All Things Notebooks.

Stay tuned for a raft of new initiatives involving notebooks, zines, and other colorful tools for bringing more creativity and joy (something we all could use a lot more of right now!) to the world of academic and professional writing.

I’d love to see you there!

Not a member? Join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.

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What happens when we write not to show off what we know, but to find out what we don’t know?

To explore this question, I hosted a WriteSPACE Special Event in March 2025 with Jeannine Ouellette, author and creator of the extraordinary Substack newsletter Writing in the Dark.

For Jeannine, writing in the dark means “embracing the fundamental truth of uncertainty through a consistent practice of attention, curiosity, playfulness, surprise, and vulnerability” — a lesson with profound resonances not only for novelists, memoirists, and poets but for scholarly and professional writers as well.

Here is WriteSPACE Event Manager Amy Lewis’ personal account of the live event.

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This two-hour live session was an exploration of discovery, attention, and vulnerability in writing— an invitation to embrace uncertainty as a creative practice. Jeannine spoke passionately about her writing philosophy; the concept of Writing in the Dark was born out of the pandemic as a workshop focused on creating during difficult moments. But the metaphor extends further — it’s not just about writing oneself out of dark times but rather about writing through uncertainty. Jeannine explained the parallels with John Keats’ notion of negative capability, which he described as the ability to remain in "uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.” The word negative here is not pejorative; rather, it describes an author’s ability to resist explaining away the unknown. Keats encouraged writers to dwell in a condition of doubt, paying close attention to what emerges. Jeannine echoed this sentiment:

“If I end up writing the story that I set out to write, then I have failed, because writing should be a process of discovery.”

She urged us, as writers, to embrace the unexpected, noting that a truly creative piece often shifts — perhaps just “five degrees to the left” of where the writer initially thought it would go.

Now you’re wondering where to find this openness in your own writing. Jeannine offered a simple start: keep a process document. Rather than giving your draft file a rigid name such as "Introduction" or "Chapter One," label it loosely as "Notes" or “Ideas.” As humans we tend to cling to labels, even when they no longer serve our work. By removing unnecessary constraints, we allow our writing to unfold organically. This approach is not often encouraged in academia, where writers are told to focus on structured outlines and rigid frameworks. Yet Jeannine suggested that true creative discovery in any field often requires un-knowing what we think we know — not just in writing, but in life itself.

I was also struck by Jeannine’s thoughts on writing as a tool for personal healing. She mentioned James Pennebaker’s research on writing to heal, which cautions that journaling can sometimes reinforce a single version of a story rather than helping us see it anew. Evolution has wired our brains to fixate on the negative, which can lead us to rehashing painful feelings. That said, it’s also unwise to force a more palatable version of events. Jeannine encouraged writers to move toward uncertainty, allowing the process to reveal a truth deeper than the one they initially believed.

— 

In the second hour, Jeannine guided paid subscribers to Writing in the Dark and Helen’s Word through several creative prompts, encouraging us to break free from linear storytelling and embrace fragments, sensory details, textures, and unexpected juxtapositions. As one attendee insightfully put it, “Even the select things we notice are a reflection of our unique essence.”

Some of the most compelling responses emerged from the following prompts:

• Notice all the concrete things around you: Writers listed sensory observations from their surroundings—textures, sounds, and images—without indulging in full sentences, storytelling, or metaphor.

• Transformation through language: Writers selected three of their most compelling sensory observations and crafted evocative mini-metamorphoses: “I used to be . . . . Now I am . . . . I am becoming . . . .”

• Memory as a collection of moments: Inspired by Joe Brainard’s I Remember, writers recorded a series of concrete memories, which allowed them to communicate complex emotions in surprising ways.

I wish I could share them all, but I wanted to highlight some beautiful poetry that evolved from the workshop:

• I used to be the shadow of a hand on the page. Now I am unruly piles of notebooks. I am becoming a red drinking glass blown into whorling swirls, bubbles of air, embedded flowers—Helen

• I used to be tough tomato skins, I am garlic sauteing, I am becoming sweet tomato insides—Carol.

• I used to be shudder of traffic from the highway to Costa Brava outside terrace door. Now I am chamomile tea flowers warming throat. I am becoming small, cold stone from the riverbed in Spain—Amy

• I remember numb feet and soft sand, I remember the smell of fire before it was lit, I remember coyote calls, I remember warm skin and soft lips—Cassidy

• I remember the cigarette smoke in the back of the car, I remember the flavor of the gum going stale, I remember exit 198 means we are close—Barri

• I remember saying "drive on" instead of stopping at the funeral, I remember guarding Murray in his pain, I remember the sea eagle struggling to rise, I remember the fruit smashing on rocks, I remember the inability to bear even the softest of sounds—Melanie

• I remember throwing rotting apricots at cars zooming by. I remember chewing fresh honeycomb and getting stung in the mouth. I remember hunting for four-leaf clovers—Trisha

• —

Events like these remind us that writing is not just about putting words on a page — it’s about engaging with the world in new ways and allowing language to lead us somewhere unexpected.

