Remember this when criticising work

Posted by William Gallagher

I am a bit full of the residential writing course I just taught but let me tell you something I learnt from it. I wanted to explain to people who have never written creatively, just what criticism and feedback was really for.

I’ve been a professional critic and I have been criticised myriad times but when you stop to explain something to someone, I think you get a better understanding of it. Which, ironically, is one of the things I was trying to say criticism is for.

But I surprised myself with what I now call reason number one. Criticism is there to encourage. That does sound like a Hallmark Card but I mean it because nobody ever did anything any good through stopping and giving up.

Next, there are really two pieces of work. If you’re writing a story, there is the one in your head and then there is one on paper. Criticism deals only and solely with the one on paper – but its aim is to get you bringing the one in your head more.

And I found a new writing exercise. I divided the group into pairs and got each person to read the other’s story and then tell them what it was about. That’s the reader and critic telling the writer what the writer’s own story is about. I need to run this a few more times to know whether it works but it feels right: the writer gets to hear whether he or she has conveyed what they were after. And, bonus, your critic really concentrates when their job starts with telling you your own story.

Just Say Yes

Posted by William Gallagher

A week ago, to the day, I was included on an email from a woman I work with was telling a few people about some work. A college was supposed to have a residential writing course but the tutor couldn’t do it. This colleague of mine had been asked but couldn’t make the dates.

Because the dates included today. It was Monday to Wednesday, this week, so that would mean physically being available, also preparing a three-day course and delivering it, all with four or five days notice.

You know I did it. I can’t try to build that particular suspense.

But I read the email on the run somewhere, I’m sure a couple of hours after it was sent, and then I read it properly many hours later. Sitting on our couch, wrecked from that day’s work and about to head off for more. There was no question in my mind that one of my other colleagues would’ve gone for it and, knowing how good they are, there was no question that they would’ve got it and be right now planning a terrific course.

There was plenty of question over whether I could do a terrific course.

I phoned up and left a message pitching anyway.

I have no idea why.

But tonight I am exhausted, my voice is gone and I’m actually rather elated. This group produced material that choked me. Seriously, when the students were presenting their work, one guy asked me to read it for him and I found it hard to keep a steady voice for the last lines. Isn’t that wonderful?

Nine people created new writing out of nothing and I got to watch them do it.

But it’s also really hot today in Birmingham and when I got into our car at the end of the afternoon sessions, the dashboard was telling me it was 38º Celsius in there. When I got home – forgive this – I had to strip, just strip out of my sweaty clothes, have a shower, lay out a towel on our couch and collapse.

I collapsed into the same seat I’d been in when I was havering over whether to even try calling for this. I am now five days behind on all my other work – the course was three days but with meetings and planning I easily lost another two – but I am so very glad and relieved that I picked up that phone to ring these strangers.

If there is an opportunity, just say yes. Okay?

Even boring jobs can make a difference to people

Posted by William Gallagher

I have a problem with this headline because I think all the work in this video is deeply interesting. But the designer in it insists he learnt the lesson that even work that seems dull may reach out and change peoples’ lives. I don’t need convincing.

Instead of just going through the motions on your next project [says 99U], look for the hidden opportunities you already have. On The Creative Influence, graphic designer Michael Bierut challenges us to look for opportunities in even the most dull assignments. He speaks about his mentor, designer Massimo Vignelli, when he was asked to sort through the chaos of the New York subway signage during the 1960s.

Michael Bierut: Make the Best of What You’ve Got – Stephanie Kaptein, 99U (22 July 2014)

Splitting hairs about time management but maybe usefully

Posted by William Gallagher

…There are lots of misconceptions about what time management really comes down to and how to achieve it. Let’s look at some of the most common suggestions and assess whether they’re actually true.

It’s about managing your time. False.

Time management is a misnomer, says Jordan Cohen, a productivity expert and author of “Make Time for the Work That Matters.” He says that it’s really about productivity: “We have to get away from labeling it ‘time management’. It’s not about time per se but about how productive you can be.” He likens it to the difference between dieting and being healthy. “You can diet all you want,” he says, “but you won’t necessarily be healthier.” In the same way, you can pay close attention to how you spend your time, manage your email, etc., but you won’t necessarily be more productive.

