I am so so sorry, my to-do list, but I can physically feel my motivation to do A Single Thing seeping right out of my pores as this day goes on.

O my people, if you ask me to write a regular update or anything resembling a newsletter, I do hope you realize it will become progressively sillier in tone over time. Still useful, still delivering "impact" or "value" or whatever you need. But yeah. Increasingly unhinged with each passing week.

Woke up from a (terrific) nap (but aren't they all?) in which I was describing my medical shrimptoms to my doctor to see what was up. Confident that in my dream universe, this term was used to describe tiny things that might be nothing, but might be a big deal.

I make a motion to adopt

Honest to KITTENS, nothing makes me as happy as hurtling my whole body deep down a new creative tech rabbit hole. Almost forgot how much I enjoy video. Scripting, recording, motion graphics, captions, and at LEAST three new types of recording/finessing/editing software... SO freaking fun.

One thing I got from working in restaurant kitchens for the bulk of my 20s is a tendency to always separate out the prep from the meal. Having just spent yet another Sunday afternoon prepping the ingredients for what I'll eat this week, it occurs to me (again) that this isn't what most people do.

Optimist: the cup is half full.
Pessimist: the cup is half empty.
Content Designer: is this the right kind of cup? Is the cup in the right place? Is what’s filling the cup best for the audience at this particular time?

The number of side conversations I am having about turnips today absolutely delights me.

So I sit down to write a new newsletter, and all that comes out is yet another slice of my life/childhood/favorite fiction set in a rambling old house by the sea. It's easy and warms up my writing brain, but it's not what I wanted to write about today. I'm coming to realize this, too, is my process.

In a moment of weakness I bought a Festive Holiday Party Ensemble, even though I do not have any Festive Holiday Parties on my schedule right now. And now it has arrived. What to do? Perhaps I should schedule a Festive Holiday Zoom Party for all my remote worker / fractional / introverted friends.

Hi friends! Did a talk on stakeholder management for content design folks last week, and one tip is to use acceptance criteria to get better feedback and help folks understand content design thinking.

Great for those tough strings that get a LOT of input: bendaviesromano.medium.com/how-to-avoid...

Apparently, I am here now! So that's fun.

I've been pretty quiet of late, but I am still over here content designing, writing, knitting, napping, and cat cuddling it up.