A huge thank you to Jeannine and Helen for this illuminating session, and to all the writers who shared their words and encouragement so generously. For more of Jeannine’s insights, subscribe to Writing in the Dark, and stay tuned for future WriteSPACE events.

See you at the next one!

WriteSPACE and WS Studio members can find the full recording of the two-hour Special Event in their Video library.  

Not a member? Register to receive an email with a link to the video of the first hour.

Better yet! Join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.

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On February 14th, we celebrated the fourth birthday of the WriteSPACE with a gala notebook giveaway!

For 38 magical hours — as long as it was Valentine’s Day somewhere in the world — participants could log into our secret heart-shaped portal to access a curated collection of resources dedicated to the art, craft, and pleasures of keeping a notebook. Not only that, but they could enter the draw to receive a FREE handmade notebook crafted by me and mailed anywhere across the globe — my heartfelt thank-you to our many members, subscribers, and friends.

Here’s WriteSPACE Event Manager Amy Lewis’ personal account of this special event:

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On Valentine’s Day, writers and creatives from around the world gathered for a WriteSPACE Special Event dedicated to something we all adore — notebooks! Hosted by Helen and her trusty writing companion Freddie, For the Love of Notebooks marked the fourth anniversary of the WriteSPACE community. And what a celebration it was!

Writers could access a special portal with an introductory video as well as external resources to expand your own notebooking practice. In the video, Helen shared her deep love for analog tools, the joys of keeping a notebook, and how the interplay between the digital and material worlds shapes her creative process.

A key theme of the event was what Helen calls the “digital-analog dance” — the way notebooks serve as both a tangible space for ideas and a launchpad for digital creativity. Drawing inspiration from thinkers such as Jillian Hess (Noted) and Austin Kleon (Steal Like an Artist), Helen reminded us that the simple act of putting pen to paper is a powerful catalyst for deep thinking and creative exploration:

The purpose of notebooks is to help us think. And how we write in our notebooks tells us something about how we think as well as how we write.

One of the most exciting moments of the event? Helen’s Great Notebook Giveaway — 50 custom-designed, handmade notebooks sent to lucky participants around the world! Each one a work of art, blending her signature paper collages with digital enhancements, these notebooks aren’t just beautiful; they are an invitation to fill their pages with ideas, sketches, and stories. As Helen says in her video:

I hope you’ll use it. They’re meant to be written in. I hope they all have a life of their own.

If you missed this event, don’t worry — this is just the beginning. The WriteSPACE continues to be a thriving hub for writers, scholars, and creatives, and there will be more opportunities to connect, learn, and, of course, celebrate the art of notebooking in the coming months.

I look forward to seeing you at the next WriteSPACE Special Event!

WriteSPACE and WS Studio members can find the Special Event video in their Video library.  

Not a member? Register to receive an email with a link to the video.

Better yet! Join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.

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In January 2025, I had the pleasure of hosting a vibrant group of writers at my Open Beach House, held during my annual Island Time writing retreat. This Special Event provided the perfect chance to introduce attendees to the retreat space with a virtual tour of stunning Waiheke Island.

Following the tour, we jumped right into a workshop on how to simulate your own retreat mindset for pleasurable writing. What would the ideal writing retreat look like for you? What are the ideal elements of that retreat? How can we bring those elements into our daily writing routines?

Here is WriteSPACE Event Manager Amy Lewis’ personal account of the live event:

……………

This wonderful event invited participants on a shared adventure into the joy of writing and how to simulate your own perfect retreat-like conditions for productive and, most importantly, pleasurable writing.

Helen began the session with introductions and then launched straight into a creative exercise. This session perfectly resonated with the spirit of the Pleasure Catalyst, as the exercise centred on designing a pleasurable writing retreat. Helen encouraged us to measure our retreat ideas against her SPACE model—that is, a space that’s Socially balanced, Physically engaging, Aesthetically nourishing, Creatively challenging, and Emotionally uplifting.

In my mind, Waiheke Island is a retreat venue that attunes to all of these five aspects. Waiheke, tucked away in the Hauraki Gulf of Aotearoa New Zealand, is a laid-back paradise with its serene bays, lush vineyards, scenic bushwalks. I was lucky enough to attend Island Time this year and meet all the kind and interesting writers who came along. For me, Helen’s workshop highlighted the importance of bringing elements from the Island Time retreat into my own daily writing space.

Our vineyard lunch at Island Time 2025

I encourage you to try Helen’s interactive Retreating at Home workshop, which will challenge you to compare the SPACE of your ideal retreat to the SPACE of your everyday writing life.

A big thank you to Helen for this inspiring special event, and warm wishes to all the writers who joined us. I hope to see you all again at the next Live Writing Studio or Special Event!

WriteSPACE and WS Studio members can find the recording of the Special Event in their Video library.  

Not a member? Register to receive an email with a link to the video.

Better yet! Join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.

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In celebration of the 4th anniversary of the WriteSPACE, we have been savoring the joys and pleasures of notebooks. Recently, I was honored to be featured in Jillian Hess’ exceptional Substack Noted. We spoke about all kinds of notetaking practices and notebooks, from diaries to process notes, post-it notes to color-infused spreadsheets.

