Reporter | O’Connor Daniel
Inside Be Kind Coffee on Washington Avenue, Baylor graduate students leaned over computers and scribbled notes beneath Halloween decorations. The scent of pumpkin spice lattes mingled with chatter and the soft tapping of keyboards. Halloween-themed bagels added to the fall mood as garlands and twinkling lights wrapped the space in a comforting and focused writing environment.
This wasn’t just a festive coffee shop study session — it was Just Write Night, a monthly event hosted by Baylor’s Division of Graduate Writing in the Center for Writing Excellence. Held four times each semester, the event is designed to help graduate students carve out focused writing time alongside their peers. The first 20 attendees received a free drink and no RSVP was required.
Annie Roufs, a second-year English Ph.D. student from New Ulm, Minn., and graduate assistant director of the Division of Graduate Writing, said the structured block of time is something many students, herself included, find valuable.
“A lot of grad students are pulled in different directions,” Roufs said. “Having a set time and a physical space where you can just dial in on one specific project helps you build momentum. The longer you can sit down with the work, the more you get into it.”
Throughout the evening, students set timers, swapped book recommendations and outlined chapters as they prepped for upcoming deadlines. Some compared their favorite authors. Others debated which literary characters they’d be if they lived inside their research.
Colorado Springs, Colo., doctoral student Will Franks, a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the history department, said the night provided a much-needed moment of connection amid his preparation for comprehensive exams — a rigorous process that involves reading more than 300 books across three academic fields.
“It’s nice to be able to meet people who are not in history,” Franks said. “They have their own kind of projects, and it’s a good way of keeping on task, especially late in the day. There’s a little bit of accountability.”
For many students, the event served as more than just a productive evening — it was a small reminder they’re not alone.
“Writing is a somewhat solitary activity; you have to sit down and write,” Franks said. “But groups like this allow you to have that interaction. It makes it a lot less lonely.”
His advice for managing the stress of long academic writing projects? Start small.
“I think the old saying about ‘How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time,'” Franks said. “You break tasks into discrete, achievable goals. Introductions, conclusions, claims, sources. Each of those things can be broken down into a smaller task, and once you do that, it doesn’t seem so insurmountable.”
As the evening wore on, the candles flickered overhead and students continued working — one paragraph, one cup of coffee at a time.
