21st September 2023
WRITESPACE STUDIO 21st September 2023
Please introduce yourself by telling us where you live (country, city/state/region) and what kind of writing you do.
Ally: Hi! I’m Ally, I’m in Chicago USA, I do academic writing but trying to write for a general audience too!
Ann: Ann in Boston Designer writing is semi academic sense
Phil: Im Phil, from Auckland NZ, and I mainly technical/academic writing about plant (phyto) medicines
Pam: Hi, I’m Pam, in central Victoria (Australia) on Jaara country. I do research writing on community resilience-building, and carer/caring.
Libby: Libby Gruner, Richmond VA; I usually do academic writing but right now am working on a creative nonfiction piece about my grandmother
Sarah: Hello! I’m Sarah from the Hudson Valley of New York, USA and I am a historian, two academic articles in progress!
Gokul: I am Gokul. I am from India. I do academic and legal writing.
Bring our voices into the room: Say something dramatic!
Creative warm-up: Talk to the chair! Imagine someone is sitting in front of you in an empty chair, it could be a peer reviewer, your boss, your student, your family member, etc. Try to resolve a problem between you two through spoken dialogue. This experiment can also be done in pairs. Imagine your partner is someone else (they don’t need to respond). See what comes flowing out as you express yourself freely to that person…
Pam: Is it the difference between talking about drama, and being the drama?
Phil: I talked to my son, and tried to entice him to actually walk to school today, instead of me taking him in a car, as usual!
Libby: I talked to my grandmother, and I asked her permission to keep writing about her even though at times it feels invasive
Ally: I talked to the Provost of my university. It was interesting to feel the passion about the topic rise up.
Pam:I spoke to one of my past research participants, who I’d like to hear from further.
Sarah: I talked to W.J. Pilkington, a dry goods editor in Des Moines, Iowa in the early 20C. I have a lot of questions for him!
Maggie: I talked to someone who unsubscribed from my blog post. I need to develop thicker “public” skin. I had pretty good academic thick skin from so many journal article reviews. But this is new.
Ann: I talked to the girl I mentioned earlier who was stuck in the mud, I apologized for the adults’ responsibility for the mess. I learned from Maggie as she also apologized to a subscriber and invited them back
Diana: I talked to Pam about the audience for a report that I’ve just finished
Helen: Phil personified the writer out there whom I’m trying to persuade to spend money on my courses and programs. I realised that I’m secretly quite angry at the freeloaders, which makes it hard for me to be generous and chipper all the time!
Pre-pomodoro: What do you plan to work on?
Ally: I’m working on integrating old writing into a new structure.
Ann: write a paragraph about people I talked to on a recent walk
Maggie: I need to write a new blog post. 😆
Sarah: I need to write about all the primaries I’ve found this week!
Pam: I’m working on a small section of a book related to my PhD research topic.
Diana: Getting started on a rewrite of a rewrite for an invited revision on an academic article
Gokul: I plan to work on a paper on antitrust law and policy.
Libby: Week 3 of working on this symposium talk—which is scheduled for this Friday! Specifically, working out which bits & pieces actually go together of all the bits & pieces I have.
Post-pomodoro: What is one thing that you achieved?
Ally: Got words on the page. That’s something!
Pam: I got a couple of paragraphs written. It went very fast!
Maggie: I was able to structure my blog post and write the intro.
Diana: I think I have the opening paragraphs’ contents
Phil: further work on a monograph for a native plant here
Libby: I moved things around and I think I may have a workable draft
Ann: I barely managed to get words out, no crafting of flow or words
Sarah: The thing I love best about pomodoro is how I am able to just cut to the proverbial chase, and say what I have been skirting/avoiding/unsure of/etc.. I ❤️ that!
09:01:01 From Helen Sword to Everyone:
Vanessa: Oh no! I was here an hour ago but no one else seemed to be..? So I thought I got it wrong by an hour
Helen: Sorry about that, Vanessa! We started one or two minutes late
Vanessa: Ahh… since I am always late, I figured it can’t be that I’m the first on the scene 😄No worries, I’ll get it right next time!
Libby: write/talk to the images!
phil: Looks great Libby. Talk to it from the heart/personal relationship with your grandmother, and don't necessarily stick to the script - an inspiring story!
WINDOWS: Please tell us one thing that you noticed, thought about, or learned
Ally: Even when you think you don’t need help you do!
Sarah: Maggie’s childhood anecdotes!
Ann: present tense for embodied and Sears catalogs are heavey
phil: that getting feedback from other writers as I go (with a longer term project), is very helpful
Gokul: Ally’s persuasion skills were amazing. Libby’s recommendations. And Phil’s forthrightness.
Maggie: I learned about new tools and writing strategies. Thank you!
Vanessa: I learned that it’s worth staying up late for this group 🙂
Diana: Definitely!
One-word poem:
Pink chair: catalogue filing antitrust segue magic stuck persuasion clock sheep growling