50 Shades of Resume: Aftermath

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50 Shades of Resume is over. It’s been an interesting adventure, met a lot of great people, and I hope you learned some things. I will be doing a roundup afterwards, but I am also a bit tired of looking at resumes right now. I hope you’ll understand.

But what I did want to share is what I learned doing this. If you’re here there’s a good chance you write or blog an you may wonder just what you do – or don’t get out of doing this.

50 Shades of Resume’s goal was multifold:

  • To try a kind of themed writing.
  • To experiment with a long-term writing focus that’s very targeted.
  • To try a project that would involve people in the above.
  • To celebrate my “new” book.

So here’s what came of it:

  • This was really educational for me. If you do some kind of stunt/review pay attention, i’ll educate you. In fact, some of this will come up later.
  • It works if you do it in big pushes – but it will burn you out. I did a majority of these reviews in one day. Yes. One day. That was telling and fascinating, but also a lot of work. However it let me get into the “zone.”
  • Have an organizational structure for any project like this. early on I developed an outline of the basics of a review so I had an idea what to look for and what would work for people.
  • Pace. As cool as this was to do I think fifty in a ROW was honestly a bit much. Maybe every few days would have been better. I could have extended it to a year. But over time I got the impression the audience got a tad saturated.
  • This also helps projectize writing – it’s a good organizational lesson. DOing some kind of “themed writing” project may be good for you if you want to et more organized.
  • People got things out of this – several of the people I reviewed resumes for learned from their work. It’s nice to do one of these projects so they benefit.
  • If you’re looking for site hits, something like this seems unpredictable in the short term. Not sure what’ll happen in the long term.

So that’s what I learned. What’s next? Well, stay tuned, though I’ve got afew more things coming . . .

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Way With Worlds: Worldbuilding and Real Life Benefits

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Cityscape Manhattan

Now and then in my writing I discuss the benefits of Worldbuilding in real life, such as improving record keeping and the like. Truth be told there are other benefits than the more technical and procedural skills, but I never really thought about it much or where to put them. Then I realized, I could write a column on it.

Yeah, I know. Should have thought of that early.

So, let’s take a break from good and evil, science and technology, politics and religion, and discuss just why all these elaborate setting-creations, timelines, and notes benefit you beyond your ability to create a good game or comic or story. This is how Worldbuilding improves you and your abilities in general ways, ways of insight and dare I say it, character.

This may sound a little weird. You may truly enjoy that giant mecha slam-bang universe you created, but you hardly think transforming robots really is going to make a difference in who you are or how you see things.

Actually, you’re wrong. Having done world building myself (in complete and far more unfinished projects), having analyzed it, having talked to writers and artists, I’ve been amazed how the act of world building actually improves people as people. They become, in a way, better and more insightful.

If you’re aware of it, of course, then you can appreciate it, use it, and enhance it. I’m not saying everyone should sit down and create an epic sci-fi universe or fantasy epic, but I’m noting that it does more than you may think.

If you know it, you can use it.

Here’s where it helps.

Read more

#YesAllWomen And Addressing Sexism

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Watching reactions to #YesAllWomen continue to roll in is insightful. It’s informative, and I began to realize something that had been missing in a lot of people’s lives, and something #YesAllWomen is about. Something that is often missed.

So let’s talk about work.

At work someone was giving me advice, and helped me realize that many of us have multiple problem-solving modes. These modes aren’t always the right way to solve the problems, but boy can we get stuck in certain ones because they seem to work or work well enough.

Me, my two modes are the Problem Solver and The Listener, which I imagine are the modes many people have. The Problem Solver dives into things to tackle them, the Listener listens first then suggests or enables. Yours truly has jammed in Problem Solver mode more than once, and now and then people have to smack me out of it or I realize it’s time to be The Listener.  I imagine you’ve been there yourself.

Now I can discuss this intellectually, but #YesAllWomen slapped me in the face with a hard truth.

It’s a call to listen.

Among the stories I saw people not engaging, but judging (it’s anti-male) or making jokes or riding in on their own agendas. But these people weren’t listening.

#YesAllWomen is about women telling their stories so people hear them.

That’s it. People need to listen so we can solve these things – but it takes listening first.

One of the reasons that I’ve posted on this a lot, I realize is that I slowed down and listened here – I wasn’t in Problem Solver mode. Thus it hit me deeply.

Listening impacts someone – it impacts the listener. It changes them. Listening changes us so we can help.  Listening shows the respect people need so they can open up.

So it’s about listening.

A lot is, really.

We all need to listen more, I’d guess.

– Steven Savage