Weeknote: 41/2023
“The stupidest possible creative act is still a creative act. On the spectrum of creative work, the difference between the mediocre and the good is vast. Mediocrity is, however, still on the spectrum; you can move from mediocre to good in increments. The real gap is between doing nothing and doing something.”
- Clay Shirky, Cognitive Surplus
Verbs
Reading: Autin Kleon’s Show Your Work
Coming at just the right time for me, Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work has been encouraging me to keep putting things out there into the world. The book is both a permission slip for sharing processes, ideas, inspirations, and final products but also has some really solid advice for how to think about what/how/where/when you share. My copy is now liberally highlighted and I’m going to revisit it again in a week or two to remind myself of all the great advice.
Watching: Ghosts Series 5 on the BBC
This has been such a brilliant TV series and the end is, very sadly, drawing nigh. It’s such a rare thing for a TV show to manage to be incredibly funny, very touching, and incredibly accessible. The performances, the writing, and the comedy are all at an absolute peak and we will sorely miss our time at Button House. If you have yet to watch any of Ghosts then you’ve a colossal treat waiting for you.
Obsessing: Notesbooks and pictures of notebooks
I’ve long been obsessed with notebooks, pens, pencils, and stationery. I think I’m just about past the point where the obsession with the objects outweighed the using of them for any practical purposes. I still love looking at photos of people’s notebooks, though. Seeing the chaotic, creative, and deeply personal sorts of objects that notebooks can become is a lovely window into who the owner might be, but there’s also a joy in seeing some physical expression of the inner creative life.
Listening: Zutomayo
Bouncy, bright, punchy J-Pop is from the secretive Japanese band Zutomayo. This came up through the Apple Music algorithm and I’ve enjoyed whacking it on when I need some energising or something to dance-cook to whilst in the kitchen. I’ve no idea what any of the lyrics mean, hopefully, they’re not about something awful.
Trying: Matter app
Like lots of people, I amass huge numbers of bits and pieces for reading later. I’ve been using Pocket for years and years to manage all of this but I heard about Matter from the Verge’s Installer newsletter and am now giving it a try. The basic app looks great and handles everything really well. There’s a pro-subscription I’ve not gone in for yet, but I am tempted by its handling of email newsletters and the way in which it can apparently produce podcast transcriptions.
Words
We’re hanging on to some brilliant weather, still, here in Novi Sad - with most days bright and sunny and temperatures in the mid-20s. It’s been a pretty glorious autumn so far though I think cold weather and darker days are hoving into view. We’ve been making the most of the last great weather whilst we can, and I’ve been out walking the city and we might even manage a final BBQ this weekend if everything goes to plan.
This week has been heavily focused on getting a workable version of the workshop and course offerings that SWUX will be putting out. The courses and workshops are now live on the courses page and have also all been ported across to the European School Education Portal which serves as a sort of course catalogue for all the different organisations who are putting out courses. I’m sticking to the principle that perfect is the enemy of done by getting the courses up and then out into the world and then next week I’ll be going back through everything letter by letter to refine and improve all of the copy.
This week I’ve also been prepping for some upcoming work events. I’ll be running 5 one-day workshops for teachers based in Romania. The workshops will cover change agency, design thinking, and cross-disciplinary teaching and are follow-ons from workshops they all attended in person some time ago. It will be great getting back into the facilitation space with people after some time out of workshop facilitation and I’m looking forward to working in such a focused way with each group.
We wrapped up our mini-campaign for D&D this week. This was a little spin-off campaign taking place over the summer whilst one of our regular players wasn’t available. We brought in some new players and had a great time running a casino job and a bank heist that all came together in a fraught, intense, and high-stakes final session. We had people turning into clouds, a troll being obliterated by a column of divine fire, and some of the most brutal combat I’ve seen in a long time. The crew came through in the end, though, and the mission was a success with the much sought-after McGuffin heading off on a skyship to its mysterious buyer.