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∵ leothelion ∴ 2025-04-05 ∞ 5'
This is a short reflection on my experience of the recent writing challenge I took part in.
Over the past two weeks, I have participated in the #RxWritingChallenge 1—a daily, 30-minute writing group starting at 9 AM every morning. Surrounded by fellow doctoral students and staff in the Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences faculty (PPSEd specifically), we wrote daily with Kim (the organising academic)'s smooth jazz. This looks like a modest commitment on paper, but you see, I found that it meaningfully reshaped not only my writing practice but also my sense of self, motivation and connection to my broader doctoral journey which nears its end.
From the perspective of Bourdieu's Theory of Practice, I saw these sessions as a distinct field 2—a structured, socially embedded space in which we operated under particular rules, norms and expectations. In much of doctoral education (and in academia), writing is perceived as deeply reflective, but isolating. By contrast, the “field” of our Rx Writing Challenge established a collective norm of short, focused bursts of early-morning effort. This shifted my typical pattern of working late and waking later. In Bourdieu's terms, I began realigning my habitus—the ingrained dispositions, attitudes, and practices that I bring to my daily life and practice 3—to a fresh doxa: to write first thing in the morning. To me, whose writing regimen has always been throughout the day and sporadic, I first found this early slot unconventional. Soon, though, I realised I was starting to internalise the new rules of the field, and eventually came to accept that writing could indeed be triggered simply by opening a laptop and start typing away—rather than waiting for some elusive wave of inspiration, or surge of guilt.
This positive transition would not have been possible without the interpersonal aspect. Social capital 4 was created and strengthened with each session as I recognised familiar faces (and occasionally new ones), all sharing the common goal—to push our writing forward. Though our words remained our own, the group's presence and the light-hearted banter before and after each session built a sense of relatedness—reminding me that PHD need not be so lonely. With every exchange grew trust, curiosity and solidarity. This would point to—in Bourdieu's terms—the accumulation of social capital that fosters mutual support and normalises the “game” of writing within this Rx Writing micro-community.
My involvement also revealed how illusio operates in a practical sense. In Bourdieu's Theory of Practice, illusio refers to the belief that a particular endeavour is worth pursuing—that its ‘rules’ matter 23. Before these challenges, my writing habits were erratic, often shaped by the demands of teaching or the fatigue of late-night brainstorming. Embracing the (almost) daily challenge meant that I “bought into” its logic—that mere 30-minute spring could somehow, and magically so, heighten my productivity and reduce writing anxiety. Rather than fighting my own rhythms, I just wrote. Remarkably so—and much to my own surprise—the intense focus yielded a sense of competence and genuine progress on my thesis each session.
This process also highlights elements of cultural capital 4. Though we typically think of cultural capital through tacit knowledge of soe cultural ‘know-how’, the practice of turning up on time, coffee in hand, saying hello to everyone, and slipping into “heads-down” mode formed part of a culture of communal writing. To me, it was subtle, but a powerful code. After a week of this, I realised that I could, in Bourdieu's words, reshape my habitus 3 even further—fully developing into a physical and mental routine that made “just writing” feel natural. This subsequently enhanced my sense of academic identity as I felt more like a regular, active participant in a scholarly activity that was communal—not solitary.
Sadly, the official two-week challenge has ended, and I sense a strong desire for these session to continue. Not only did I acquire a practice that directly benefitted me, but the sense of empowerment was also something I didn't know I needed until I experienced it. Belonging to a field is never just a matter of ticking boxes—it's about gaining recognition of one's position, adopting the field's doxa and illusio, and layering new forms of capital onto one's existing habitus 23. The blend (pun intended) of early-morning coffee, smooth jazz or Brian Eno, and shared accountability brought unexpected clarity and productivity in times of need—my thesis-writing phase. This was all in the meanwhile reinforcing the idea that being in the thesis-writing phase doesn't have to mean I must write alone or bear it on my own. I hope to carry these new changes forward, as I hope the writing challenges continue in the months to come.
M. Ryan, “The #RxWritingChallenge: A way to boost productivity and camaraderie and overcome writing barriers: A programme description and quality improvement survey,” Pharmacy Education, vol. 22, no. 4, Art. no. 4, Oct. 2022, doi: 10.46542/pe.2022.224.9599.
P. Bourdieu, “Outline of a Theory of Practice,” Cambridge University Press, 1977, doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511812507.
P. Bourdieu, “The Logic of Practice,” Stanford University Press, 1990, isbn: 978-1-5036-2174-9.
P. Bourdieu, “Practical Reason: On the Theory of Action,” Stanford University Press, 1998, isbn: 978-0-8047-3363-2.