Listen now:
Michelle Eakin, MA, PhD, joins the Faculty Factory Podcast to discuss the success she had joining a Writing Accountability Group (WAG).
Dr. Eakin is Associate Professor with Johns Hopkins University and Chair of the American Thoracic Society Tobacco Action Committee.
“After my first WAG I noticed that although I do a lot of writing, my manuscripts are always last priority,” Dr. Eakin said. “Other writing projects have deadlines, (e.g. grants, IRB protocols) but papers can always wait.
“I decided that my goal for the group would be to spend 30 minutes writing on my manuscript each day, no matter what other types of writing I did that day. If everything goes well I could have a total of 11 publications this year.”
WAGs are a habit-building method originally developed for busy faculty members in academic medicine.
WAGs participants support each other to permanently end scholarly writing myths, such as I need to feel inspired and motivated to write, I have no time to write, etc. WAGs participants build their scholarly writing habits the same way you’d train at a gym, play a sport or master a musical instrument.
When you join the Faculty Factory on Patreon you’ll receive a series of six videos that outlines the steps for launching a successful WAG at your institution. By supporting the Faculty Factory on Patreon, you will also receive:
- A free ebook of WAG Your Work: Writing Accountability Groups Bootcamp for Increasing Scholarly Productivity
- A free ebook of Altmetrics for Academic Faculty: A Comprehensive Guide to Getting Tactical with the Tools of Altmetrics
To listen to today’s episode make sure to play the embedded podcast player above. To learn more about WAGs, please visit WAGYourWork.com.