It often took me weeks or even months to begin writing something. I tended to put it off, reasoning that at some point I would land in that perfect moment where my thoughts would flow. But that moment didn’t always arrive, and I ended up putting together a hurriedly written piece only when the deadline became dangerously close.
It was 10 p.m. on a winter night and I was sitting at my laptop, staring at a blank Word document. My thesis proposal deadline approached. I hadn’t written a word despite weeks of thinking. Earlier that evening, when I met another Ph.D. student, Sachin, for our regular monthly dinner, he was equally stuck—buried under the weight of a fellowship application. We set out to make a change. So, we made a pact (约定): After dinner, we would sit together, laptops open, phones away, no excuses. It was the fuel I needed to finally start writing.
Our informal pact soon became a habit. We scheduled weekly 90-minute sessions, which gave us a distraction-free space to write something, however imperfect. We began each session by naming a small goal. That 5-minute planning made the rest of the session surprisingly productive. Instead of worrying about writing an entire proposal, we only had to finish a tiny piece of it. Those small wins built confidence. A few sentences grew into paragraphs, then into complete proposals with enough time before the deadline to get feedback from professors. Writing never got easy, as I’d hoped, but it became less isolating and more productive. Sachin and I had both seen our mates face similar challenges and wanted to bring this experience to a broader group. So we launched co-working sessions for the students in our department. We started with 5 minutes of goal setting, followed by 75 minutes of silent, focused writing, and ended with a short reflection period.
Now dozens of students have attended. What began as two anxious students staring at blank screens has grown into a small community that makes writing less lonely. Our experience showed us that accountability and a shared sense of purpose can lower the barriers that make writing so scary. No one should have to write alone.