How I write

Will Haese-Hill is a Research Software Engineer at the MVLS Shared Research Facilities.

Every November we celebrate WriteFest, a national festival spotlighting writing in higher education. This year, we’re marking the occasion with a special blog series – How I Write – which highlights some of the diverse writing practices and approaches of colleagues across the University of Glasgow. Across the articles, you’ll discover how our authors approach writing, from the nitty gritty process of setting up a Word Doc for optimal collaboration, to grappling with the deeply emotive aspects of our need to write.

In this contribution to the series, Will Haese-Hill does a deep dive into how he organises his individual and collaborative writing projects and reflects on how he’s carved out meaningful space for writing.

I get out of bed and drift downstairs, put on a pot of coffee and watch the sun rise over a beautiful garden from the spacious dining room table. I enjoy the sound of nothing but bird song. I sit down and start typing. This is how I had always envisioned my ideal writing scenario. It wasn’t to be. With the responsibilities of parenthood, home-comfort distractions and general life admin, home is my worst environment for engaging in productive, free-form writing. In reality, I’m most productive when I’m in a formal workplace. This could be the most soulless office environment with corporate-blue carpet tiles, harsh overhead lighting and uncontrollable heating. If there are other people working around me, I can get things done. The COVID pandemic, with its mandated work-from-home (WFH) policies for office staff, was tough for me. In fact, this was one of the key factors that prompted a dramatic change in my career pathway.

Now, as a software engineer in academia, a surprising amount of my workload includes writing scientific papers and grant applications rather than just coding. I manage this new facet to my work life by deploying careful strategies for planning, collaborating and finding time for writing.

Strategies for solo and collaborative writing

When planning a writing project, I use task management software such as Trello to capture resources, to-dos, or just general thoughts as I go. As I’m putting my document – even this blog post – together, I often begin with a rough workflow of bullet points to capture the core threads that need to be covered. At the same time, I use a checklist in the Trello card to ensure all the relevant points or references have been integrated into the document. Gradually, as I’m writing the narrative text of each section, I will check each item off until the bulk of the work is in place, and then we’re approaching first draft territory.

If I’m writing in collaboration with others, we begin by creating a dedicated Microsoft Word document stored on a shared drive. If I am the lead author, the first thing I do is to structure the document with headings. I add subheadings for examples or prompts for material that should be in each section. For example, in a grant application there might be a list of things that should be covered in each section of the grant. I want to have this visible as I’m drafting the document.  With papers, I like to start with the methods section as it tends to follow a precise recipe with little room for nuance: we used version X of tool Y to do Z (referencing hits the spot for the same reason). This ensures I get the ball rolling by getting something down on paper before having to engage with the more ‘creative’ introduction section.

While collaborating, I use features such as Track Changes and in-line comments in Microsoft Word. For the latter, I highlight any open questions to other authors, often assigning outstanding tasks. After a round of drafting, when all open comments are resolved and suggested changes accepted, I freeze a version of the document before prompting my fellow authors for review. And so, the cycle continues until we’re happy with the ‘final’ draft.

Finding time to write

Over the last year I’ve also adopted techniques to find times and spaces for writing that allow me to address tasks that don’t always feel like a priority. This is especially true when a formal deadline isn’t set, such as for the submission of a scientific paper. Structured writing sessions, or “retreats”, have been revolutionary in this regard, particularly those offered by the Researcher Development team here at the University. Some sessions are also hosted virtually by a network of other (mostly UK-based) universities at regular intervals.  

To make the most of these retreats I label Trello cards as ‘writing tasks’, and when it comes to the day of a scheduled session, I select something from the list depending on the time available:  whether a full ‘Writing Retreat’ (longer format) or a ‘Power Hour of Writing’ (shorter format). For a scientific paper, having a defined period of time to set aside all other distractions provides just the right impetus to get back up to speed and push on a step closer to publication.

Structured writing sessions have also been revolutionary for my own sense of motivation more generally, particularly when WFH. Despite no one being physically present, a virtual retreat with fellow writers, all trying to be productive somehow manages to scratch that ‘work-mode’ itch and prevent procrastination taking hold. The only downside, I thought, was that they weren’t available more regularly. I’ve recently discovered the Silent Zoom Writing Group (SZWG) – turns out I can get my productivity fix whenever I need it.

While I still covet the home-working fantasy, I’m realistic about the structure I need to stay productive, whether that’s project management tools or the quiet pressure of other people working in my (often virtual) vicinity.