Writing about writing

Over the last few days I’ve been writing two assignments for the management course I am currently undertaking, and it’s surprised me how easily I’ve slipped back into being able to write a large amount of fairly literate text in a short amount of time. I genuinely enjoy writing, and at various points in the past have spent a fair amount of time on all sorts of writing projects, but I’ve not really written anything more involved than a blog post for a few years now.

I was chatting to my co-worker about this, and about how I can still pretty much sit there with a blank page and know that something meaningful will eventually appear. She suggested I thought about trying to write something other than what I had to write, and I must admit the idea appeals to me. Of course, this involves having something to say and having an audience that want to read it, but I thought I’d articulate the idea if only to keep it on my radar.

Of course, I need to finish these assignments before I start working on anything else, and writing to order was never one of my strong points.

CVs, and why I don’t currently have one

I’m on a course on Thursday and Friday of next week, and one of the things I’ve been asked to bring is an up to date CV. Now, I’ve worked for the same employer for 10 years now, and we have an in-house application process which involves filling in a web (previously paper) application form. This means it’s been at least 10 years since I’ve really needed a CV (and subsequently at least 10 years since I’ve tried to write one).

So yes, tomorrow I will be writing my CV from scratch, which is something that actually fills me with a great deal of trepidation. Largely because I can remember the last 10 years with a decent degree of clarity, but everything prior to that is a bit hazy and is likely to be full of gaps and vagueness. But at the same time I think it will highlight exactly how far I’ve come in the last 10 years, which might be an interesting exercise if nothing else.

It’s purely academic of course. I have no intention of applying for anything new at present, especially as I only signed my new contract last week.  But I’d also hate to turn up on Thursday without one, because I hate being unprepared and I do actually see the value of having a document that summarises all my achievements to date.

Hopefully by Thursday I will have a CV, and also a vague action plan to update it before 2020.