Activate your free membership to the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity to sign up. Photo: Andrew Neel, Unsplash Have you ever thought about establishing a regular daily writing routine? If you’d like some support getting started, consider participating in the upcoming free, online 14-Day Writing Challenge offered by the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD). Here’s how it works: Activate your institutional membership to the NCFDD. (UC Berkeley has a free subscription — all grad students can register!) Register for the fall 2019 writing challenge by October 24. During the challenge (which runs from October 28 to November 10), you commit to writing every day for at least 30 minutes. You’ll log on to the NCFDD’s online community, start the timer, complete your writing, post your progress, and encourage others in your assigned writing group. It’s great to establish a writing habit at any stage of grad school. Berkeley graduate student alum Marion Phillips (Ph.D., Department of French) found the writing challenge especially useful while completing her dissertation: “The interactions with and encouragement from other academic writers during the challenge were incredibly motivating for me. Having had this positive experience, I am now seeking out other formats to maintain accountability with my projects and to reach out to a community of academic writers.” While you’re visiting the NCFDD website, consider checking out other resources like the Dissertation Success series, the “Core Curriculum” (which includes webinars on topics such as “Master Academic Time Management,” “Develop a Daily Writing Practice,” and Cultivate a Network of Mentors and Sponsors”), and the “Monday Motivator” email, which sends a weekly pep talk straight to your inbox. And if you’d like some in-person support to complement the online NCFDD tools, remember to check out the workshops and resources offered by Berkeley’s Graduate Writing Center, and stay up-to-date on professional development resources across campus by subscribing to the biweekly GradPro digest. Linda Louie is the Professional Development Resource Coordinator in the Graduate Division of UC Berkeley.
Activate your free membership to the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity to sign up. Photo: Andrew Neel, Unsplash Have you ever thought about establishing a regular daily writing routine? If you’d like some support getting started, consider participating in the upcoming free, online 14-Day Writing Challenge offered by the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD). Here’s how it works: Activate your institutional membership to the NCFDD. (UC Berkeley has a free subscription — all grad students can register!) Register for the fall 2019 writing challenge by October 24. During the challenge (which runs from October 28 to November 10), you commit to writing every day for at least 30 minutes. You’ll log on to the NCFDD’s online community, start the timer, complete your writing, post your progress, and encourage others in your assigned writing group. It’s great to establish a writing habit at any stage of grad school. Berkeley graduate student alum Marion Phillips (Ph.D., Department of French) found the writing challenge especially useful while completing her dissertation: “The interactions with and encouragement from other academic writers during the challenge were incredibly motivating for me. Having had this positive experience, I am now seeking out other formats to maintain accountability with my projects and to reach out to a community of academic writers.” While you’re visiting the NCFDD website, consider checking out other resources like the Dissertation Success series, the “Core Curriculum” (which includes webinars on topics such as “Master Academic Time Management,” “Develop a Daily Writing Practice,” and Cultivate a Network of Mentors and Sponsors”), and the “Monday Motivator” email, which sends a weekly pep talk straight to your inbox. And if you’d like some in-person support to complement the online NCFDD tools, remember to check out the workshops and resources offered by Berkeley’s Graduate Writing Center, and stay up-to-date on professional development resources across campus by subscribing to the biweekly GradPro digest. Linda Louie is the Professional Development Resource Coordinator in the Graduate Division of UC Berkeley.