2nd November 2022

WRITESPACE STUDIO 2ND NOVEMBER 2022

Please introduce yourself by telling us where you live (country, city/state/region) and what kind of writing you do.

Lynne: I'm Lynne, a linguist in Brighton, England, who writes about language for both academic and non-academic audiences.

Anita: Anita from Cape Town, academic writing on issues around how to help engineering mathematics students thrive.

Amy: I’m Amy, from New Zealand and currently living in Edinburgh to study a master’s in the history of art.

Things we discussed:

—Are there secrets for productivity?
How can we strive for productivity when it sometimes feels that we are all just fumbling blindly? Merely shuffling along but not excelling in the work in personally meaningful ways. First of all, stop yourself in your tracks and give yourself some more credit. Secondly, fumbling forward is still progress! The consequences of a bad decision are rarely worse than those of indecision. Thirdly, know yourself. You know yourself and your body best. You must tap into your natural working rhythms to stride into a productive working mode. Are you an early bird or a night owl? Would carving out some extra time in the morning be helpful for you? There are ways to find the time if you need a little more persuasion, perhaps buy an early commuter’s train pass--you will head to the office before 9 am to get the discount. Find the little strategies that work for you and your body clock.

—Why is it so easy to overcommit?
Often it’s difficult to say ‘no!’, but then suddenly you’re juggling projects like a circus performer. Or, you may be spread so thin you don’t feel you have been able to make a valuable commitment or contribution to any of the projects. When someone asks you to be involved in a project that’s happening in a few months, it’s easy to say yes. But ask yourself, ‘would I say yes if I needed to do it next week?’ If the answer is a resounding no, then don’t take it on. This question may be a good test to evaluate your current commitments too.

—Is a handwritten journal better than an app for scheduling your time?
Lynne uses an indexing system in her handwritten journals to map her everyday notes into four distinct work areas. Indexes can be a great way to stay on track and make it easy for you to recall an exact meeting. Leaving a little bit of white space after each entry also allows you to return to that spot to add new thoughts later. Just wrote a few words? Index them anyway so you can return and expand on them later. Additionally, recording the exact minutes of the meeting is never a helpful strategy--a few keywords convey more impact and insight than the complete play-by-play of a conversation.

There are lots of ways to record the minutes of a meeting these days. In fact, there are even apps now that can transcribe voices in a room in real-time. But can you really trust the accuracy of these tools? Is a flood of wordage even useful to you? Chances are that you aren’t going to go back and read every word. Synthesis and insightful word choice are key for making productive notes.

That said, apps can also be a great tool to stop forgetfulness and stay productive. You can schedule anything from meetings and writing time to when to change your sheets and call your dad. Omnifocus and Things are a couple of goodies that you can lean on for reminders when life is hectic and your schedule is bogging you down.

Snippets from Adam Zagajewski’s poem about the desire for productive writing and finding flow:

Transformation
I haven’t written a single poem
in months.
I’ve lived humbly, reading the paper,
pondering the riddle of power
and the reasons for obedience.
…
 I’ve taken long walks,
craving one thing only:
lightning,
transformation,
you.

*Amy hosted this session as Helen was unwell.