4 Things You Thought Were True About Time Management – Amy Gallo, Harvard Business Review (22 July 2014)

O-kay. I shrugged at first but have been thinking about it, it’s fair enough. Read the full piece on Harvard Business Review for more suggestions.

Gizmodo on the apps we thought were cool

Posted by William Gallagher

Oh, the shame. Today I use apps like OmniFocus and Evernote to get serious work done. Back when all this started in 2008, our tastes were less sophisticated. And I thought I was above all that as I read through Gizmodo’s mocking list of ex-cool apps like the iBeer and the pocket lightsabre.

And then I saw the last one on their list. I used that. I liked that. I am shamed.

It’s Bubble wrap:

Just like its real-life counterpart, Bubble Wrap was a delight to those doing the popping and soul-crushingly obnoxious to everyone else. And yet—always satisfying.

The 9 Most Popular Apps No One Uses Anymore – Ashley Feinberg, Gizmodo (21 July 2014)

Please read the full list and share in my shame.

At last – Facebook adds Read It Later feature

Posted by William Gallagher

Or it will. Currently this is rolling out across Facebook’s eleventy-billion users and I haven’t got it yet. When it comes, it will definitely let you mark an interesting update and save it to read sometime later. It’s going to be for those updates you don’t have time to read right now but you’re doubtlessly also going to use it for bookmarking favourite updates.

What I’m hoping for – and can’t tell until we get to play with it – is this will finally be a way to deal easily with bleedin’ invitations. You’ve had this: pop, someone’s invited you to something. Unless you decide right then that you want to go and also that you can, invitations are a pain. I have ignored invitations just to postpone having to make that decision. I’ve come off Facebook to postpone either making that decision or losing track of the event.

There is a way to handle this and I’ve shown you before. But with the best will in the world, what I showed you was a cludge.

If Facebook’s new feature will just let me tap a Save for Later button, that could all be solved. Except that I’d need to remember to look at my saved items regularly.

Here’s Facebook’s announcement.

Echo Lockscreen for Android

Posted by William Gallagher

This looks rather good to me – but it’s for Android and I don’t know from Android. I like the idea of something handling all the notifications our phones bring us every day, though.

Take a look at Echo Lockscreen on the Google Play store here.

Don’t do things too early

Posted by William Gallagher

The website Fast Company calls someone who does things too soon to be a ‘precrastinator’ –

A precrastinator – one who completes tasks in advance – may think they’re beating procrastinators at their own game but that’s not true

‘Precrastinating’ and Why It’s Just as Bad as Procrastinating – Lisa Evans, Fast Company (14 July 2014)

Go on.

Professor David Rosenbaum and graduate student Cory Adam Potts conducted an experiment in which participants were given the choice of carrying one of two heavy buckets full of pennies down an alleyway. One bucket was placed near participants at the start line, while the other bucket was placed closer to the finish line.

Surprising the researchers, the majority of participants picked up the bucket that was closest to them, even though it meant they had to carry it farther and expend more physical effort. When the participants were asked why they’d chosen that bucket, the majority replied they wanted to get the task done as quickly as possible. The desire to lighten their mental load was stronger than their determination to reduce their physical effort.

I’m not convinced that’s precrastination, I think there’s got to be an element of spatial awareness there, but there is one persuasive point in the full article. There’s the suggestion that procrastinators can do better because they simply have longer to think about things.

EverDock (briefly) on sale

Posted by William Gallagher

Why are these things only ever briefly on sale? So that we rush to get them while we can. And that’s fair enough this time: EverDock is a fine piece of work and the only reason I’m not rushing is that I already did.

EverDock is just a place to pop up your iPhone, iPad, Android phone, tablet, any of that while it charges. But it’s the one dock. Whatever you’ve got, whatever you change to, the same dock works for it all. And it’s a chunk of metal, heavy and solid, that sticks very nicely to tables.

It was originally a Kickstarter campaign and I backed it with a pre-order for two double docks. Both of which are doing fine service all these months later.

Cult of Mac currently has a deal on where you can get a single dock for $39 plus postage. Do it. Even though it means you’re signed up for life to Cult of Macs torrent of deals. Go through this link to make sure you get their deal price.

And watch what sold me on the whole thing: here’s the video that the makers Fuz Designs did for Kickstarter: