Hotwash

Hotwash: "after-action" discussions and evaluations of an agency's performance following an exercise, training session, or major event

OR

How did the workshops go?

Great, thank you. I had outstanding participants who played along with most of my slightly out-there exercises. The only bumps were:

...the part where I realized that Cord A plugs into cute little MacBook, and Cord B plugs into industrial-sized projector setup, but Cord A and Cord B refuse to.....how to put this delicately?....mate. All cords, including a third one never even opened, will be returned to the Apple Store today, along with a note that all three cords are not suitable matches for each other and should not be allowed to leave the store together, ever again.

....the part where I threw all my heavy bags into the trunk of my car, grabbed my just-the-essentials purse, and ran back into the building for the writing contest awards ceremony. As I lowered myself into my seat, I suddenly gripped the purse, which felt ominously thin. I unzipped it to find that my keys were not in it. They were, instead, locked inside my car trunk inside my jumbo tote bag with all my other things. Luckily, Pop-a-Lock responded quickly, and the cheerful woman who deftly broke into my car told me that she herself had once locked her keys in her car FOUR times in a three month period. On the fourth visit from Pop-a-Lock, the manager had said: You really should learn to do this yourself. Would you like a job? (That was three years ago. She says she answers between 15-20 calls a day. I would like to make 15-20 people happy every day, wouldn't you?)

...the part where I asked my workshop participants to do the 100 Questions Exercise, and told them they had 10 minutes. That's 10 questions every minute! One every six seconds! Yes, it can be done, maybe even should be done that quickly, but I'm lucky they didn't throw their pencils at me.

...the part where I concluded my presentation with a slide which read "What am I tyring (sic) to say?" One kind writer told me she thought it was a clever play on words.

But I don't mean to leave you with the impression that I didn't have an amazing day, because I did. Despite all the unexpected bumps, I was surprised the most by how willing the other writers in my workshops were to share their fears, struggles, and joys. Unlike laptop cords, we know how to connect. And while we sometimes lock ourselves out, we almost always let each other in. We're willing to try the impossible, and we look at mistakes as creative play.

I'm going to tweak my presentations to improve upon them after learning so much this first time. I will find the right laptop cord. I'll wear my keys on a string around my neck. I can't wait for the next time I get a chance to share "what I'm tyring to say" with so many writer friends.