by Tomasita Ortiz, PhD

June 2025

I was at a bodega at the soda bottle fridge. It had a self-pushing dispenser; when you pull out one bottle, the rest in line shimmy forward. The customer in front of me had pulled out one, changed their mind, and shoved that bottle back in, pushing the rest of those bottles back. They selected one bottle from another brand of drinks and one bottle from yet another lane. 

I realized that’s what I tended to do with my writing. How often did I start on a writing task and then dismiss it or push it back in order to tend to other, more pressing, duties?

As faculty, carving out time to write during the academic year can be a challenge.

Faculty workload and/or research schedules are demanding and must be balanced with teaching requirements. Collecting data for research studies; reading the literature; attending conferences; facilitating or participating in workshops; program management and assessment; weekly lesson planning; student consultations; addressing student issues; student mentorship; meetings; emails and emails (it’s crazy how long it can take to respond to just one!); grading…. There are more I did not name. And, there’s also family life and self-care. These bottles need to be grabbed with frequency during fall and spring semesters, making it more likely to postpone writing projects. 

So, while managing faculty responsibilities, how do we make the time to write as is our duty – our profession and our calling? We write – sounds that form memories or ideas – to effect change.  And now, as ever, we should use the power of words to raise empathy, to advance knowledge, and to challenge inequities. Make the time to write.

I proposed The Write Space, a virtual writing community for John Jay faculty to convene in an informal space and commit to writing for an hour and a half each week, without interruptions. Thankfully, Deputy Chair Tim McCormack and the then Chair Jean Mills of the Department of English supported the idea of collaborating with the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) in order to encourage faculty from across disciplines to join. Angela Crossman, Dean of Faculty, and Gina Rae Foster, Director of the TLC, saw the utility of the program and swiftly helped implement it. 

Gina and I collaborated on all aspects to pilot The Write Space and co-host the writing sessions. This past spring 2025 saw the launch of the program with 17 registrants from across departments, 11 of which remained as participants for the entire semester. (Those who couldn’t attend indicated that ultimately they had scheduling conflicts.) Together with Gina and me, we formed a virtual writing community of 13.

And we each set individual writing goals on scholarly and creative projects: journal articles, essay writing, grant or conference proposals, monograph or dissertation chapters, fiction writing, journaling, and more. Topics ranged from research on “the wheelchair as a magnet for bullying” and research on “culturally responsive teaching strategies in library instruction” to a short story set during the Cold War and daily journaling.

After briefly sharing objectives, we started writing with mics muted and cameras cut. A parallel write of sorts.

Even now, I feel that intense energy that radiates from my core out through my chest and arms and fingertips as I sit to write. Sometimes it’s a nervous energy, one that fills me with doubt, hesitation, and stills my fingers. Sometimes it’s lighter, brighter, an excitement that pumps me up to tickle the keyboard. Both are welcome when I sit to write because they are part of the process. And to be able to share this with others who are writing at the same time is exhilarating.

From the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, Associate Professor of Legal Translation and Interpreting Aída Martínez-Gómez stated that “writing can be very isolating, but being in this virtual writing community helped diminish that isolation and made me feel that I wasn’t alone.” In fact, the post-survey administered to participants revealed that 90% of respondents valued writing in community. 

Everyone’s mere presence inspired us toward our writing goals. At the end of each session, the opportunity to briefly share one’s experience – to share a struggle or success – is cathartic, just as writing itself. It is also a moment for faculty to reflect on their writing needs while getting emotional support from the team. And what a great spring ‘25 team it was, from the peppy applauders to the silent supporters. The quiet team members were as much a comfort as the more voluble ones, each becoming a necessary support.

“I was intimidated with the idea of joining a writing group in general,” expressed Jocelyn Castillo, Assistant Professor and Information Literacy Librarian, “but listening to others share their experiences with writing helped me reflect and not only see a support system, but also understand that writing is a process. I was able to strategize and to move forward in my writing journey while holding myself accountable.”

Jodie G. Roure, JD, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Latin American & Latinx Studies and Founding Director of the CUNY BMI Rising Scholars of Justice Program. Jodie stated, “The Write Space reminded me that writing does not have to happen alone. We need a place to cheer. We need a place to be cheered. In that space, I found clarity, compassion, and structured time.” Although the writing tasks (brainstorming, organizing, drafting, revising, reading for writing, online and library research) were still individual and within our own physical spaces, being part of this virtual space helped us commit and connect.

Toward the end of the semester, some faculty also provided motivational words on writing. Like our colleagues from the Department of Political Science: Associate Professor Jim Cauthen shared, “Just start writing, even if it is incoherent;” and Associate Professor Susan Kang wrote, “The best way to start writing is to make it an obligation in your calendar, same as a meeting or an appointment you can’t miss, make it ‘busy’ on your calendar, and treat it like a non-negotiable commitment.”

Ultimately, we made the commitment to “show up.” We created the space and the time to write.

What’s more, half of the faculty indicated they had scheduled an additional day to write or had dedicated additional hours later in the day to fulfill their writing commitments during the business week. One faculty member indicated going “from never writing to writing weekly.” As such, The Write Space helps establish healthy and productive writing habits.

And significant accomplishments were made with writing projects that were workshopped during the spring ‘25 sessions. Faculty revised and submitted book chapters by deadline; faculty proposed book chapters that were accepted; faculty revised journal articles from editorial comments; faculty wrote and submitted conference proposals that were accepted; faculty wrote pitch letters and submitted short stories for consideration; and faculty advanced research studies.

We grabbed the bottle and felt sated, our palates hooked.

So we’re looking forward to the fall 2025 sessions! The Write Space will increase to 2-hour sessions per week. We welcome John Jay faculty to join The Write Space and write in community. Look out for registration info in August.

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Dr. Tomasita Ortiz, Department of English, teaches first-year writing. She created and is co-host of JJC’s The Write Space.