I’d love to initiate a discussion about the “alert” we give at the end of a timed write. Depending on the length of the write, we normally give participants a heads up about how much time is left somewhere between 30 seconds to 5 minutes. (For me, the longer the write, the more heads-up I give participants. They can be involved in a much more developed idea if they’ve been writing for half an hour, so I like to give more warning).
I want to note that whenever I’m leading a workshop, I make it a point to keep the warning as brief as possible: “1 minute” or “2 minutes left”.
For my own experience, when I’m in a workshop and the facilitator breaks in at the warning time and offers several sentences of instruction, it really interferes with my writing process. I can’t handle two sets of language at the same time — my own internally generated writing process and the workshop leader giving more instruction about how we’ll be stopping soon. So if the facilitator says more than 2 or 3 words, it can kick me out of my process entirely for whatever time is left, rather than allowing me to wind things down, or say what I have to say before we stop.
How have others encountered/experienced this phenomenon?
I am a two minute warning person and also a very short sentence. I hate interrupting the flow. Then I try to ease everyone back, allowing people to write on if they need to. I try to make room for a little chat (Was it a challenging prompt, anyone have a hard time starting) so writers can refocus on their companions and then ask for a volunteer to start reading. I try to read last, but will go if there is hesitancy as we share round the table.
That’s a really interesting technique guy, to invite some reflection immediately after the write! And I appreciate the reason for it “so writers can re-focus on their companions”. And I too usually leave my own writing till the end — also in case there isn’t time left at the end.
I also give a two minute heads up, when I’m facilitating. I try to use the invitational tone I learned in the Affiliate training (Thanks Maureen for great modelling). As a participant, I appreciate the constraint of the timed write. I usually to leave myself a little note or breadcrumb so I can pick up the piece later if it’s really humming. I was initially uncomfortable with timed writing and while it’s still not easy for me, it’s one of the things I appreciate about this method – part of my practice is challenging myself to write within parameters; the prompt, the timing, the way I respond to my writing and others’. When I need to just “go”, I can join or create an online group which just writes together, no interruptions, no prompts. But that’s not an AWA session that I know. So glad this forum is here.
That’s a great technique Alana – leaving the breadcrumb if it’s really humming.
Normally I say “take another minute or so” or “begin to bring your writing to a close/pause.” Sometimes, if I sense people are in a flow, or if I have themed or connected prompts that aren’t too complicated (like a quote or line of poetry), instead of bringing the group back together to read it aloud I’ll put the next prompt in the chat and say “Here’s another invitation in the chat if you’d like… keep writing until X time.”
I LOVE that Nicole! I’m putting that in my facilitator’s toolbox!