I’m sort of envious of people that have a drive to write. Me, don’t like it much. It’s not the ideas so much- I love to talk- it’s the organization and typing and making sure all my sources are documented and the horrible process of trying to eliminate spelling errors (which I never entirely succeed at.) Over the last few weeks I have been reading a lot, and writing little. Well, that’s not entirely true. I’ve started dozens of blog posts that just have not gone anywhere. It’s that organization thing. I also have doubts about my writing ability- I think “why would anyone want to hear ME weigh in on this?” Self doubt is an annoying thing.
A week from today, I start classes again. I’m a little nervous, but I’m also looking forward to being busy again. This may come as a surprise to those that have to put up with hearing me complain about being busy, but the truth is, I function better when busy. The hard part, when I transition out of school, is going to be to assign myself things rather than having them assigned to me. My own assignments just don’t carry the weight in my mind as those that are a part of school- I’m not sure what I need to do to change this.
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| Game day in Lincoln, Nebraska- everyone comes downtown and wears red. |
A bit ago I contacted other students that are part of the localized distance program I am in, asking them to take a survey to see who might want to take part in local social meetings. So far, 16 out of 18 people that have responded to the survey said they would like some kind of meeting. I’m not sure what to do from here- a few people said they would help out, so I’m looking forward to their input as the process continues. One of the skills I really hope to cultivate is the ability to coordinate others to help on a project- to harness energy to get something done. This is elusive to me- I’ve experienced this at work, in school, and in other projects. Lots of people would like to be involved in lots of stuff, but harnessing that energy proves to be really, really difficult.
I am fascinated by open source projects- small and large- by the way they rally people behind the cause and inspire people to work on the project. Not ALL the work will make it into the final project, but the person can still feel proud of their accomplishment because they’re a part of the project. How can I build on that? How can I create that excitement? How can instill ownership in a project?
These are questions to which I don’t have answers. I’ll keep trying to figure it out, though.
(Writing photo “saturated writing” by tnarik)
“My own assignments just don’t carry the weight in my mind as those that are a part of school- I’m not sure what I need to do to change this.”
Amen to that!
And, Karin, you write as well as any of us out here (and better than many). Please don’t doubt your ability to write. Can’t speak for anyone else, but I LIKE reading the things you have to say and reading a valuable viewpoint that I might not have considered.
Now, this is no argument to do it if, in fact, you really don’t like to. Just don’t doubt your ability to do so.
And as for that whole documenting thing–in the blog anyway–I hate it. I do it fairly poorly and my main guess as to why is because it is such a damn pain to do so. It takes more time to toss a couple links in and make sure you have good title labels in, etc. than it does to formulate a decent argument.
And although I rarely think of my blog writing as toss off stuff–particularly the stuff that requires this kind of “documentation”–it still seems easier to justify skipping one or two pieces of supporting documentation that you should have. Perhaps this is because in a school paper or journal article you know you have to have them. I don’t know.
For me it’s typing errors since I type so incompetently.
Dang, Karin, that was me. Forgot to fill in the little boxes and it rook anyway.
Told you I can’t type. ;)
Ha, I actually guessed that was you before I saw the 2nd comment.
Speaking of bad typing, my secret shame is I STILL can’t type without looking at the keys. I’ve tried and tried, I just don’t think it’s gonna happen…
Karin,
Keep writing, there are those of us that do like reading your thoughts. And we’d be sad if you didn’t share anymore.
Gene