With a new semester underway, there are undoubtedly lots of to-dos requiring your energy and attention. Check out the conclusion to our series on rest to find some relaxing and restorative activities to help you take care of yourself this school year. If you’ve read our previous two posts on rest (Rest for the Restless; … Continue reading 19 Ways to Rest Actively
If you read our last blog post on rest, welcome to part two! We've talked about the importance of rest—why we need it and why it's hard. Now, we want to discuss why rest sometimes feels evasive even when we have an abundance of downtime. The truth is, it's easy to have the illusion of … Continue reading True vs. False Rest
“Tired.” That’s been my routine answer to the standard greeting of “how are you?” We ask that question by default, even if we don’t expect an authentic or complex answer. How about you? Are you tired? Despite the fact that most of us spent the last year in our homes, rest seems evasive. As one … Continue reading Rest for the Restless
Dress up your writing, I still remember my seventh grade writing teacher telling us. That afternoon, I sat in Panera with my mom as she helped me write my next three paragraph essay, filling the page with “interesting” word choices and “vivid” descriptions. You may know those literary and academic buzzwords, the ones designed to … Continue reading You’re Not Here to Prove Yourself: Overcoming Academic Perfectionism
As the semester rockets towards finals month, we find ourselves in strange times: remote classes, changes to living situations, uncertainty about the semester to come, uncertainty about much more immediate things. With everything in transition, it can feel overwhelming to think about writing a paper or finishing a project––each time I’ve sat down to write … Continue reading Writing Finals During Quarantine
Blank pages. Every writer's biggest fear. Sometimes being in academia feels like you have to learn another language. My first semester of my doc program involved a lot of nodding and pretending to follow conversations, googling terms and phrases I hadn’t heard before, and feeling like I just didn’t belong. I had never heard the … Continue reading Breaking the Bad Habit of “Good Writing”
If you’re a student, especially a graduate or professional student, you’ll probably get the advice sometime in your first semester to start marketing yourself online. Not just a LinkedIn, but a CV site, even dedicated academic social media profiles. Before COVID-19, I expected to use my academic Twitter account to live-tweet conferences and connect with … Continue reading Against Harsh Writing Advice and Wellness Routines
Writing can be a blast; all the twists and turns of storytelling, the ins-and-outs of research, and even the ups-and-downs of argumentative writing. But sometimes finding that spark of creativity can be a laborious feat. Not to mention the ridiculous rules and guidelines of “proper” writing high schools spent years etching into our brains, making … Continue reading 10 Prompts to Spark Creativity
I’m graduating in the spring. If you had asked me two years ago where I would be after graduation, I wouldn’t have had an answer for you. In fact, I still don’t have an answer. Two years ago, I was a senior in high school. My life could not have looked more different than it … Continue reading Finding Hope
I feel lost. Saying goodbye to a year I’m glad to leave. Now I ask myself, what’s next? It feels like any other Thursday to me. Festivities are saved for friends, Yet I’m all alone. But content. I feel lost, but I’ll find my way soon As cliche as it sounds, I found my passion … Continue reading How Has Writing Helped You During the Pandemic?
Every semester, members of the VCU Writing Center staff meet to create individualized, personal posts designed to help with all aspects of the writing process –– from brainstorming, to finding ways to feel original, to breaking writer's block, to dealing with writing in quarantine. We've also got lots of sample creative essays for writers approaching … Continue reading Meet the Spring 2021 Blog Writers!
