Thursday 13 and Friday 14 August 2026 · Online
Two days. Nine hours of protected writing. One project moved forward.
An online writing retreat for academics in the social sciences and humanities who planned to get their writing done this summer and are running out of time.
Early bird €176 until 6 August. €211 after that.
Proudly trusted by scholars from
It is August
How did the summer actually go?
Back in May you had writing plans. Weeks without teaching, no committee meetings, a long open stretch finally big enough for the chapter, the article, or the revision you have been carrying for months. You made a plan, possibly an ambitious one.
It is August now, and the project is not where you wanted it to be. Here is the reason.
The summer is never as empty as we imagine. Your calendar filled up with a conference, travel with family, fieldwork, a funding application, a review you agreed to do, a thesis you needed to grade. You also started the summer carrying the exhaustion of the last semester, so what you actually wanted was rest, not another day at your desk.
You tried to force it anyway. Writing every day, or on set days each week, and it did not hold, because that kind of regularity cannot survive a schedule that is completely irregular. Daily writing works when a semester gives you the same hours every week. Summer is a large unstructured stretch that fills with things you never accounted for.
It usually looks like this.
- You sit down to work on the chapter and lose an hour deciding where to start.
- You promise yourself you will write every day. By Wednesday the streak is broken and so is your morale.
- The writing happens in stolen, fragmented minutes, never enough to build momentum.
- You are doing it alone, with an inner critic that never clocks off.
So if you have a deadline at the end of August and the work is not done, it is not too late. It does mean changing how you work for the time you have left. Instead of spreading yourself across weeks, you concentrate on one project for two days. That is the retreat method.
Why this works
Most productive academics do not write every day.
7 out of 8
productive academics do not write every day
Source: “Write every day: a mantra dismantled”, UC Santa Barbara Research Development, on Helen Sword’s study of 1,323 academics.
In a study of 1,323 academics across fifteen countries, Dr Helen Sword found that only around 12% write daily. Roughly seven out of eight of the most productive scholars do not. What they do instead is protect concentrated stretches of time, go deep, and rest properly in between.
There is a structural reason. Finishing academic writing means holding an entire argument in your head at once, seeing where it breaks, and repairing it. You cannot do that in forty minute fragments. It is like trying to have one conversation in fifty separate two minute phone calls.
Writing retreats are one of the most consistently effective interventions in academic development. An integrative review of the evidence found that academics who attend structured writing retreats show measurable increases in publication output, alongside greater motivation, confidence, and a stronger sense of belonging among other writers.
Two focused days will move a stalled project further than six weeks of trying to squeeze it in.
From the last retreat
What people actually finished in two days.
None of these people had more time, focus, or energy than you. They were just as depleted. They decided to try the retreat format, and it moved the work.
- The outline of a new article, mapped and ready to draft
- Clarity on the focus of a monograph that had felt unclear for months
- The findings section of a stalled article, finally worked through
- A return to sources after a long break, and the start of a new chapter
- Parts of a thesis subchapter completed, the rest structured and ready to finish the following week
What you get
What the retreat gives you.
A full hour of planning before anyone writes a word
Participants consistently name this as the most valuable part. We get clear on what you are working on, what finished looks like, and how you will use the nine hours. Most writing stalls because the goal was never defined properly.
Nine hours of genuinely protected writing time
Six ninety minute blocks, everyone writing at the same time. No notifications, no meetings, no negotiating with yourself about whether to start.
A room full of people doing the same thing
Writing alone is the hardest way to write. Working alongside other academics changes the experience, and it is the part people are most surprised by.
Peer feedback while your writing is still warm
You exchange work with another participant and get an outside reader's response. Nearly every participant names this as a highlight, including the ones who were nervous about it beforehand.
A mindset and meditation session
Perfectionism, the internal critic, the fear that the argument is not good enough. We address it directly, because it is usually the real obstacle.
Speed networking with academics who understand your world
Short, structured conversations with peers across the social sciences and humanities.
A retreat workbook, yours to keep
Use it to set goals and track what you finish during the two days. It stays with you afterwards, whenever you need structure for your own writing sessions.
The schedule
Two days, structured but not rigid.
All times in Central European Summer Time, Vienna. Step away during breaks and lunch. The writing blocks are the commitment.
Thursday 13 August
- 09:00 – 10:00Welcome, introductions and planning session. Buddies assigned.
- 10:00 – 11:30Writing block 1
- 11:30 – 12:30Speed networking
- 12:30 – 13:30Lunch
- 13:30 – 15:00Writing block 2
- 15:00 – 15:30Break
- 15:30 – 17:00Writing block 3
- 17:00 – 17:30Day 1 close and buddy check-in
Friday 14 August
- 09:00 – 09:30Morning check-in and plan for the day
- 09:30 – 11:00Writing block 4
- 11:00 – 11:30Mindset and meditation session
- 11:30 – 12:30Lunch
- 12:30 – 14:00Writing block 5
- 14:00 – 14:30Break
- 14:30 – 16:00Writing block 6, the final block
- 16:00 – 17:00Peer feedback exchange
- 17:00 – [TO CONFIRM]Closing celebration
What participants say
From people who came to the last one.
