Okay. You’ve promised to make cakes or cookies or something with the smallest humans in your domicile. And then you realise you have no eggs or icing sugar and you’re out of pink sprinkles. And it’s starting to rain.

FEAR NOT. I have a recipe that you can make with stuff that any sort-of-kinda pantry cupboard can scrape together. 3 things. That’s all.

Now, I’m not going to lie to you Marge. There are fancier biscuits to be made then this. But where the activity is as important as the outcome, these are fail proof. And like I said, 3 ingredients.

Fork Biscuits:

100g butter (margarine like Stork at a push), softened (30 secs in the microwave usually does it)

50g sugar (caster/superfine is great, but granulated is okay too)

150g self-raising flour.

Step 1) break the news that, for today at least, pink sprinkles are off the menu BUT you can make some easy biscuits and EVEN BETTER junior is going to be head chef and do most of the work.

Step 2) Put the oven on to 180 degrees celsius, or 160 for a fan oven. Err on the side of a lower temperature than higher. Find two baking trays and either grease, or (TOP TIP!) use some silicone baking sheets over them (sooooo much easier and less messy).

Step 3) put the butter in a bowl and get junior to give it a good stir round with a wooden spoon to make sure it’s really soft. And the sugar and mix the two together. I tend to cheat and use my mixer but then my kids have the attention spans of gnats.

Optional step: 3.5) At this point you can add a tsp of vanilla extract, or limoncello, and/or the grated zest of a small orange or lemon. Alternatively, add 25g of cocoa powder and reduce the flour volume to 125g.

Step 4) Add in the flour a large spoonful or so at a time and stir in. Then stick your hands in that bowl and get the clumps to form a lump of dough. You don’t need to overwork it, just check for lumps and dry patches.

Step 5) use a dessertspoon to scoop out the dough onto the trays. Aim for about 8 blobs on a tray, with lots of space to spread out.

Step 6) dip a fork into water, and press down ontop of each biscuit. This will create an interesting indentation. Be careful of over enthusiastic pastry chefs, who might enjoy the sensation of squeezing the dough through the fork prongs a bit too much – like the spaghetti hair playdough machine – as this will make the biscuits cooks a little unevenly.

Step 7) Bake for around 15 minutes until very pale golden, more if you think they need it. Allow to cool on the tray and then transfer to a wire rack. Or mouths open like small birds, as they so often are in my kitchen.

Trent Walton by Drew M on flickr

I’ve just got back from Nottingham, where I went to volunteer for a second year at New Adventures Conference. I joined the merry band of volunteers last year after Colly kindly invited me to come to the first event for free and I had a Skype conversation with him asking if there was anything I could do. After a little prodding, he said he would like a little help with registration (as I had done the honours at dConstruct for a couple of years) and there was some minor editing to do on the first newspaper if I had time to cast an eye over it. In the end it was quite a lot of editing, as we begin to read the articles back-to-back, and could see how we could bring some of themes of individual articles together but that early preview already told me that New Adventures (NA) 2011 was going to be a special event.

The day itself was amazing, hiccups around queues and the like aside (at one point we had a queue around the block in -4 when everyone decided to arrive at 9.30am!), and come 6pm pack up I was rolling up tubes of branding and already hoping Colly would put on another one. The moment he announced he was taking the plunge for 2012, I signed right back up for more editing and volunteering.

Volunteering at a small (ish!) conference gives you a unique perspective on what it takes to create an event. I saw speakers in the aptly named green room looking a bit sick as they walked towards the stage, and flushed and grinning as they walked back. I saw the Audio Visual team working away like pros. I saw Colly arrive at 7.45am on three hours sleep. I saw newspapers come out of their wrappers and ready to be devoured. I saw volunteers pull on t-shirts and gamely volunteer to swap shifts so everyone could see the talks they wanted to. I saw people taking seats, full of anticipation, chatting with neighbours and comparing notes on the night before.

