Clearing The Palate

... after the work of a WritersWorkshop is done, peoples' heads are full, emotions run strong (perhaps both high and low). There is a sense of closure, perhaps feelings of exhaustion. Different people experience each workshop differently. ClearingThePalate, analogous to the neutral foods eaten between wine tastings, readies the group for what comes next.

* * *

A steady stream of WritersWorkshops can be draining.

People invest much of themselves - emotionally, intellectually, even spiritually - in a writer's workshop. The experience can leave some participants unfocused and uncentered as the workshop's issues race around in their mind.

For example, reviewers yearn to start working with authors to give them more detailed feedback (which would usually not be useful, as most authors are too drained, distraught, or emotionally high to accommodate them) or to have some other outlet for their thoughts and opinions.

A distraction can bring the group back to its center.

By shifting the group from left brain to right brain, or from a technical topic to a personal topic, or by focusing on something entirely irrelevant, the group can clear out the aftermath of the previous workshop and move on to what follows.

Therefore:

At the close of each review, ask for a volunteer to "say something irrelevant." The subject can be a joke, an anecdote, a short story, a puzzle - anything unrelated to the prevailing topic matter of the workshops.

This also helps exercise and engage parts of the brain that would otherwise remain unused.

* * *

This is one of a family of related patterns, another one being ClearingTheRoomWithaBadJoke.

This sets the stage for a break, another WritersWorkshop, or for the end of a session.

This section also "puts the session to bed" and brings to closure any anxieties harbored by the author of the previous session, worrying "about what will happen to them next."

-- JimCoplien, 19960826

WritersWorkshopPatterns