Writing (and getting tipsy) with Joe
I took part in a writing workshop with Joe from ‘Working with Joe’ this week to help us at CAST gain more confidence in writing at work. It was good fun, useful and practical. My kind of workshop. I even produced some Weeknotes during the workshop (bonus!).
I’m also posting some of my key takeaways here in case it’s also helpful for others. That’s 2 posts in a week — I’m worried Joe has awoken the repressed-Murakami in me!
We’re all ‘good enough’ writers
We explored some of the barriers to writing including vulnerabilities towards sharing, lacking confidence, imposter syndrome, English not being our first language (for some of us), not seeming smart/intelligent enough when putting stuff out there to a range of audiences (is ‘opperchancity’ even a word?!).
After some discussion, we gathered that we all write for work every day, a lot of the time, and it’s not all bad. So we’re actually all ‘good enough’ writers. And that’s a good enough starting point to help us deal with some of our doubts.
Get drunk while writing
Fear not, we didn’t all get drunk during the workshop (sadly). But we agreed it was good to be a bit ‘drunk’ when writing…as long as you did some editing the next morning! I wrote my best travel blog on a single-carriage train stuck in the Gobi desert with local alcohol (vodka?) as my main companion, so this really resonated.
Joking aside, getting in the ‘zone’, feeling a bit ‘giddy’, finding that little ritual that gets us in a more creative space is important. It makes sense to find that little ingredient or sparkle that helps get the creative juices flowing before writing, right?
Ideally, they form part of the regular writing ritual and process. For me, it’s headphones and a good playlist, usually in a cafe or late at night. These moments are quite rare in my work life which probably also explains my low writing output.
Write an outline
Do a bit of planning. It seems obvious but I’m more used to dumping words on a blank page with no framing and then wonder why it’s still stuck in a g-doc two months later.
Writing a simple outline — title / sub-titles / a bit of description — makes the process easier. Joe made a really good point that you can then jump from one section to another, thereby avoiding that annoying writer’s block. I tried this and it actually worked.
Here’s my example from the 5-min ‘write an outline’ workshop exercise:
- Wins
Back from week off — no fire, no storm (yet). Things seem ok. Lots of delivery ongoing. Time to focus on other things. That’s good. - Learnt
Digital strategy — key need on DDC. Reflection: How might a digital strategy be helpful in our work? - Challenges
L&E evalutation process — how to best embed the learning journeys of digital leads through existing interaction points on a programme
MS Teams / Sharepoint
Dive in — but timebox it!
Outline drafted. Headphones on. (Vodka in hand.) You’ve been told you’re a ‘good enough’ writer by Joe. What’s next?
Just dive in. Go and have some fun with it. But be quick — YOU ONLY HAVE 15MINS TO COMPLETE THE TASK!
And that’s the key. Have fun, but focus. Don’t go getting all nostalgic reading your old WordPress travel blog or cat videos for inspiration. You’ve got the headphones/vodka for that. Focus on the outline. And just let go and write. Remember, you’re a ‘good enough’ writer!
And voila. To my slight surprise, it worked for me — here are some ‘good enough’ weeknotes from the workshop. Good enough for now, safe enough to try.
Thanks Joe!
Remember to join Joe at our weekly DDC Open Working drop-ins — a chance to test out if this approach works for you and share some good stuff.
Who’s in? BYO ;)
