Tools of the Trade

I’m doing a lot of writing lately. When you say that to a group of writers it sounds amazing! Bragging almost about your ability to write even when the world is falling apart. Well, I’m doing a lot of writing, but it isn’t fiction. I’m writing code.

I started a new job about 9 months ago, in the middle of a pandemic. We were such silly people back then, thinking that after a few months of lockdown, COVID would be gone and we could go back to our normal lives. The pandemic rages just a strong as ever, perhaps even more so, and my team is left scrambling to try to connect and disseminate information.

We tried a weekly meeting, then two. Then an additional individual meeting with people who have my same job title. Then meeting with my supervisor. It became overwhelming, all these video calls and “chats”. So, because I like working from home and was getting sick of repeating the same information three (or more) times, I started playing around with some programming software which allows me to share information on any project with my team in a visually appealing format.

I’ve spent the last three weeks working on getting the code up to snuff and it looks like we will “go live” on Wednesday. So why does this matter, dear readers?

It’s made me realize just how important a visual representation of a story is. I look at stories like data sets. They have distinct parts; an introduction, rising action, a climax etc. All parts of the plot can be represented visually, either on cards (if you want to old-school it) or in a computer program. I write tiny notes to myself on where I want each chapter going. And to be honest, I love taking my chapter notes and re-ordering them to make the plot flow better.

So, while I’m spending my day job coding for data collection, I’m spending my time at home coding a bit too, so that when I finally feel the urge to write something creative, the tools are there waiting for me.