The Weekly Wrap: January 8, 2023

I spent the second half of my work week drafting my chapter for the upcoming book Person-Centered Management. I threw a proposal out on a whim and was shocked to find that it was accepted. My topic - asking five specific questions regularly of your employees - is nothing groundbreaking. The chapter is more reflective and less theoretical or research-based. That's why I found it hard to write.

The outline I developed and received feedback on was extensive. Normally, this makes things easier to write. I simply extend my outline's bullet points into complete sentences with examples scattered throughout. That was not the case here. I found myself stuck in a quagmire of tone and word choice. Was I being to personal or not personal enough? Did I need a specific example or would generalizations do? Was my writing too vague? Did I repeat my points too much?

I also second-guessed the entire premise of the chapter. (That was just imposter syndrome rearing it's ugly head.) Finally, I decided to write what felt good in the moment. That's what ultimately led me to "complete" my draft. It's 500 hundred words over the max limit, but it's done.

I'm going to let this brain dump of writing sit for a few days before I start slicing and dicing in editing. I relish a good red pen session to make writing better. (I expect a lot of red penning with this one.)

The editorial process for the book is extensive. The first draft is due Friday, there is an optional peer-review I signed up for, there is a second draft, and then there is the final draft. I'm going to be wrestling with this 3,000 - well, 3,500 at the moment - words for awhile.

How do you write?

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• Should we stop using these words and phrases? [NPR]
• The new year is a great time to check that your smoke detectors are working. [Apartment Therapy]
• The power of everyday awe. [The Atlantic - may be paywalled]
• *clears throat* It's nurture not nature. [@impact]
• Planner journals are for dreaming big. [NPR]
• We need public daycare. [The Atlantic - may be paywalled]
• C-SPAN was must watch TV this week. [WaPo - gift link]
• The reason why you let your pipes drip in the winter. [Lifehacker]
• The problem of writing in college is not AI, it's that higher education has become too transactional. [The Chronicle of Higher Education - may be paywalled]

• If you have a resolution to organize, this episode is for you. [Life Kit]
• More of this building reuse please. [Atlas Obscura]
• How much of the planet are humans entitled to? [The Daily]

• After two months off, we jumped back in to watching Dawson's Creek. We've got one season left. What I've learned about this show is that most episodes are just fine - there's nothing special or plot driving. But interjected are the occasional very good episode where many things happen and the plot finally progresses.  [HBO Max]

• Since Monday was a holiday, I made a dish that takes longer than your typical weeknight meal. Spinach and feta turkey meatballs are not hard to make, but forming meatballs is not something I want to do on a work day. This time, I baked the meatballs on a sheet pan. They didn't get the crust you get from pan searing, but it was much easier. We served this one with egg noodles and roasted zucchini. [Budget Bytes]
• I made mu shu chicken this week. According to my personal tags in Evernote, I've made this recipe before, but I had zero memory of it. The kiddo helped prep this time. She beat the eggs and mixed the sauce. The dish was good, but we needed to add some extra hoisin drizzle to really oomph the overall flavor. [Weelicious]