Below I’ve reproduced Jillian Hess’ wonderful newsletter post about our conversation. Enjoy!

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Helen Sword’s Pleasurable Notes

“Containers for chaos”

Among the many joys of writing this newsletter is getting to meet some of my writing-heroes—not least among them, the great Helen Sword. It is not an understatement to say that Helen taught me how to write academic prose through her books such as Stylish Academic Writing, Air & Light & Time & Space, The Writer’s Diet, and most recently, Writing with Pleasure.

Writing with Pleasure helped me understand why I love note-taking so much: it makes writing pleasurable. In fact, for this book Helen asked nearly 600 academics to describe pleasurable writing experiences. 60% of the responses included “writing experiences that involved some form of writing by hand.”1

Helen is also a wildly creative note-taker. So, pick up your pen and join me on an exploration of Helen’s methods. I hope they add a bit more pleasure to your note-taking practice—they certainly have for me!

Helen’s Life Notes

We began our conversation with Helen’s life-long diary habit. Here she shares a selection of diaries.

Helen’s Diaries

Notice how the diary open at the far right of the above image begins “Part II” — this is because a teenage Helen tore out all the diary entries from 13-14 years old, explaining:

Today I ripped out and threw away the first section of my diary from basically the age of 13-14. I feel that my entries during that time did not really express my actual feelings, and thus sounded corny and immature. So I have gotten rid of them and to hell with posterity!

In a diary entry from her mid-twenties, as Helen developed into the literary critic and writer that she is today, she casts a critical eye on her diary practice, explaining,

I realize and have long realized that my pleasure in diary writing is threefold, at least. First, it helps me crystallize my thoughts, clarify my positions, and as a side benefit, hone my writing skills. Secondly, it provides a written record of thoughts, attitudes and experiences that I can (and do) look back on with pleasure…

And then, a young Helen wonders about the third utility of these journals: leaving a record after her death. In lines that recall the Brontës, she writes,

Some great-grandchild will find this book at the back of the closet. And I will, at least as a pale apparition, come briefly to life.

But when she became a mother, Helen explains, her diaries became boring as she self-censored, realizing that she didn’t want one of her children to accidentally pick up a journal and read about themselves.

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Helen’s Process Notes

For the last fifteen years, Helen has carried around small notebooks wherever she goes. These “process notes,” she explains,

…are just me thinking all the time.

Helen’s Process Notes

Her process notes record raw ideas, to-do lists, and diagrams that help Helen think through ideas. She hasn’t indexed them but she does go back through them. If there are ideas or quotations she’d like to capture, she records them in the next notebook or on a digital file. She’ll also cross out things she’s already done.

Helen explains that she struggles with “neat notebooks” because she’s always drafting and editing and changing ideas as she goes along. After all, the notebook is not her finished product; she keeps them in service to her teaching and published books.

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Helen’s Purposeful Notes

Then, there are notes Helen keeps for particular ends. Each records a different note-taking practice, so I’ve added numbers to Helen’s picture. The descriptions below correspond with each numbered notebook.

Helen’s “Purposeful Notes”

One of Helen’s teen commonplace books, recording lyrics from favorite songs.

1. Helen’s contribution to the September Commonplace Book Club. She picked a tarot card everyday, found a quote to match it, and then wrote a reflection.

2. Helen’s attempt at morning pages. As she explains, she unwittingly picked a very large notebook for a practice that requires three pages of writing every day.

3. Helen’s gardening journal.

4. “Memories and Dreams”: A commonplace book filled entirely with Helen’s original poetry

5. A dream journal from Helen’s early 20s. Rereading this journal, Helen says, is like encountering “a foreign self.”

6. The Email Trail, which is Helen’s game for making email more enjoyable by turning it into a coloring exercise. She charts different aspects of her email exchanges. For example: How many people did each message go to? What was the gender of each person? Did Helen reply or delete the email?

7. Helen’s original teen poetry against an illustrated background.

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Helen’s Book Notes

Helen has been writing books since the mid 1990s.

Helen’s book notes

1. Academic Research

Helen’s first books were academic (Ghostwriting Modernism and Engendering Inspiration). At this time, she kept notes on a yellow legal pad as she did research in the British Library. (Back when it was housed in the British Museum and there was actually a “pornography room” where scholars went to read books like D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover.)

2. Color as an Organizing Principle

For her books on writing, Helen used an entirely different method of data collection.

I asked Helen to share one of her spreadsheets for Stylish Academic Writing—it’s the book that first made me fall in love with her writing. Here, she analyzes over 1,000 peer-reviewed articles across several disciplines to discover the styles that work. In the following spreadsheet, she tracks examples of jargon, abstractions, titles, and “show and tell.” She explains:

The top section shows which authors and topics actually ended up in the book, while the bottom section lists possible alternates.

Helen’s spreadsheet for Stylish Academic Writing

Looking at this spreadsheet, you will not be surprised to learn that color is one of her “key organizing principles.”

