New Year Writing Club for Academics Offered By The Academic Ladder

MCLEAN, Virginia - Gina J. Hiatt, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, dissertation and tenure coach, and founder and president of Academic Ladder, is offering a New Year Writing Club, along with her associate, Jayne London. Any academic looking for dissertation help, or support in writing for publication, will benefit from this program. The Club includes access to a private website where participants can log their writing progress daily, get feedback from the coaches and other members, and communicate via a message board. They will be able to see the progress of others and read their comments. This shared experience increases writing productivity dramatically.

The 30-Day Writing Club will run from January 8 through February 7, 2007. The cost of this program is $50.00.
Gina explains, “For most academics, whether grad student or professor, daily support is the ideal way to be a productive writer. The accountability and structure of our Writing Clubs helps members to write daily for realistic amounts of time, on a consistent basis. Academics find that they are less overwhelmed by their other duties, such as teaching, when they handle their writing this way”

The action orientation of this series will enable people to make changes in their writing process as they get something important accomplished. They are helped to be less perfectionistic and to monitor the negative thoughts that stop them from being productive.
An assistant professor and a member of several previous Writing Clubs run by the Academic Ladder, wrote,
“This has been the best two-week investment in my academic career, ever. I have a whole shelf full of books on writing and procrastination and productivity, but nothing has helped as much as this class. Gina doesn't just tell you what to do, she helps you figure out long-term, sustainable changes in your work habits and ways of approaching your work that should last long after the class is over.

And it's been great sharing experiences, problems, and solutions with the other members of the class; we learn a lot from each other as well as from Gina. After just two weeks, not only am I getting more writing done, I've started to think about my writing in a different way. And I've even started to think about myself in a different way. I am NOT a procrastinator or a person who can't write. I can do this. “