Last October (2015) I started my EdD at University of Nottingham. The Programme Leader, Professor Jeremy Hodgen suggested that we practices writing 500 words a day (three days a week, due to part time status). He promoted this, as a way to support our writing and develop academic voice.

Initially I started to write 500 words a day. But my outputs tended to consist of free writing texts that dumped my ideas out and didn’t finesse my opinions or position in the argument. Because my writing didn’t move beyond the ‘free writing’ stage, I then rushed to meet the first assignment deadline.

Dr Inger Mewburn discusses the difficulty with moving on to the final edit in The ‘Out The Door’ rant. She uses this post to talk about the need for academics to share their writing or else it has no purpose – I am simplifying an enjoyable and informative blog post (recommended reading).

Anyway, the haste to complete and hand in my assignment before the deadline has taught me that I need to practice an ‘out the door’ policy with my ideas. Using this blog is the starting point.