As she worked on her most recent book, Writing With Pleasure, she realized just how valuable color can be as an organizing principle. She explains,

…color and writing by hand in notebooks and all of those things are actually really important and valuable forms of thinking and of organizing knowledge. I think it’s really easy to get acculturated into thinking that color is frou-frou. It’s not serious; serious scholarship is black and white print. And so over the years, but especially with that book [Writing with Pleasure], I just went back and said, no, color is good, because it actually helps me think.

For a look at how Helen uses color in her Scrivener, watch her conversation with Margy Thomas on Secrets of Structure.

Screenshot from Helen’s conversation with Margy

3. “Containers for Chaos”

To visualize the structure of Writing with Pleasure, Helen created post-it notes for each section of the book (chapters and chapter sections). Then she recorded each section’s main point followed by its supporting evidence.

With these post-it notes, she was able to play with the book’s structure and move parts around. Along the way Helen also wrote a haiku for each chapter as a way to further crystalize her ideas.

Helen’s post-it notes for organising Writing with Pleasure

Helen describes her Scrivener files, these post-it notes, and her haikus as “containers for chaos”—ways to reign in the messy components that she will ultimately wrangle into a finished book.

As Helen explains:

I’m a paradox of a really messy mind that is also very structural.

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Helen’s Handmade Notebooks

Given that color is so important to Helen, it makes sense that she also creates her own colorful art in the form of collages. She uses these collages in her newsletter and WriteSPACE courses, and to decorate her notebooks.

Helen’s handmade notebooks

When we met last May in Brooklyn, Helen gifted me with one of her handmade notebooks and it remains one of my most prized possessions. There’s no gift quite like a handmade gift.

The notebook Helen made for me!

Notes on Helen’s Notes:

Master your Notebook Envy: In our conversation, Helen echoed a comment I hear frequently from readers. Sometimes we look at other people’s notes and wish we could take notes that are as beautiful, organized, tidy, [insert your own adjective here].... I certainly feel this way sometimes! Then, I remind myself that we all think differently, so we all need different kinds of notes. Noted would be very boring if all notetakers were the same!

Experiment with different note-taking methods: Get to know your own mind and the way you think through ideas by playing with different note-taking techniques. Some will work for you. Most won’t. Just remember to stay flexible, and allow your note-taking methods to evolve with new projects as Helen’s have.

Discover your own organizing principle: Helen uses color to organize her notes. I love color, but it doesn’t really work for me as an organizing principle. I find grouping notes under keywords much more useful. I’m also a big fan of diagrams with color added in for fun, not for organizational purposes. What are your organizing principles?

WriteSPACE and WS Studio members can find the recording of Helen’s full conversation with Jillian in their Video library.  

Not a member? Join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.

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If you’re familiar with #AcWriMoments — the Substack newsletter that I’ve co-published since 2023 with my brilliant collaborator Margy Thomas— you may recognize this fiery pen-wand-branch as the title image for our November 2024 post, CONJURE.

First conceived as an antidote to productivity-pushing writing challenges such as #AcWriMo, our original “30 Days of #AcWriMoments” challenge consisted of 30 beautiful posts contributed by writing scholars, coaches, consultants, and editors from around the world. Each day throughout the month of November 2023, we sent out a fresh prompt inviting writers into “a sacred moment of communion with yourself and your scholarly work.”

After the November challenge ended, Margy and I missed those daily prompts; and so we returned to our readers in late December 2023 with a fresh twist on the concept:

On the first day of each month throughout 2024, we’ll offer you a unique theme to focus on in your cultivation of #AcWriMoments, along with simple prompts for integrating that theme into your daily life and work. You can return to this Monthly Guidepost again and again, experimenting with different suggestions and practices as you pursue whatever goals and visions you have for yourself that month.

Starting with WELCOME in January, we published guideposts structured around 12 resonant themes, each phrased as a verb: DEDICATE (February), RISK (March), LISTEN (April), GROW (May), CENTER (June), DREAM (July), CLARIFY (August), REFLECT (September), HARVEST (October), CONJURE (November), and ENVISION (December).

Here’s the scholarly secret that we didn’t reveal at the time: each of those themes emerged from a tarot card! In late 2023, Margy drew 12 cards (from a traditional tarot pack of 78) to offer her personal and professional guidance for her year ahead — and those cards, in turn, inspired our monthly themes.

Margy’s notes for November 2024 provide some insight into our process:

November - SHINE, GLOW, CONJURE

Emit a bright light; attract attention; radiate energy, especially positive

“November” comes from “nine,” a number of abundance

Scorpio season

Ace of Wands

In the classic Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck, the Ace of Wands appears as a blossoming branch proffered by a giant hand emerging from a cloud.

Drawing on the card’s imagery and associations — creativity, fire, rebirth — we discussed various options for representing the theme of CONJURE. Then, letting my hands lead the way, I fashioned the paper collage that you see at the top of this post: a fountain pen that is also a blossoming branch and a magic wand, wreathed not in clouds but in fire.

