Some of the most stressful teams I've worked on were the ones that were most self-consciously attempting to be "psychologically safe." Talked about it a lot, created structures for feedback, did a lot of explicit self-reflection etc.
The teams where I really felt comfortable had leaders I trusted who set the tone with their actions and mostly talked about the work itself.
I don't think you can get "psychological safety" in teams by running workshops.
I am likely to have to throw out at least a third of what I write in the first draft and heavily edit the rest.
But the current draft is extremely exploratory. It started with a feeling, and an unnamed character talking in first person about a relationship with a second unnamed person. It took 2000 words or so to get into “scenes with specific characters.” I’m 45000 words in and I’m on my third basic idea of the plot, there are a couple of characters who have been there since the beginning but I’ve reshuffled their specifics several times.
#WritersCoffeeClub November 7: How detailed are your plans before you write?
Zero. Nothing. I have never really been able to come up with “an idea for a story” if I’m not actively writing.
I suspect this will change as I get more into projects— when I get stuck on the current one I sometimes find myself thinking about plans for another one.
“The underlying purpose of AI is to allow wealth to access skill while removing from the skilled the ability to access wealth.”
And I don’t think I’ve ever seen AI described so incisively.
Nice, he actually said it!
When Hakeem Jeffries apologists defend him refusing to allow a vote for M4A (something that makes me wonder if PAC money is at play), after James Talarico rode a blue wave in Texas on a message of passing M4A, they say Trump would just veto it.
Trump is in many ways a simple, easily manipulated person (see e.g. Putin, Netanyahu) and Abdul El-Sayed knows exactly how to do it: put his name on an ObamaCare replacement.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/trumpcare-for-all-vs-medicare-for-all
I’m really, really good at free writing — just generating words — and NaNoWriMo mostly turned into an exercise in that, didn’t really help me learn how to generate “real” material.
Right now my goal is 500 words a day but they have to all be Novel Words. And my total goal is 90,000 because I’m pretty sure I’m going to throw out more than half of what I write in this first draft, including entire characters and several attempts at plot.
#ScribesAndMakers 11/7. Are you participating in novel writing month? Did you ever participate in NaNoWriMo, and if so, is there anything you miss about it?
No, yes, not really.
I did it… three times, I think? And failed at least once more. First alone in high school in December, then in college with a club formed for NaNoWriMo.
I never really got a *novel* out of it, just a lot of words. Couldn’t tell you anything about any of them.
RE: https://mastodon.social/@GeePawHill/117573602221960966
Not a strict pacifist (should be, religiously-wise, but I know my temperament and I’m not) but I agree with this
Accountability, sure, but mostly because every ICE agent testifying in Congress is one who’s not out on the street hurting people
I’ve been somewhat delinquent in brushing him but I know it’s not entirely that because I’ve been delinquent in brushing both dogs and I’m not pulling silver dollar-sized clumps out of his uncle
The puppy is blowing his coat (a little on the early side but ~10 months is within the usual range for a Havanese) so we’re now pulling what feel like pounds of fluff out of him with the comb every night
I went to the gym and got home and then decided to cook (garlic Parmesan sardine pasta) instead of just putting canned fish on toast or something so I guess that tells you how my mental health is going lately (good)
Stephen Miller terrorized, kidnapped, and murdered my neighbors.
This is not some vague figurative sloganeering thing. I can take you on a walk from my house and point out the spots where they took people. I know multiple people who had relatives abducted by ICE, including citizens. My wife personally knew Alex Pretti, and found out he died when she saw his face on the news.
Stephen Miller. This was his brainchild. This was his fantasy. This is on his hands. Just so we’re clear.
Melting ceramics meet surrealism - from Livia Martin, a Chilean-born, London-based artist
"This body of work, called Nomad Patterns, represents a true inquiry into the issues of brokenness and recuperation... "
https://medium.com/feral-horses/discover-livia-marins-hypnotic-works-189d0703797e
One dog: my precious son
Two dogs: who let these little idiots into my house
Another picture from January 2023. This hummingbird (who I nicknamed "Englebird Hummerdunk") took over half the front garden for the season, defending it against other hummingbirds, bees, and even crows.
The other player I really feel this way about is Micah Parsons
He’s great fun when you’re catching him against teams you don’t care about and then as soon as a Josh Allen touchdown is a bad thing it’s like, oh god, this is literally the terminator, he is hunting me and my happiness
Not looking forward to deciding whether the Bills or the Vikings will be my primary pet cat team this year. (The Niners and Jags are also contenders but they haven’t played each other so I can still pretend I love all my children equally.)
The Vikings are largely more interesting and I live in Minneapolis so it’s more fun socially, more opportunities to watch with other Vikings fans—
But rooting against Josh Allen is a nightmare.