what meetings are good for
I find that it's good to go to meetings with a legal pad and a pen, because then you write down this and that and you look terribly engaged. Because of the suggestive atmosphere created by the legal pad ("I'm all business! I'm seriously interested in bureaucratic matters!"), you can write any old thing you want.
Thus, I put in some fruitful time this morning at the meeting. I covered 2.5 pp. of the legal pad with notes, thoughts, reminders, etc. Some were purely pragmatic (meet with Erin at 2 on Monday, or Buy milk!). But at least half of it was taken up with the great over-arching epic idea I had for another novel.
No, I don't want to say what it is, because that would feel so unlucky. It even feels unlucky to say I had an idea, but I find that having a blog draws these admissions out of you, whether you will or no.
Thus, I put in some fruitful time this morning at the meeting. I covered 2.5 pp. of the legal pad with notes, thoughts, reminders, etc. Some were purely pragmatic (meet with Erin at 2 on Monday, or Buy milk!). But at least half of it was taken up with the great over-arching epic idea I had for another novel.
No, I don't want to say what it is, because that would feel so unlucky. It even feels unlucky to say I had an idea, but I find that having a blog draws these admissions out of you, whether you will or no.
posted by mary grimm at 10:07 PM
4 Comments:
I do that in class with an expression of appropriate puzzlement so it looks like I'm mulling over the prof's finer points.
I like to have all the papers from my to do file spread across my desk, so that my boss can't tell that I'm really obsessing over my novel and not how to file today's job postings.
Yes, the expression of puzzlement or ecstatic interest is crucial.
And the more papers the better. Two legal pads, if possible.
Does this mean you can never complain about meetings? What a wonderful thing--the idea (I knock on wood immediately to dispel any bad karma)!!
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