This is another case of "work makes me think too hard" and so now I'm thinking about writing. So you know. It's all rambly and marginally incoherent (which is what happens when I work too many hours all on top of each other). That's all the warning you get. Read it if you're as interested in the process of writing (and/or life) as I am.

I was thinking about writing at work again today (not too abnormal for me). Specifically, I was thinking about lj, and how nice it was to be getting some concrit (that's my favorite new word) on my writing - fanfic and not. (And expect more not - I've got some shorts I'll post as soon as I get the time to revise.) Then I had a problem to deal with, and it involved the fact that one of the young people I work with had a gap in his training. Fixable - just like most things. But like most things, not an obvious lack. Until I got the feedback from another employee, I didn't know about the gap, and couldn't fix it. Which brought me back to thinking about lj and concrit. I actually believe that the wonderful responses I've gotten to my fiction have started to carry over into real life and my job. It was ridiculously easy to find the right words to let the young man know that I wasn't mad, just wanted to teach him policy and continue his training. I even took the opportunity to introduce the idea to the whole team (well, the part that was there) that learning is an ongoing process - not a finite goal. (Not that it will stick with all of them. Sigh.)

Yeah, I know, not a big revelation for myself. But (here I go thinking again) I think some of the others I work with might benefit from the idea. The problem is to introduce to old style managers (those who think they must always stay ahead of their employees in order to be in charge) the concept that sharing concrit is good. That feedback is essential to learning. That leading involves listening, thinking and learning, not just handing out orders and expecting them to be carried out.

Oh, wait, that could apply to everything, not just leadership and writing.

(That was sarcasm, in case anyone's meter needs adjusting.)

This is going to take some serious thinking, some subtle introductions to concepts alien to certain team members. So I think I'll go write more about an alien. (Wait, that was either incredibly incoherent or one of those intuitive leaps. Backward. It made sense to me, anyway.)

Feedback is love, is life, is as necessary as breathing and the lack of it can kill imagination, initiative, and communication. Positive feedback and constructive criticism are the fertilizer for the growth of the mind. And although that conjures an interesting baby-in-the-manure-pile image in my head, it also sings true in that old, wise part of me that I usually deny having. I still refuse to grow up, after all.

So please just ignore all of this (it's under the cut for a reason), go about your business, read the next story to show up here and continue to feed - um, I mean write me all the nice comments. I'll be here in my habitat, listening (reading), thinking, and learning. And, I hope, improving.