Project
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I set up some Kanban boards for managing my work tasks. As with the project boards, these views should translate over to my personal tasks with only some light adjustments. This week Iāll try to finish updating my various boards; revise my project schedule timeline to match my new, more fluid approach; and start moving my projects and tasks into their appropriate Kanban columns based on their current positions in my workflow.
Writing
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Stephen Kingās On Writing showed me Iām a bit of a pantser. As much as I like the idea of planning everything out, when King laid out his very unplanned way of writing, I recognized in it the way I workāstarting with a core idea that grabs me and working outward to see what it grows into as it follows its own hidden logic. The other aspect of the writing process I took from the book was the dynamics of revision: Write the first draft only for yourself, take a long break so you forget what you wrote, reread it, and then write the second draft for your readers, especially your Ideal Reader, a specific, real person who can give you feedback. King’s reading of the audiobook has personality, and the 20th anniversary edition I listened to had some nice bonus material, his son Owen reading his article āRecording Audiobooks for my Dad, Stephen Kingā and a fun excerpt from an event with Stephen King and his son Joe Hill.
Nature
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I found an unsettling patch of nettles. A lot of the woods around here have scattered poison ivy, but at one of the less frequent trails I walk, my nature app identified a great stinging nettle. On my walk there last week, I found out it wasnāt alone. It was accompanied by a large patch of them between the trail and the woods. I like to joke that Iāll pick some poison ivy for my salad, but even without my app to warn me, I tend not to touch things when Iām out in nature, because spicy plants like to look innocent. This trail is near both an elementary school and some healthcare facilities, so I hope thereās some precautionary nature education happening at those places.
There’s nothing wrong with being a pantser. It is taking a journey while writing. I might plan some things. But in a first draft, I often pants my way through.
A journey, I like it. Creating is more fun when you don’t know what’s going to happen next. š