Go To Jail | The Friday Update

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Friday Update, in which I give a little insight into what I’ve been up to for the past seven days.

What have I been up to this week?

This week has been a real highlight, one of those that makes me very, very lucky to do what I do!

Firstly, I’ve made extraordinary progress on the script to my next video.

The writing process this time around has been quite different to usual. Normally, the researching and writing are very intwined. While I’ll obviously start off by diving into a good book or two, most of my time is spending jumping back and forth between reading and writing. Every time I find a gap in my knowledge, I go away and fill that gap in before returning to writing.

For my upcoming project, I did a lot more research upfront before diving into quite a distinct writing phase. While this meant holding-off on writing for longer than I usually would, the script itself has been coming together much, much faster. It feels much more journalistic in the way that many journalists will spend months investigating a topic and then quickly write-out an article overnight!

I’m hoping to have a script ready to film very, very soon. And I can’t wait! (For more info on my next video, check out the last edition of The Friday Update).

Secondly, towards the beginning of this week I was in Oslo facilitating two days of Guest Seminars with some lecturers from OsloMet University. I was asked (by a fellow Patreon supporter!) to lead some sessions which looked at how lecturers might use creative writing skills to make lectures and seminars as engaging as possible.

I had a really great time. Some of you will know that I used to do a lot of teaching during my PhD. While I *love* making videos, I do occasionally miss being in a room with the people I’m teaching. So, it was really nice to spend two days having really in-depth conversations about the craft of writing and teaching!

A fantastic week all around!

And outside of work?

I was lucky enough that my time in Oslo happened to fall over a weekend. Which meant that I was able to spend some time in the city. And, my partner was able to arrange to have some time off work to join me too. So, the two of us spent a couple of days exploring Oslo and visit various museums.

I had already been to the city in 2021, so I was able to act as a very sub-standard guide! And nice to discover some new things this time around too!

What have I been reading/watching/listening to?

This past week, I’ve been dipping into a few extra books for research for the next video. One has been Henry George’s Progress and Poverty, which is an economic treatise from the 1870s. It’s an interesting take on inequality and land ownership. It’s one of those books which I’ve been intrigued to read for a long time but never got round to.

I also spent some of my veeeery long journey home on Wednesday reading Stephanie Kelton’s The Deficit Myth. Anyone who keeps up-to-date on these updates will know that I tend to gravitate towards economics books and this one lives up to its potential. I was quite aware of some of the problematisation of what Kelton calls the “deficit myth” before, but hadn’t read much first-hand work on Modern Monetary Theory (which is the main focus of the book).

It’s definitely a very well written book and very approachable. With the world teetering on the edge of recession and the likelihood that we’re about to start hearing politicians talking about the need for austerity once again, it’s perhaps an apt book to pick up if you get the chance!

That brings us to the end of this week’s edition of the Friday Update. I hope you’ve found it mildly insightful.

Thanks as ever for your generous support and I’ll look forward to updating you more next week!!