Margy, meanwhile, drafted the text for our November 2024 post:

With a flash of your magic wand — aka, your pen or pencil — a word appears on the page. Then a whole sentence, a paragraph, a book! Words work magic by making the invisible manifest, materializing unseen ideas. Through words, you can remake your world: if not always your outer environment, then surely the unmapped lands within.

Words can CONJURE a feeling, an image, a memory. A concept, a narrative, a description of reality. A novel framework. An explanation. Words can sketch a tiny fragment or construct an entire parallel (or possible) universe.

Did I show Margy my collage image before she wrote her opening sentence, with its evocative flash of fire? Or did her words influence my depiction of unseen connections materialized through the magic of metaphor? To be honest, I can’t remember. Our collaborative process felt at once intensely intellectual and deeply intuitive — the best kind of scholarly alchemy.

If you’d like to learn more about how the ancient wisdom of tarot can help you unlock the unique creative power of your own scholarship, I hope you’ll sign up for our brand new Substack newsletter, Tarot for Scholars, which launched on January 1, 2025 with a “31 Days of Tarot” challenge. We will introduce one randomly drawn card each day in January (starting, not so randomly, with the Fool) before relaxing our pace to a card a week for the remainder of the year. Every post is free to all subscribers — but there’s an option to contribute to our “Helen and Margy IRL Fund” so that the two of us, who live on opposite sides of the globe, can meet up In Real Life one day. ✈️

Not a member? Join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.

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The Fool. The Hermit. The Queen of Swords. How can the richly resonant cards of the classic tarot deck help you unlock the unique creative power of your scholarship?

On December 16, I invited Margy Thomas, founder of ScholarShape, to join me for a conversation and workshop on "Tarot for Scholars." This two-hour Special Event was based on our shared fascination with the ancient wisdom and modern metaphorics of the tarot, which has led us to launch a new Substack newsletter, also called Tarot for Scholars.

Here’s WriteSPACE Event Manager Amy Lewis’ personal account of this special event:

……………

What happens when scholarship meets intuition? At this WriteSPACE Special Event, Helen and Margy delved into a rich exploration of how tools like tarot cards can help scholars navigate both intellectual and personal challenges.

Their conversation underscored a powerful truth: academia doesn’t have to be rigidly analytical. Tools such as tarot and oracle decks, lunar writing guides, and creative prompts can offer scholars new ways to engage with their work and themselves, encouraging a balance of structure and spontaneity, discipline and intuition — a balance that in turn can lead to more authentic and impactful scholarship.

One aspect that stood out for me during the discussion was the contrast between Helen and Margy’s perspectives on tarot. Helen expressed a touch of scepticism, viewing tarot cards as thought-provoking intellectual tools rather than as divinely guided. Margy, by contrast, shared her profound belief in the mysterious universal forces at work in her life. This interplay between their views enriched the conversation, demonstrating that you don’t need to take a firm stance — whether as a mystic or a sceptic — to benefit from the wisdom of tarot.

So, whether you’re curious about integrating these tools or you already use them in your academic life, here’s an open invitation! I encourage you all to check out these three great resources:

1) Watch A Scholar’s View of Tarot. This 35-minute video offers an overview of tarot, providing a foundation and context for the 78 single-card videos that Margy and Helen will publish for their 2025 Tarot for Scholars Project.

2) In the second hour, Margy led us through a hands-on workshop with freewriting prompts about specific tarot cards and our writing. To try her prompts for yourself, you can watch the workshop video in the WriteSPACE membership area.

3) For those completely new to tarot, Margy recommends Susannah Conway’s courses, including:

• ‘Daily Guidance’: A shorter introduction to tarot and oracle cards, ideal for beginners.

• ‘78 Mirrors’: A comprehensive six-week course designed to foster a deep connection with the tarot.

• ‘Tarot for Your Inner Child’: A course that explores creativity and healing.

An enormous thanks to Helen for hosting this fascinating special event and to Margy for introducing us to the exciting world of tarot. I look forward to seeing you at the next WriteSPACE Special Event!

WriteSPACE and WS Studio members can find the recording of the Special Event in their Video library.  

Not a member? Register to receive an email with a link to the video of the first hour.

Better yet! Join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.

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How can you translate your research IDEALS into a potent publication strategy? 

On November 19, I invited John Dumay to join me for a lively conversation and workshop on "IDEALS for Research Writing." John is Professor of Accounting and Finance at Macquarie University and the author of Academic Research, Publishing and Writing, published by Emerald Press in 2024.

In the first hour of this two-hour event, I asked John about his own research journey and prolific publication strategy, which has led to an impact ranking that places him (according to Elsevier and Stanford University) amongst the top 2% of scientists worldwide. In the second hour, John led a hands-on workshop introducing his IDEALS framework, which prompts researchers in any field to:

• Identify the problem;

• Define the context;

• Enumerate the options;

• Analyze from a critical perspective;

• List reasons explicitly; and

• Self-reflect.

