Dr Kathleen Vacek is an academic writing coach who researches lived experiences of doctoral writing and scholarly publishing. During the course of her PhD, she became a mother and left her full-time academic staff position. She was supported on this rocky journey by a doctoral writing group she formed with members of her program cohort.   In this episode Kate shares how her group was formed and maintained and reflects on her experience of what worked and what was not so useful.   She also offers some alternative models for doctoral writing groups and advice for those who would like to try this way of working.   Here is the info on the Sarah Haas chapter Kate mentions in the chapter and the article she wrote with her colleagues on their experience   Haas, Sarah. "Pick-N-Mix: A Typology of Writers’ Groups in Use." In Writing Groups for Doctoral Education and Beyond: Innovations in Practice and Theory, edited by Claire Aitchison and Cally Guerin, 30-48. London: Routledge, 2014.   Kathleen Vacek, William J. Donohue, Amanda Gates, Alice Shu-Ju Lee & Shelah Simpson (2021) Seeking balance within personal writing ecologies: a collaborative autoethnography of a doctoral student writing group, Studies in Continuing Education, 43:1, 104-118, DOI: 10.1080/0158037X.2019.1703670     You can contact Kate here: [email protected] yourphdcompass.com https://www.linkedin.com/company/compass-academic-coaching/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091276196636 https://www.instagram.com/yourphdcompass/     For a transcript of this episode go to www.thephdliferaft.com