METM26 presentation

Facilitated co-writing session

Wendy Baldwin, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain

If you are a MET member, you may have heard about the Humanities and Social Science Hub’s weekly VCOWs—virtual co-working sessions—where we meet online, set and share work goals, and wrangle our texts in companionable silence.

At METM26, the VCOW sheds its virtual confines, allowing attendees to experience facilitated co-writing. Whether you want to start or continue working on a writing project, reflect on what you’ve learned at METM26, or catch up on client work, you’ll get a jump on your post-METM writing.

In this context, writing is broadly construed and includes drafting, outlining, brainstorming, freewriting, mind mapping, recording action items, editing, and translating. You may find it especially useful if you:

  • are writing a METM26 chronicle
  • want to write up or consolidate your notes and thoughts about a workshop or presentation or capture action items for follow-up
  • have been inspired to submit a presentation or workshop proposal for METM27

As your facilitator, I’ll briefly explain how structured writing sessions work, set you to writing, and bring the session to a close. There will be no discussion or sharing of ideas or writing, though you will be encouraged to do so after the session.

The bulk of the time will be spent on your individual writing project. Although the session is short, the structure, the dedicated space, and working alongside others engaged in a similar task (i.e., body doubling) typically promote sustained focus and satisfying progress.

No special equipment or preparation is required: just show up with something to write on/with and ideas you want to get onto (digital) paper.

About the facilitator

Wendy Baldwin Wendy Baldwin helps academics write and publish their research as an authors’ editor, ES>EN translator, structured writing facilitator, and writing trainer. She also volunteers as a co-facilitator of the VCOW sessions for members of MET’s Humanities and Social Sciences Hub, which she co-founded in 2019.