Christin's Behind-the-Scenes Sunday 🎥

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Dear Ones,

Reflections as a Write of Passage Editor

I’m near the end of my journey as an editor steward for Write of Passage Cohort 8. Here are quick reflections based on providing feedback on 37 essays (and counting).

A large segment of students (including myself!):

**Get to the “shiny dime” (most interesting/important part of their essay) at the very end: **It reflects our need to write for a while before realizing what we are trying to get at. Almost all essays immediately improve just by moving their conclusions to the introductions.

**Need more personal stories: **Essays tend to lean too heavy on observational, sometimes bordering on ranty, and are missing the one important spice: the relationship between the author and the topic. Why the author cares to write about the topic at hand. In comments to students, I have shared that I often exclude myself because it feels odd that anyone would care about what I think. (I think there’s something to explore here, how our self-esteem or self-perception gets in the way of good writing.) But of course, that’s why the reader is reading in the first place—to get to know the writer better!

Need more “placemaking”: Of all POP techniques listed by Michael Dean, the one I think most essays can benefit from is “placemaking”—writing through the senses. Tell me what it was like when you were there—what did it smell like? What did you see, in the greatest level of detail you can describe? I personally think I skip this often on the first draft because it takes a different state of mind to do it—the lecture-y, observational mind has a hard time painting an image with words. It’s easier to do on the second pass, with intention. Learning to do it on the first draft can vastly improve my first draft quality though.

(I’m submitting the above as my draft for the Writing System, our last essay. Truly no-time-for-high-effort!)

Word of the Year: Artist

Every year, on Fool’s Day, I choose a word as a beacon for what I’d like to embody. In 2020 the word was Hearth, and in 2021, it was 氣. (I will write up my review of 氣soon, with much help from my WOP friends!)

For 2022, my Word of the Year is Artist 👩🏻‍🎨. It’s quite an unusual departure from my previous identities, with much more showmanship involved. An uncomfortable amount of attention, a role where I really need to let go of my fear of the spotlight.

Journal + Meditate + Tea

Related to my word of the year, I’m doubling down on projects that I’ve been dreaming about, that are much more “out there” in terms of Expression and Exposure.

I’m hosting a **Journal + Meditate + Tea **session every weekday at 3PM PT.

Learn more and sign up here

In the past few months I’ve been attending/hosting co-working sessions with Flow Club, and through this experience have gained some insights on best practices when it comes to gathering people in a virtual environment.

This is highly experimental of course, but one thing I want to provide is a nurturing, stable environment for spiritual practice. It’s for my own accountability as well—I’m working on stabilizing certain skillful habits I would like to maintain for life, and there’s nothing quite like doing so with friends. Come join me!

What’s your Word for 2022?

Warm Wishes,

Christin