I saw the amazing team behind the scenes at the Albert Hall conference centre making everything run like clockwork – including one memorable moment when towards the end of the day a couple of guys decided they might try their luck at nipping in and seeing if there was anything laying around to help themselves to. Know that your iPads and MacBooks were defended by one of the security team, who was clocking off at that point, and that he gave chase half-dressed! One of the scallies (to use the regional nomenclature) was half-way to the stage when he was apprehended. I almost wish he’d got there. Imagine 1 scummy thief vs 500 geeks. “Officer, it was the man in the checked shirt wot punched me!”

I saw attendees talking about what they had just seen on stage, about beer, about making stuff together, about being part of a community. I loved being able to give just a small bit back by volunteering. I was assigned the role of dealing with anyone difficult (Colly even had a one-off t-shirt printed just for me with ‘New Adventures in Fuck Yeah!’ on it to denote the level of kicking ass and taking names I was responsible for) but – light fingered outsiders aside – I had an easy, enjoyable day. Colly and Greg had taken a lot of the feedback from attendees, sponsors and volunteers last year, such as my request for first name registration to spread people out more alphabetically, and made it a reality. A special sort of reality that you only get with the attention to detail the two guys put in. Colly was putting in a good number of hours a day in the run-up to ensure as many people on the waiting list got tickets wherever possible, that signs were printed ahead of time, and that the volunteers had everything we could possibly need to do the best we could for attendees.

But, even as a so-called writer, I have to admit that words wouldn’t do it justice. I wanted to show people what it looked like, how special it was to be a very small part of – so, wobbily shot on an iPhone by me and edited beautifully by my husband, here’s NA 2012 from my perspective:

New Adventures conference 2012 from nicepaul on Vimeo.

As part of my happiness project, I’ve been pondering the direction of my life and the things that make me happy. I looked to what I do in my leisure time. I bake a lot, and make various army-catering-quantity sized meals for family and friends. I also read a lot of cookery books, which I wrote about in Contents magazine, in my piece The Gingerbread Project savouring the descriptions of each dish, even those I have little intention to ever make, and the notes the author brackets them with.

I play video games, especially adventure games like the Zelda series, and read critical analysis of video games and games culture. I’ve just got started with Skyward Sword (and I got Skyrim for Christmas – damn there goes all my free time!) plus I have Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap and Ocarina of time on my 3DS right now. I adore the Ace Attorney series and its offshoots. I like interactive fiction. I just recently watched the Penny Arcade Dungeons and Dragons live games and started to explore what Dungeons and Dragons is and how it works (not as a player, so much as an interested observer).

I read books. In the last few years, after a long absence due to overkill at university (hello English degree) I have got back into reading fiction and listening to audiobooks. Audiobooks especially force me to slow down and take in the breadth of a new world; my husband accuses me of skim reading every book I own, which I don’t, but the speed at which I read can sometimes detract from the beauty of the words laid out in front of me. After years of dodging the classics, after the aforementioned overkill, I recently bought a copy of Beowulf on the Beach: What to Love and What to Skip in Literature’s 50 Greatest Hits which starts with the Iliad and works in date order through to works of the twentieth century, via The Old Testament, Beowulf, Dante, Milton, Bronte, Tolstoy, Joyce, Kafka, Nabakov and many others.

I scrapbook. I write titbits of information about our family, I take pictures of where we go, I put books together of us as a family – who we are, what we do, what we are like. I am our family’s story keeper. I am our family’s story teller.

So, what is the connection here?

It is, I think, story.

I love narratives. I love when they weave strands and come together, knot up, fall apart and realign. I love the magic of people creating a world in their hand and building it for others to explore and to understand. Yesterday I read some hilarious cook’s notes on a failed Christmas pudding and the fallout from that, played a game where a hero must set out to fulfill a prophesy, and read the beginning of an epic war poem where two men are right now stood in front of their armies proposing a dual to settle their quarry while the gods have other ideas.

I started to write a piece for Contents that was about narrative, its history and its place in our everyday lives, but I realised I didn’t know nearly enough and I wanted to explore the topic with people that create narratives – not just in traditional novel form, or even in a published long form – but to come to understand what story means to  humans.

