Spring 2026 CILA Faculty-Staff Writing Groups
If you’d like to join a writing group for spring semester, please fill out this form.
January 2026 Wednesday Writing Workshops
The CILA “Writing Wednesdays” workshop series, led by Diane LeBlanc, Professor and Director of Writing, offers time, space, and guidance as you engage with your scholarly and creative work during and beyond January. The series takes a writing group approach, offering accountability and workshop activities in a small group. Each workshop provides practical support, writing time, community for sustaining progress, and opportunities to explore and practice different aspects of writing and creativity.
Individuals may attend any or all of the workshops by using this form. Please respond by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, December 12.
January 7, 2026: Staying Focused and Motivated
10:30am-12:00pm and 1:30-3:00pm, Norway Room, Buntrock Commons
Drawing from “Writing Advice for Interesting Times,” (Inside Higher Ed, July 2025) this workshop leads participants through five strategies for staying focused and motivated through changes and challenges. We’ll set our January writing goals with brief reflection on writing and research habits that serve our progress well and not so well. We’ll practice wandering, sprinting, and “microwriting” to consider how different paces serve different projects or parts of a project. We’ll interpret “project” broadly to include the scholarly, creative, administrative, and teaching materials we produce.
January 14, 2026: Distilling Big Ideas
10:30am-12:00pm and 1:30-3:00pm, Norway Room, Buntrock Commons
One project may take many forms as a conference presentation, a grant proposal, and a public lecture for non-experts. In this workshop, we’ll work toward distilling a project concept to its essence while maintaining its purpose and accuracy. We’ll practice communicating more with less for different audiences through a parlor game and a one-minute sound or movement piece. Each of us will develop prose or a visual for one key idea and develop next steps for turning big ideas into clear communication.
January 21, 2026: Answering the “So What?” Question
10:30am-12:00pm, RNS 356, and 1:30-3:00pm, Norway Room, Buntrock Commons 101
At every stage of a project’s development, we should ask, “So what?” “What’s my point?” “Why does my audience care?” “How does this material support my main idea and purpose?” This workshop draws from “The ‘So What’ Question” (from The Chronicle Productivity Guide to Writing & Publishing) to provide real-time response to the “so what” question. First, we’ll reflect individually on the “so what” of our projects. Then, with a partner or small group, we’ll summarize our projects and ask for impressions of a central theme or argument. We’ll ask if or why that theme or argument matters for a particular audience. Writing time will focus on refining one area that contributes to the central theme or argument. This workshop is ideal for writers at any stage of the brainstorming, drafting, or revising process.
January 28, 2026: Deciding When to Share or Submit
10:30am-12:00pm, Norway Room, Buntrock Commons 101, and 1:30-3:00pm, RNS 356
In “The Good Enough Manuscript,” Laura Portwood-Stacer reminds us that waiting to submit a manuscript or proposal until we’ve perfected it sometimes fatally delays its success. This workshop provides strategies for assessing a project’s readiness to be shared for feedback or submitted for publication. We’ll explore a framework for developing benchmarks, interventions, and internal deadlines. Everyone will develop an individual list of tasks required to complete a project, with one action step for moving toward sharing with a reader or submitting for review.
Individuals may attend any or all of the workshops by using this form. Please respond by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, December 12.
Fall 2025 CILA Faculty-Staff Writing Groups
Fall 2025 writing groups have already been formed.