I’m setting writing goals and enjoying group support this month. You can #AcWriMo too!

November isn’t just National Novel Writing Month, it is Academic Writing Month or #AcWriMo for the Twitter inclined.

In a nutshell, #AcWriMo is about setting your own clear academic writing (or other) goals for the whole month, signing up on a public accountability spread sheet, tracking your progress, and (most important) discussing your progress with your peers online. It’s rather great, you draw inspiration from their progress and stave off some of the loneliness associated with writing.

This really works. Last year I managed to get through three whole academic papers which I submitted for peer review. They’ve been published. I admit I had already made a start on them but they were lingering in the realm of unfinished. Think of it this way: if you commit to writing only half a page, 200 words a day for every day in November, you’re at 6000 words by the end of the month. For the academics out there, that’s a whole journal paper or PhD chapter. How can you say no to that?

Also the chance to actually talk about the process of your work with others is rare and encouraging.

Consider this an invitation. Kate Ellenberger has set up a #AcWriMo accountability spread sheet. It is loosely for archaeology, heritage, anthropology, museums, whatever people but all are welcome.

My goals:

• write 1200 words per day of absolutely anything
• write 1 book review per week for this blog
• develop 1 complete activity for my Antiquities Trafficking & Art Crime free online course per week
• complete 2 half-finished papers: one about Nepal’s heritage sites, the other about Scottish traffic cones
• start writing 2 papers: one about the concept of the grey market for antiquities, the other an overview of the illicit trade in cultural objects

My plan:

• I can bank extra words to earn days off
• NO WORK SATURDAY
• I will evaluate my performance daily as well as weekly (On Sundays)
• At the midway point I will see if I need to adjust anything

Have a look and the #AcWriMo Wikipedia page and if you like what you see, sign up on the spreadsheet, set some goals, and chat with us about it.

P.S. If there are enough of us we can set up our own sub hash tag