'Writing my first academic article feels like dancing around naked': research development for higher education lecturers working in further education colleges

Growing emphasis on research output has spawned initiatives to enhance writing practices, often targeted at groups less familiar with academic research practices. This paper discusses a collaborative writing group project for higher education lecturers working in further education colleges. Participants had previously undertaken funded pedagogic research projects. The authors analyse participants' writing during the initiative and data to review the design, operation and impact of the writing group. They discuss challenging preconceptions and normalising the practice of writing, consider how academic developers can support lecturers' writing practices and identify recommendations to promote the longer term impact of such work.