I love writing. It means everything to me. It’s excruciating. It kills me. I couldn’t do without it.
Not just big, epic, heartfelt things make me feel this way. It happens every time I try to string a sentence together.
Reports, articles, academic essays.
Emails to business contacts (How much warmth to offer without wasting their time? How short to make paragraphs so the points are kept clear? How to sign off?).
I’m still thinking too hard about a twelve-word message I once wrote on LinkedIn in response to a moderately enticing offer of work. Too casual? Too brusque?
The other week I got a piece published in The Conversation, a website which helps academics and researchers get their work out to a wider audience. The article was about using public libraries to help communities think about the future, using a method called scenario planning.
The article has been well received and widely shared among library professionals. It only got a minor tweak from the editor before it was published, but the final draft took a fair bit of work and I needed help to get there. So I thought I’d share the process with you here on the blog.
matt finch / mechanical dolphin 