Wednesday morning was given over to The Pomodoro Technique – 25 minutes intense working followed by a 5 minute break. The timer was placed on the big screen to fully intimidate the participants, but the general consensus was that it was a valuable technique with many benefits. The afternoon was then devoted to free writing, with participants taking themselves off into the 4 rooms and apparently slipping into a intense work mode straight away.
Interview with an edjowriwe-er: Victoria Anker
WORKING TITLE OF ARTICLE:
“From public ceremony to private ritual: the stripping of Charles I’s power.”
It’s like a striptease, but instead of clothes it’s POWER.
Why did you get involved in EdJoWriWe? How did you find the Pomodoro technique? How do you get into the writing zone? Which writer particularly inspires you? How do you unwind after working? | Because I’m terrible at committing myself to writing targets and deadlines, because of The Fear. Fear of …ridicule, maybe. Also, I am aware of the ease with which I find other things to do… Those are probably the two main reasons for signing up to this. There’s myriad other reasons, but I’ll stop there. It was really good for making me write my introduction, which I normally do last and hate. The introduction is where you have to set out your argument and take a stance, and I’d rather just sit on the fence. ‘They’re all right! Everyone have a Brownie point!’ But I decided to do it first because Daniel Soule said to do it first, so I’m just being obedient and doing as I’m told. But it worked! The technique didn’t work so well with starting the body of the article – but that was partly because I was thinking ‘GREAT! I’ve done the introduction! That’s me done for the day!’ Which is not really the point of this. But it might be more useful if I double a unit to 45 minutes, so I might try that this afternoon. It’s forced upon me. I leave everything to last minute, so it has to be done. Once I’ve reconciled myself to writing I hide out in my den – which I’ve tried to recreate here. My den is a box room at home. It’s tiny, and it has a computer and a step-ladder. Everything I need to write. Margaret Cavendish – she was wonderful and bolshy. She was writing in the 1650s. Her husband, William Cavendish, was a supporter of Charles I and spent the interregnum in exile. She wrote stuff that’s subtly royalist, and also closet dramas. These took place at home – kind of like play readings – so they were hard to police to enforce the NO THEATRE, NO CHRISTMAS rules. Wine. Red wine. That’s pretty much it. Also, historical romances because they are hilarious. I love reading them and yelling ‘That’s so WRONG!’ I secretly want to write them. You can read Georgette Heyer’s books in a couple of hours and go yes yes, I know what’s gonna happen, yes it happened. I know what’s going to happen in the book, if not in my life. |
Interview with an Edjowriwe-er: Alessandro Cabiati
WORKING TITLE OF ARTICLE:
Vermis non Morietur: Sin and Remorse in Arrigo Boito’s Re Orso
Is EdJoWriWe working for you thus far? What working techniques do you find helpful? Where is the best place to work? What is your procrastination technique of choice? What are you working on, in the fewest words you can manage? | Yes. Especially today’s Pomodoro technique. I haven’t done that before, but I found that the 25 minutes really allowed me to focus on what I was writing rather than simply typing. The workshops been all been very interesting. I have done something similar before, but that was really just my supervisors telling me what’s best in planning essays and writing outlines. Honestly, I like working around other people. I need quiet, but also other people. I think it pushes you to know that someone else is working in the same space, so you cannot procrastinate. I really like to constantly edit what I have just written, because it makes me feel more confident in what I’ve written so far, and because I can keep linking different thoughts. My desk at home. Everything I need close by, and all my books. My girlfriend works from home so I can have a chat from time to time. And if I get stuck and don’t type for a while, I tend to blame her for talking to me – it’s your fault, not mine! Checking references. Because I really need to think that I’m doing something good. If I really want to procrastinate I just keep reading more and more, somewhat unwillingly. Also walking around, trying to think about something that can be important to my work. It’s about trying to find other sources of Boito’s Re Orso, which is a grotesque fable or poem; thus trying to link it to other works by Boito and trying to find a meaning to that fable. |
THE EDJOWRIWE SATELLITE
We have lost contact with #edjowriwesatellite, but we assume this is due to the intervention of an untimely solar flare and that she is still in orbit. We look forward to restoring communications.
We have lost contact with #edjowriwesatellite, but we assume this is due to the intervention of an untimely solar flare and that she is still in orbit. We look forward to restoring communications.