As such, I have created a new site (not yet live,  but it will be at http://tellingtal.es) in which I am going to explore the topic of story. I hope it will be informative. I hope it will encourage people to see story as a ribbon woven throughout their lives, connecting people and things together. Mostly I hope it will be fun.

I plan to do a series of video interviews, written interviews and explorations in different mediums. I plan to stick myself in all kinds of weird situations from archivist offices to battle re-enactment, tabletop gaming to a writing class, and share what I learn along the way.

Join me?

photo by: calsidyrose

Prepare

• Go to sleep earlier
• De-clutter, clean, organize
• See the whole thing
• Establish routines
• Think, commit and follow through
• To do list.

These are my Happiness Project resolutions for December. I’ve put them into a small chart on my iphone to check them each night and measure my progress. The idea behind these six resolutions is ‘Prepare’. I used to think I was a spontaneous, impulsive person – and certainly I like doing spur-of-the-moment things – but I’ve found that the busier I’ve got the more I like to have my life organized and ready. I’ve gone back to following the routines and ideas at flylady.net that I’ve used successfully before (not being a Born Organized sort of person, I do rather like the mollycoddling and positive testimonials). One of the tenements of the programme (because it is rather a 12-step programme for clutter addiction) is to go to bed early enough that you have the energy to tackle the things you need to do to make your life just run smoother. This is hard for me. One, I’m naturally a night owl although my kids are not. Two, it is a ton easier for me to get things done (like blog!) if I stay up later. Three, my medication has the effect of making me quite nocturnal. But I will fight on and prevail.

Declutter, clean and organize is the first step for preparation. We moved house a month or so ago but I was not actually here for the pack up and move (I was in Australia, as you do) and so I am decluttering on the other side of the move. Ideally, I want to get our ‘stuff’ right down to what is easy to maintain, find and actually use. I am reminded of that William Morris quote about keeping things only that you know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. I am doing about twenty minutes decluttering most days, and so far so good. Plus, it had the added advantage of meaning I had space to put decorations up early for Christmas.

See the whole thing is a reminder to myself to ensure I have the full picture before I panic or make rash decisions. Have I checked the cupboards for what I have before I make a pantry list? Have I given all the receipts and invoices to the accountant for him to work out our tax? Have I done the preparation to have a good idea what my next move should be? Have I checked the calendar before i book myself in?

Establish routines. I have discovered that just like babies like routines, I do too! At least for housework and bills and what not. They say it takes 21 days to make a habit, and do that’s what I’m trying to do.

Think, commit and follow through. I say yes to a lot of stuff. Some of it, frankly, I shouldn’t. This resolution is to remind me to think about what I am saying I will do, the cost of that, the work needed etc. If I’m okay with that I will commit to it and then not procrastinate. I’m hoping, for one, I’ll say no to more things and the ones I do say yes to I’ll be more on the ball.

To do list I love to do lists. they make me feel in control and prepared for the day/week/month etc ahead. And yet I hardly remember to make one. So, each work day (and weekends where appropriate) I will make a list of my do-able tasks, and tick them off as I go.

• Be Relly
• Use it now
• You can do anything in 15 minutes
• Smile first
• Act like I want to feel
• Let it go
• Get to the root of it
• Think, commit, follow through
• Make stuff

In The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin thought about what she could do to improve her happiness in part through an understanding of herself – acknowledging her personality, strengths and weaknesses. She came up with 12 commandments that fitted her project – guiding principles for me, as I’m not one for commandments really – that allowed her to test and measure whether she was doing something that might make her happier. She aimed to tackle both the bad and the good aspects and to encourage growth and progress throughout.

These are mine. There are nine of them. some are directly taken from Gretchen’s list because they fitted me well – like Be Relly (although of course she went for ‘Be Gretchen’), Act like I want to feel, and Use it now (although hers is actually ‘spend out’, as in don’t save it for a rainy day: use your best stuff.). Others are sentiments that i could do with committing too and reminders of life lessons I’ve already learned and try to stick to.