“The online retreat gave me time to focus and go really deep into my project. I love the retreat format, I think it's genius, and I wish I would have this every month.”
Postdoc
Italy
“I love the community, it was a game changer for me. The way my life functions, the retreat format is the best format for me to really push my project.”
Postdoc
Belgium
“What I really liked about the retreat was the planning session in the beginning. The combination of focused writing time and collective exchange, and getting the sense that others go through similar stages.”
Postdoc
Netherlands
“The planning session was really good, I liked the feedback we gave each other. It was super important for me to get feedback on the writing. I was scared a lot, but it was very helpful.”
PhD student
Germany
“I liked a lot that it was well structured and that it was not so strict. I also liked the feedback and the peer review session. Finally, I liked the meditation session, which I think is very important to people who have to write a lot.”
PhD student
Greece
EMERGE Scholars holds 4.5 out of 5 from 13 reviews on Trustpilot, every one of them five stars.
Pricing
Two ways to join.
Retreat place
€176
Early bird until 6 August, then €211. This is the full price of the retreat.
A full hour of planning before anyone writes
Nine hours of protected writing across six blocks
Speed networking with academics in your field
The mindset and meditation session
Peer feedback while your writing is still warm
The retreat workbook, yours to keep
VIP upgrade
+€119
Added to the retreat place, so €295 in total at the early bird price.
After 6 August it is +€139, so €350 in total. Three places only
A thirty minute onboarding call with Melanie before the retreat, to check your plan is realistic.
Written or video feedback on three to five pages of your writing.
Ten percent off your next EMERGE retreat.
The option to join the curated space inside the EMERGE Scholars Collective, to keep momentum after the retreat ends.
The onboarding call is what VIP participants mention most. Arriving with a clear plan changes what two days can produce.
Thursday 13 and Friday 14 August 2026 · Online
The August Writing Retreat13–14 August · Early bird €176
ReserveWho this is for
Is this your retreat?
This is for you if
✓ You have a specific piece of academic writing and a deadline at the end of summer you do not want to miss, whether it is external or self-imposed
✓ You work in the social sciences or humanities
✓ You have noticed you write better when other people are writing too
This is probably not for you if
× You are looking for a course on how to write
× You want someone to edit your work
This is protected time, structure, and other academics writing alongside you. You bring the project.
“I love the retreat format, I think it's genius, and I wish I would have this every month.”
A postdoc in Italy
Your host
Dr Melanie Sindelar
For more than ten years I have worked with academics in the social sciences and humanities, helping them carry their projects across the finish line.
I have been running online and offline writing retreats for years, and it remains the single most effective format I know for helping academics get their writing done.
I run the EMERGE Scholars Collective and the Emerge Café, where over 300 academics write together. I have coached researchers through dissertation submissions, journal revisions, and book manuscripts. I built this retreat because the advice academics are given about writing does not match the conditions they actually work in.
10+
Years coaching academic writers
Chief Editor
Peer-reviewed academic journal
300+
Academics in the Emerge Café
Questions
Frequently asked
I have never done an online retreat. Does writing on a call actually work?
It works better than most people expect. You have told the group what you intend to finish, and you are working alongside people who are just as committed as you are. That combination makes it much easier to stay focused and keep moving.
It is already August. Is two days really enough to matter?
Look at what participants finished at the last retreat. Two days with structure around them produces more than most people manage in a month of fragmented attempts.
What if I cannot attend the whole time?
Come to what you can, though I would encourage you to protect both days properly. The planning session on day one shapes everything that follows, so try not to miss that.
What if my project is early stage and messy?
That is fine. Some people arrive drafting, others revising, others restructuring, and several have arrived simply needing clarity on what their book is actually about.
Do I need to share my writing?
Only in the peer feedback exchange, and only as much as you choose. This is a small group, and we agree on ethical guidelines together beforehand. You can share your screen with your partner and let them read it that way. You are only sharing a snippet, about as much as a person can read in twenty minutes. Everything else stays your own private work.
What if I am not in the social sciences or humanities?
You are welcome. The format works for any writing-heavy discipline. Most participants come from the social sciences and humanities, but the retreat is open to any scholar.
Is there a recording?
No. This is a live retreat, not a course. The value lies in the protected time, the shared room, and the fact that we talk openly about our writing with each other. It is not recorded on purpose. You have to be there.
The August Writing Retreat
The summer did not go the way you planned. That happens to most academics, most years.
You still have two weeks. Two days of concentrated work can change what you carry into the new semester.
Reserve my placeThursday 13 and Friday 14 August 2026 · Early bird €176 until 6 August.
