Dear colleagues,

For all of us, writing is a key part of the job. For students, it is important to learn to do it both well and efficiently early on. However, many experience writing as a lonely task, where it is difficult to maintain focus. We personally find that writing (or reading) in a group makes us more productive, and if you haven’t tried it, we think you should give it a go. Therefore, we would like to start a ”MBG writing group” that meets at regular intervals to work in parallel. Writing is one of the few processes that unites us across all research fields and is thus also a good chance to meet colleagues from other research group. 

Where and when: We will have the inaugural writing group on Wednesday the 25/1 from 9-11. You are welcome to attend the part that works for you. We will meet in meeting room 1872-547 (bring your own coffee). Afterwards, we can have a brief chat about the format going forward: How long, how often and which time slot.

How it works: We work independently on a shared schedule of ~25min writing/reading (in silence) followed by a 5min talking/moving break.  This time-frame is chosen to follow time management & productivity theory ideas, e.g. the Pomodoro Technique. Everybody works on their own personal writing projects (e.g. manuscripts, proposals, coding). After a few of these rounds, we may take a longer break. That's it!  Some prefer to bring along headphones, others find the sound of typing/writing motivating.  

FAQ:

• Can I come even if I am a student? Absolutely!
• Can I come even if I am a super-star professor that tries to escape my students to get peace to write: Absolutely!
• Can I come even if I am not writing up a fancy paper, but merely need to concentrate on other computer work?: Yes!

Best wishes,

Magnus and Peter