I’ll write a bit more about each of these in time but I’m happy that I have them down. I’m thinking about making some funky subway art style print with them to hang in my office and remind me.

I am about a year behind everyone else, as ever, but I just read this amazing book called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. In it she spends a year exploring aspects of herself and commits to some resolutions that look at her personal happiness, as well as researching happiness on a bigger scale.

Recently she made a 30 second TV ad to demonstrate it:

It’s not just about kids or memories, or about any airy-fairy selfhelp bull shit while we are at it, but a conscious and imaginative exploration of taking oneself from content in an unthinking way to happy, aware and appreciative.

Throughout, she hopes that people will also embark on a similar process – and to that end she has also created the happiness project toolbox, a free site with ways of making yourself accountable and to meet with fellow happiness project subjects – she admits to becoming a ‘happiness bore’ such is the awareness she has to what creates and destroys a sense of happiness and well-being. I was about a third of the way through the book when I though, ‘hey, maybe I should do this’ and by halfway I was sold.

Tomorrow being the first of December, I figured why not jump in? It gives me a month run up on those dreaded January resolutions at any rate.

Okay, first up, I’m not someone who spends August 31st to December 31st thinking about ‘the holiday season’ and listening to Rudolph the Reindeer on loop (well, not until December 1st anyway) but I want to mention Christmas and, specifically, the buying of gifts.

I hear a lot about how Christmas is too commercial and just a cynical way to have us buy stuff we neither need nor want, for ourselves and others, yadda yadda yadda. So here’s what I’m proposing: Don’t buy commercial crap. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty certain my kids are going to end up with something from Fisher-Price they ask for, but for gifts for aunts, uncles, parents, friends etc I’m going to get them handmade or independent retailer stuff.

Some of it I will make myself. Most of it I will buy from Etsy.com, Folksy.com and Notonthehighstreet.com.

So, why am I telling you this? Because I think half the reason we end up buying the same shit shovelled in the shelves of the same shops is because that’s what is there is at the time we come to buy it.

Buying handmade stuff, or custom order prints or having things sent from overseas takes time and planning. Most people start thinking about shopping mid-November by which time the one-person-capacity makers are usually already full. And so the same old shit from the same old shops are it.

This year. Take a stand. Make a list. Browse Etsy stores and the like. Commission stuff from sellers. Most are very open to creating something that you want, a one of a kind treasure, and there is something for everyone from hard-core gamer to a lace-loving grandma, the newborn baby to your prop-forward grown up nephew.

Refuse to be part of the commercial machine you resent so much. Plan ahead and buy something unique – just remember, don’t wait until the carols are wall-to-wall audio in the shops. If you’re really smart, and get it all bought elsewhere, you might never need to suffer a pan pipes cover of winter wonderland ever again.

At about 6.30am this morning, Thing 1 went into to see his little brother (Thing 2, naturally) and chat to him as he usually does. Often this involves Thing 1 talking about the book Thing 2 has in his cot, about what they are going to do that day or if Thing 2 wants cereal or toast for breakfast. Occasionally, Thing 1 teaches Thing 2 new words. Today was one of those days.

Thing 1: “Can you say ‘Luke Skywalker’?”

Thing 2: “Look Ty Wader”

Thing 1: “Can you say ‘Darth Vader’?”

Thing 2: “Dar Rayer!”

Thing 1: “Can you say ‘Bad white guys’?”

I think someone couldn’t remember the word Stormtrooper.

Just as I was getting over giggling at this, I heard from across the hall a faux-Yank accent and as clear as a bell:

“Can you say ‘Help me Obi-wan, you’re my only hope!’ ”

At this point I officially lost my battle to not squawk with laughter and catch the boys’ attention but oh my. I am so proud to have raised a mini-geek.

I am struggling to focus today. It’s hot and sticky and I work in a converted loft. This is not conducive to brilliance. Instead I have spent today thinking about life, the universe and scrapbooking.