Here’s WriteSPACE Event Manager Amy Lewis’ personal account of this special event:

……………

John Dumay describes himself as an "accidental accountant"—a witty nod to his unconventional path—but he’s also a prolific, stylish, and craft-focused writer. John approaches writing methodically, breaking down elements to understand how they function before reassembling them into something exceptional. He’s a champion of lean, clear prose and has no patience for zombie nouns. As he puts it, “When you read something, you need to visualize it. Can you actually see what you’re writing? If not, there’s nothing for your brain to latch onto, and comprehension goes out the window.” To enhance clarity and engagement, he recommends using metaphors and analogies to anchor abstract ideas in concrete imagery.

One particularly fascinating insight John shared was about the art of constructing a paragraph. A paragraph, he explained, should present an argument supported by evidence—like telling a well-structured story. He used the analogy of a fairytale to highlight a common pitfall in academic writing: inconsistency.

Imagine a story where a princess is trapped in a castle guarded by a dragon. The king offers his kingdom to any hero in exchange for her rescue. A prince agrees to save her but, tired from his travels, he decides to visit a tavern first. He can’t sleep due to noise from a nearby castle, and ends up falling for a girl with glass slippers at a ball. The original princess and dragon are forgotten, leaving readers scratching their heads. John’s lesson? Don’t lead your readers on wild goose chases—stay consistent and ensure the end of your story ties back to the beginning.

John also encouraged us to innovate and break the unwritten “rules” of academic writing. He advocates for techniques such as using the first person, incorporating visual imagery, crafting engaging hooks, following the Writer’s Diet principles for clear writing, and layering arguments deliberately like a lasagna (rather than chaotically like spaghetti).

In the second hour, John introduced his IDEALS framework, an acronym outlined in his book Academic Research, Publishing and Writing (a great book for researchers in the social sciences and beyond). To try his IDEALS framework for yourself, you can watch the full two-hour video, IDEALS for Research Writing, available in the WriteSPACE membership area.

A heartfelt thanks to Helen for hosting this inspiring session and to John for generously sharing his expertise. I look forward to seeing you at the next WriteSPACE Special Event!

WriteSPACE and WS Studio members can find the recording of the Special Event in their Video library.  

Not a member? Register to receive an email with a link to the video of the first hour.

Better yet! Join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.

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We live with our feet on the ground and our heads in the sky. Sometimes all we want is to feel the comforting weight of gravity pulling us down to earth. Other times we long to fly.

In my book Writing with Pleasure, I coined the moniker “flying unicorn” to describe hybrid writing tools (e.g. digital notebooks, pen-like styluses, voice-activated software) that play to our modern desire to bridge the material and digital realms. Illustrator Selina Tusitala Marsh used the Procreate app on her iPad — a flying unicorn in its own right! — to draw herself gleefully riding astride that fanciful beast:

Illustration by Selina Tusitala Marsh for Writing with Pleasure

These days, I find myself scanning the skies for a different kind of flying unicorn: a fantasy creature that can bring the healing warmth of social contact to the heady magic of global digital outreach.

Indeed, I’m drafting this post while literally “in the sky,” winging my way home from a 5-week international trip that took me to on-the-ground meetings and workshops in California, Oregon, Colorado, Texas, Germany, and the U.K.

What a delight it was to drink coffee on Balboa Island with WriteSPACE member Karen; to celebrate a successful day of workshops in Fort Collins with Kristina, Kimi, and their colleagues in the CSU Writes program at Colorado State University; to tour San Antonio with Ebony and Molly from the The Collaborative for Learning and Teaching at Trinity University; to meet with Daniel from the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology and with Christelle from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in historic Heidelberg (where I also got to spend a whole week cuddling my new grandson Enrico 🥰); and to catch up with Amy, my wonderful WriteSPACE Events Manager, for a delicious Ottolenghi lunch in London.

But we don’t have to travel across the world to breathe the healing oxygen of human fellowship. As writers, we can celebrate both our roots and our wings: our beautiful handmade notebooks and our whizzy digital gadgets; our local friendships and our online communities.

Those flying unicorns are already dancing and wheeling all around us, if only we know where to find them.

For example, you could lift the ground up towards the sky by inviting a colleague to join you in person for a virtual workshop (perhaps our next WriteSPACE Special Event?)

Or you could anchor the sky to the ground by organizing a conference panel with fellow writers you’ve met online.

Or you could apply for a WriteSPACE Travel Grant designed to help you bring cloud-based resources to local colleagues and to send your earthbound writing partnerships soaring.

Ground or sky? Why not choose both?

I’d love to see you there — and in all the spaces in between!

Write with delight! For exclusive access to live workshops, craft-focused coaching, and premium writing and editing tools, join me and fellow writers from 30+ countries in the WriteSPACE, a vibrant international writing community and resource library. To try free for 30 days, click below and enter the discount code WSTRIAL-BP at checkout.

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What can academic and professional writers learn from the stunning sentences of the best creative writers?

On October 21, I invited Nina Schuyler to join me for a lively conversation and workshop on "Stunning Sentences." Nina is the author of the aptly named book How to Write Stunning Sentences and the popular Substack newsletter Stunning Sentences. She is unrivalled at unravelling complex sentences to show us how they work — and how we can make our own stunning sentences work for us and our readers.

In the first hour of this live two-hour event, I asked Nina what makes for a stunning sentence and why it’s worth paying close attention to intricacies of syntax, structure, and style. In the second hour, Nina offered a hands-on sentencing workshop for paid subscribers to our respective newsletters. To borrow Nina’s own words, we spent time “admiring, mooning over, loving, and learning to write stunning sentences.”

Here’s WriteSPACE Event Manager Amy Lewis’ personal account of this special event:

……………

Nina Schuyler is a master at deconstructing sentences with precision, helping us understand the intricate workings of grammar and syntax. She shared how her passion for perfectly crafted sentences began in childhood. As a young girl, she kept a notebook filled with sentences that moved her — phrases that struck her with awe and sounded like music to her ears. She would record these lines carefully, driven by a yearning to write with the same beauty and skill. Her journey into the world of stunning sentences has been fueled by voracious reading and a deep love of language, eventually leading her to teach style-focused workshops in an MFA creative writing program. Now, after 17 years of teaching, she’s exceptionally skilled at breaking down what makes a sentence memorable and impactful.

In a world where many academic writers suffer from “grammarphobia” (often due to limited formal training), it’s easy to think, Why focus on grammar in my writing when methodology and content seem enough? Does grammar really matter? Nina assures us that it does. Take the principle of repetition, for example. When used with intention, repeated words and phrases can add emphasis, rhythm, and depth to writing, enhancing emotion and making sentences more enjoyable to read.

Nina asks, ‘Why shouldn’t a sentence be anything but pleasurable?’ Grammatical techniques matter because they’re tools for connecting our writing to our reader’s body and senses. Writing with musicality invites readers to feel the rhythm, making each sentence a source of joy. One fascinating tip that Nina shared was about writing in sync with natural breath patterns. The human breath, in English, can hold around ten syllables before needing a pause. By keeping this rhythm in mind, writers can create a harmonious, easy flow. On the other hand, for moments of intense tension or conflict, shortening sentences to fewer than ten syllables can evoke a feeling of breathlessness, mirroring shallow breaths.

You can watch the full two-hour video of Stunning Sentences in the WriteSPACE membership area. Don’t miss the recording of the second hour, in which Nina guides you through exercises for crafting stunning sentences of your own.

A huge thank you to Helen for hosting this wonderful session and to Nina for sharing her knowledge so generously. I look forward to seeing you at the next WriteSPACE Special Event!

WriteSPACE and WS Studio members can find the recording of the Special Event in their Video library.  

Not a member? Register to receive an email with a link to the video of the first hour.

Better yet! Join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.

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What does social balance in writing look like and feel like to you? Between the allure of solitary writing, the intimacy of a writing partnership, and the comfort of writing in community, where’s your own personal sweet spot?

To explore these questions and others like them, I invited writers to join me in September 2024 for a free WriteSPACE Special Event on Writing Together and Alone. I guided participants through a sequence of reflective exercises to help them find their own ideal balance between solitary writing and social support, and to discover some research-based strategies for establishing an ideal writing partnership, group, or community. I also offered a sneak peek at my new WriteSPACE Travel Grants, which I’m offering to members of my WriteSPACE community who don’t want to travel this challenging road on their own.

Here’s WriteSPACE Event Manager Amy Lewis’ personal account of this special event:

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I think most of us can relate to a time in our writing lives when we felt socially unbalanced—the lone wolf, tucked away in isolation, writing a dissertation and hardly leaving the cave… the circus performer parent, juggling responsibilities with no time to write alone… or the social butterfly, flitting between too many commitments, struggling to maintain focus.

The challenge is to find a social balance for your writing—a harmony between the solitude that strengthens focus and the social encounters that ignite new ideas. Your unique context plays a role in this balance too. Helen pointed out that writers in the humanities often work in isolation, in contrast to the more collaborative research environment enjoyed by scientific teams.

So how do you know what works best for you? And how can you create a sense of group motivation, camaraderie, and peer support for your writing? These are the questions Helen’s wonderful workshop helped us explore.

We began by reflecting on the concepts of extroversion and introversion. You may be familiar with Christine Miserandino’s ‘spoon theory’. A similar metaphor can help you identify whether you're an introvert, omnivert who is introvert-leaning or extrovert-leaning, or extrovert. The "coin metaphor" illustrates this: an introvert starts the day with ten coins and spends one on every social interaction, while an extrovert starts with none and gains a coin after each interaction.

Achieving social balance in writing means recognizing where you fall on the introvert-extrovert spectrum—this is your strength—and then complementing that strength by embracing the opposite. For example, if you’re an introvert, how are you incorporating social interactions to support your writing? If you’re an extrovert, how are you carving out space for solitary reflection on your work?

Helen then guided us through an exercise that asked us to reflect on three forms of pleasurable writing: solitary writing, writing with a friend, and writing in community. Henry David Thoreau wrote in his famous book Walden: "I had three chairs in my house: one for solitude, two for friendship, and three for society." There’s a common misconception that Thoreau was a hermit, indifferent to others, but in fact, he hosted gatherings and was actively engaged with his neighbours and community—he, too, sought social balance.

