Each semester and over the summer OFDD offers Making Time to Write for Cornell faculty.  The program provides faculty with writing support, accountability and community as they complete work for publication, promotion and funding. All sessions are on Zoom.

Schedule

Groups comprised of 10 to 15 faculty members convene regularly to write.  For the first 5 to 10 minutes, the program’s facilitator may discuss readings provided and/or issues related to academic writing, such as writing strategies and overcoming writer’s block. Participants also express their writing goals for the session.

The next several hours are devoted to writing with occasional short breaks. This is protected time for faculty to write and meet their goals.

For the final 10 minutes, writers reconvene on Zoom to share their progress and set goals for the week and upcoming writing sessions.

A Writing Accountability Program

Making Time to Write is a writing accountability program. It’s designed to assist faculty in carving time out of their busy schedules to write. Writing group facilitators holds faculty accountable for showing up and writing.

To be clear, the program is not a writing critique program (although a combined accountability and critique program will be piloted in Spring 2025). Facilitators do not review participants’ work and no one is asked to critique others’ writings. Instead, all are part of a writing community.

Faculty use this time to work on books, journal articles and other writings. More than 200 faculty members have participated in the program since its inception in spring 2021, and many are repeat attenders.

Application

Depending on demand, we offer multiple time slots for the program. If you are interested in joining or would like more information, contact ofdd@cornell.edu.