Some types of writing (although I would imagine Alys has a few more up her sleeve):
- poetic
- reflective
- analytical
- productive
I don’t quite know what I meant by productive writing, but I think it has to do with the kind of writing you do (at it involves overcoming quite a bit of inertia) when you set out to ‘write the thing’. I mean, today I am going to write a research proposal. I’ve been circling around it for a long time – researching, playing with phrases, ideas. But today, I am going to productively write it. Is it like flipping a switch?
Other kinds of writing you might consider:
- questioning – writing only in question format, and writing responses to those questions with more questions
- categorising – organising writing where you start to place or piece together seemingly disparate ideas
But, for me, productive writing is the main dude. It places us in the position of making something (in this case writing). Poetic writing might also be productive, but what if, today, you spent just an hour writing what this project is. Not notes, not vague ideas, or quotes, or small reflections, but you produced a proposal for your dpar project (based on all of the work you have done to this stage). This wouldn’t mean you have to stick to it, but it could be a prototype, or a line in the sand, or something against which you can push and struggle, and practice.
dance practice-as-research 2015 
This comment doesn’t make a lot of sense without my submission for the translation exercise – which I haven’t yet postef. But my daily practise is itself a translation of my original idea of what to research & these 2 weeks I’m spending in Spain are increasingly feeling like an experiment in translating both the daily practice & the original idea.
So in that context, we have a huge decision to make, which we plan to engage with tomorrow morning. I went to bed very early to dream into it & waking about 6am have spent a couple of hours, lying in the dark, doing (I hope) some very productive writing in terms of 3 yr plans & organisational structures.
Catching up with these blog posts feels like a 4th thread in this rich weave this week, so when I turned on the light & read one that so resonated with the stage I’m at with the process here, I couldn’t resist responding.
LikeLike