After this reflective writing, we discussed how to design the ideal writing group tailored to your own ‘Writing BASE’, which addresses the behavioural, artisanal, social, and emotional dimensions of writing. Striking the right balance between solitude and social interaction is essential to a fulfilling writing practice. And your balance will look different from any other writer’s.

I encourage you to watch the full video to engage with Helen’s reflective writing prompts and take the BASE quiz, which can help you identify your strengths in writing practice.

A big thank you to Helen for designing such an insightful workshop. I look forward to seeing you all at the next Special Event!

WriteSPACE and WS Studio members can find the recording of the Special Event in their Video library.  

Not a member? Register to receive an email with a link to the video of the first hour.

Better yet, join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.

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Writing is a fundamentally social act. We write to connect with other people, to persuade and delight them, and to understand our relationships with them.

Paradoxically, however, writing is also a fundamentally solitary act. Even for authors who research and publish collaboratively, most writing starts out as words scrawled, tapped, or typed by one person’s fingers or articulated by one person’s voice in response to signals emanating from that one person’s singular brain.

So where does pleasure sit within this social-to-solitary human spectrum? Everywhere! While researching my 2023 book Writing with Pleasure, I asked nearly 500 academic writers from around the world to recall a time in their life when writing gave them pleasure. The writers in my study described joyful experiences of writing with others and writing solo; of writing among others and writing alone; of writing for others and writing just for themselves.

And then there were all the pleasurable places and practices in between. The crowded café where a lone writer sits scribbling at a corner table, drinking “deep, rich, bitter” coffee and patting the occasional passing dog. The dining room of an old farmhouse where three sisters work silently on their homework, eating steamed damsoms as the trams rattle past. The rented beachhouse where four colleagues gather to bash out a book manuscript, alternating between solo writing sprints and intense group discussion. (“We had ourselves, our computers, our editor, and a lot of gummy bears.”)

I also noted an intriguing variation on the social-yet-solitary theme — scenes of writing infused with a shared intimacy that might best be described as plaisir à deux:

Writing at Harry’s writing desk. Light comes in through the windows, the curtains glow red with the setting sun. Harry helps me edit and reshape my work. I know what I am doing and enjoy the collaborative act of seeing the work take shape. I have been researching this article for 6 months and am excited by the ideas I have. I am sitting on a soft antique chair with the man I love. Aesthetically I like looking at Harry, at the books which line the shelves and at the two computer screens so that we can research and write at the same time. I feel comfortable and excited about the work we are producing. New ideas keep emerging. (Jennifer, lecturer in dance, United Kingdom)

In one memorable narrative, writing alone together takes on the flavor of a secret love affair:

I remember writing and getting drunk. Drunk on alcohol, but also inebriated with life and being together with another writer. This was illicit. We met at the head office where we both worked. He was taking stolen time away from his wife and their infant son. I was in a relationship with a man who had moved back to Germany, leaving me alone in Brussels at the office where I had a rather manual job to fulfil. The writing took place in our separate offices. There was no one else around. Just him two offices further up the corridor and me in my shared office. We were both secretly working on novels. He and I never had an amorous relationship, and yet were conjoined during those stolen hours. (Sofia, associate professor of literature, Sweden)

In another, plaisir à deux swells into plaisir à quatre:

It was fifty years ago—almost exactly. I was an exchange student, writing with a cousin of my host family. Jens—the cousin—and I wrote a letter together, addressed to the host family’s daughter—the cousin’s cousin—and her best friend. Boy and boy writing to girl and girl. We laughed. We (almost) cried. Together we decided that, since his cousin was family, the part of this letter—and it was sort of a collective love letter—that he wrote had to be directed to the friend. But actually he liked the actual cousin more, while I had a crush on the cousin’s friend. The hour or so we spent doing this was among the happiest I can recall. Looking back, I am struck by how unmixed and unhesitant and uncomplicated the pleasure of writing was. (David, professor of German, Vermont, USA)

I love how each of these stories reveals multiple layers of intimacy in and around a scene of writing: between lover and lover, colleague and colleague, boy and boy, boy(s) and girl(s), cousin and cousin, writer and writer.

Psychologist Danielle Knafo observes that words like solitude, relationship, intimacy, and connectedness are fluid, dynamic, and contestable: “We connect, disconnect, leave, come back, move in, move out; boundaries are drawn and erased as a relationship expresses the flux of its function and meaning.” (Knafo, Dancing with the Unconscious, 94). Somewhere in that flux, each of us may be fortunate enough to achieve our own state of pleasurable social balance from time to time: between networking and focus, between conversation and introspection, between expansiveness and intimacy, and between the comforts of human contact and the exhilaration of solitude.

[Adapted from Chapter One of Writing with Pleasure, “Society and Solitude”]

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So, what does social balance in writing look like and feel like to you? For more thoughts on the lure of the crowd, the call of the hermit's cave, and the deep pleasures of intimacy, watch the recording of my live Special Event ‘Writing Together and Alone’ (WriteSPACE members can find the recording on their Videos page) or read the summary blog post for some hand-picked insights.

Not a member? Join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources as part of your membership plan.

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