I am a scrapbooker. It’s awesome fun. And I was reflecting on how it has made me a better person. No, honestly, stick with me. It has given me an appreciation for visual aesthetics and colour and typography. More than that it has encouraged me to broaden my horizons and find new experiences to journal about. It was the lure of lovely scrapbooking supplies that first persuaded me – long time fearful flyer – to get on a plane to the States in 2005. It has encouraged me to take photos of everything, always. I write more, I notice more stuff, I savour things happening. And it’s fun.

I have found that if I take time out from work and walk to the other side of my office and start creating something unrelated often an answer comes to me, ready to go. That’s got to be a plus (and a business expense?!

The thing is I haven’t made much time for it recently and I have missed it. I just had my stash of beautiful craft things sort of dumped in drawers in the office but it’s making me kinda grumpy which then means when I do make stuff they are infused with that kind of grumpiness. First stop, sorting out my supplies so they are ready to go.

Here’s to the other stuff. The reason we weren’t meant to be at desks 24/7.

Here’s a sobering admission. If the body of knowledge of content strategy is an ocean, I’m currently about ten foot out from the shore – probably with a dorky inflatable ring around my middle and certainly nowhere near enough sunscreen. The comforting bank of sand under my feet is suddenly and rapidly sliding away, leaving me somewhere near to out of my depth. I’m not sure that anyone has realized I might be out of my depth and I’m not sure I want anyone to notice. That would be awkward. I’m meant to be a good swimmer, I mean, content strategist.

I had a Skype conversation with the (insanely adorable) Erin Kissane earlier this week. It started with me flapping my hands and wailing “Do you ever feel like suddenly there is SO MUCH BEING SAID about content strategy that it has now reached a point where it is IMPOSSIBLE to take it all in?!!”. I was very relieved to find she replied in the affirmative. I was beginning to wonder if it was just me.

Not all that long ago, as Kristina Halvorson said at Confab this year, it was a simple enough ask to keep up with the chatter on the #contentstrategy hashtag on Twitter and the occasional Google alerts that came in. Now it is probably next to impossible and also likely very foolish to attempt this. I mean, we’re content strategists. We crank stuff out every minute of every day. Put simply, the CS community doesn’t shut the fuck up so I am never going to catch up. It’s almost liberating to know this, in a demotivational poster kind of way.*

I have found a trend, though, where I go into client meetings with a rough outline of what I think we should do, which is met with a range of nods but then followed up by someone asking ‘What do you think about our $%£$%^ ^*&(&*&&&^!@££’. And what I mean by that is the words they say might as well be in Swahili. Oh, God, I think, another area of CS I don’t know. And then it gets awkward as they all look at me expectantly. I mean, I am a content strategist. Apparently.

I don’t know anywhere near everything there is to know about content strategy but here is something I do know: it takes a lot of confidence to say those words out loud, to a client, in a meeting.The difficulty is that content strategy is so big and covers so many aspects that I think we will have to get better at saying it. Before long we might increasingly need to band together in small mercenary tribes to cover the range of skills within CS, especially for larger projects. (You can imagine it, can’t you? One burly agency lead, a stats nerd, a library scientist with an eye for digital services and a rogue content writer – Left 4 Dead: CS edition.) But for now we need to accept that we can’t know all that there is to know that CS touches, we can’t read everything and hear everything or take part in everything spilling out of the CS community, and to practise saying ‘I’m not sure but I will look into it and get back to you as soon as I have a good answer.’ (Which isn’t, by the way, an admission of weakness. It’s just how big CS is.)

As for me, I’m still a long way out from the beach but now I’m happy to lie back in my rubber ring and enjoy the sun (dammit, still not enough sunscreen). There’s a whole ocean out there to discover but as little old me only has a rubber ring I’ve made do running a big rope back to shore. Anytime I feel I’m drifting too far out I can ask to be towed back in safely. Once back on dry land I can charter a ship and set sail for any promising new lands like a true sailor. I mean, content strategist.

*THIS DOES NOT MEAN I WANT ANYONE AT ALL TO STOP POSTING ABOUT CONTENT STRATEGY. IN FACT, IF YOU’VE READ THIS GO AND POST ABOUT SOMETHING YOU’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW!