Borrowing a phrase from the musician John Roderick, did you know you can try on different jackets as thought technologies?
I don’t know about you, but I really struggle writing about myself. I’m backwards in coming forwards – which might be a British thing. It’s definitely a kiwi-thing due, perhaps, to tall poppy syndrome. Even when I am bloody good at doing that something, I feel uncomfortable writing about how great I am.
Anyway, when writing about myself, one trick I’ve found that works is to write in the most over-the-top way I can imagine. To do this I put on my over-the-top jacket. Wearing it I write as if I’m introducing someone for a talk – I really sell them to the crowd. The colour gets turned up to eleven. Superlatives are extravagantly thrown around. I really inhabit the jacket. Yes, I feel a little ridiculous at times. And yes, I also secretly enjoy writing in this voice.
Once the writing is done, the jacket comes off. I’ll print out my writing and leave it for an hour or two. Sometimes a day. I come back to it with fresh eyes. Some of the writing is cringe but much is useful. I dial back the hyperbole, remove the totally outlandish, and end up with something I’m happy with.
While trying on a jacket I get to write in a different voice, to write in a manner I’d have struggled at otherwise. I try on a “thought technology” (a way of thinking) just to see how it fits. The jacket may not be a great fit – the sleeves may be too long, the material too coarse. The colour may, however, be ideal and the buttons might be to die for. While wearing the jacket I’m free to try a different way of creating. Whatever happens, I learn something.
And there are so many jackets!
What if you wore your favourite author’s jacket? Or adopted a short, sharp approach to your sentences. Or imagined viewing your situation from a dog’s eye view. The possibilities are endless.