Headed Somewhere Better

I tried something different and now I don't think I'll do it any other way.

I'd walked in through the side door of my local coffee shop, scanning the old mill-style building for a place to sit. After taking a lap and peeking around the corner in the hopes of finding an unoccupied table, I settled on a vacant hightop by the wall of exposed brick. Then I dropped my bag and my jacket, and went to retrieve my coffee. Pretty normal so far...

However, when I got back, I pulled out a stack of papers instead of my laptop.

Recently, I mentioned wanting to include some additional voices in this publication... well, those wheels are in motion. Which is how I found myself sitting in that coffee shop, reviewing printed essay drafts from potential contributors for a couple of projects in the works.

So there we were, just me and my coffee, scribbling and scratching away at the pages splayed across the wooden tabletop in front of us. And I realized it felt... like I was completely in my element? Like, I was doing my thing—the stuff I'm good at—casually but with precision and finesse. I felt light and stable, nimble and confident. Slashing redundant phrasing and subtly correcting mismatched verb tenses, I also noticed I felt a lot like I do when I snowboard. What's more, I'd picked up on a few intrigued glances pointing in my direction.

Ok, no—not really.

But that's what it felt like.

And when I'd reviewed my work, transposing my analog edits from the pages on the table to their original, digital drafts, I wondered if I'd have caught half the stuff I marked up if I hadn't printed everything out.

I... I don't think I would've.

This isn't some new trick. It's an old one that I'd forgotten about, or felt added too many extra steps. But now, I'm all for extra steps if they're headed somewhere better.

---

Our Daily MAP Year Prompt
166/365

If you were to take something you do all the time back to its most basic parts, where would you start? Is that how you currently do it?

And if you know someone who'd appreciate this, pass it along!

onward.

For more on this daily column and The MAP Year Project, read the backstory here.