Seventh Salon: What it is that we do.

[jenett]

Welcome to our seventh salon discussion thread. Wander in, invite a friend to come along, and chat! (Not sure what's going on? Here, have a brief FAQ.) You can find previous ones in my salon tag. Please take a quick look at the reminders at the bottom of this post, too. (Quick note: I'd originally said we'd do these through at least July. I am formally declaring that we'll keep going through at least August.)

Topic of the day:
A couple of conversations this week have gotten me thinking about jobs. One was a conversation with a friend yesterday (hi!) about job hunting, another was a meeting of a committee I'm on for staff awards, where we were asked to introduce ourselves (it's the first time we've met) with something we do that we're really good at (work or not.)

The committee is staff from all over the campus, only one of whom I already knew. And one of the things we were talking about is how recognising people for doing things well can take a lot of forms - but it's also complicated, because talking about what we do well is really hard, and sometimes (often!) other people don't really know what goes into our jobs. (And yes, I talked a little about both Imposter Syndrome and about synecdochic's weekly Pride Thread)

And yet, it's really important to talk about what we're good at, for a dozen reasons and more. (Morale, helping us do more of the really awesome stuff, helping other people do more really awesome stuff, appreciating the work other people do that keeps things running smoothly - we were talking about the school health service, and how you never hear when things are fine there, but it's important that they *are* fine.)

So, my question: What do you do, and why do you like it, and how did you get into doing that thing? I'm curious both about job-that-pays-you stuff but also about ongoing projects that aren't your job.

For bonus amusement, last January, there was a meme about describing things (your job) using the ten-thousand most common words in English. (Inspired by a xkcd cartoon). You can use a web-based tool to write one. If you did that meme and want to share in comments, that'd be awesome. (Or if you want to play with it and share something new!) Mine's in the first comment.

Currently reading: Queen Victoria's Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy - like the title says, this is gaslamp fantasy, not steampunk. Thus far I am generally agreeing with Brit Mandelo's review over on Tor.com, but even the stories that aren't quite my thing are making me think, which is pretty much what I ask for in an anthology.

Quick reminders

- jjhunter did a great guide to following conversations here on Dreamwidth. Also a roundup of regular Dreamwidth events.
- If you want to post anonymously, please pick a name (any name you like) that we can call you - it makes it more conversational and helps if we have more than one anon post.
- Base rule remains "Leave the conversation better than you found it, or at least not worse". If you're nervous about that, I'd rather you say something and we maybe sort out confusion later than have you not say something. (I've heard from a few people who worry they're going to say something that's going to be taken weirdly. If it helps, I am usually around and if there's a thing you'd like to get out in the conversation, but you're not sure how, feel free to PM or email or IM me, and I'll nudge the conversation that direction.)
- The FAQ still has useful stuff, and I added some thoughts about getting conversations going this week.
- Comments tend to trickle in over the course of a day or two, with a few nearly a week later: you might enjoy checking back later if you're not tracking the conversation.

Comments

[elisem]

... which is all very well, but it's not specifically digging into the question of what I am good at. So:

I am good at bending sterling silver wire (and other wire sometimes) and forming shapes that seem to speak to something inside people, express something they want to say or call to something in them that they long to have recognized or remind them of something good. In a way, it's like I'm inarticulate about something very important, and the metal and glass and stone are the gestures I have with which to try to point to the thing and tell people about it. When people write stories (or make other art) that's sparked off by some of my pieces, it's a complex and wonderful happiness that's deepened by getting to do the work to understand their gestures as well. (Art with more than one person involved can be a big amazing game of catch sometimes.) I'm really good at looking at beads, stone or glass, and noticing things about them, imagining what they might say, cocking my metaphorical ears to their whispers.

Actually, that last bit is an important thing particularly because of how the stroke affected my art -- but while the stroke deepened some of what I do, it was there before. I just maybe got there faster because of the stroke.

I'm good at teaching, sometimes, too. I love the moment when someone figures something out, when they get better at something, when the mind and the hand and the eye are all in synch and suddenly they make something which surprises and delights them, and they recognize it. That, I love.

The Artists' Challenge thing, where people make art sparked off by mine, is a deep pleasure, and I'm good enough at it that they gave me a World Fantasy Award nomination in 2009, which tickled me more than I could ever say.

Also, sometimes I can put words together in ways that are effective. This has been known to happen with non-fiction as well as fiction. Essays, even. :-)

[jenett]

You write a particularly well-done essay, I must say. Recently, even.

(I also note for public consumption that the voice of the Editor In My Head sounds like Elise, and that editing her writing when that's the case is exceedingly weird. She's an excellent editor and saying of "Hey, if you did this, it'd be even better." too.)

[elisem]

Thank you! And thank you very much for all the help. Which was massive.