Hello everyone,
I want to invite you to an unusual project I’m calling “Synthesis Sessions.” It’s unusual just because I think no one writes a fucking essay after college is done (and I’ve been pretty happy to keep it that way). I had this idea as a shower thought one day, and it has grown into something I think that’d be fun to try at least once! In short, it’s meant to blend our personal passions with topics that are tangential or outside of our personal bubble of expertise; ultimately pushing you to sit with your thoughts a bit longer than usual, maybe expand our horizons, and hopefully learn something new from each other!
Why the fuck would I want to write a paper? This better be double-spaced
I really hated the feeling of having to write a paper for school but I was always so proud and felt smarter after it was finished. It’s a great way to push your thinking but once you’re no longer a student you don’t have to write anything anymore and you aren’t really inclined to do it yourself. So one part of this idea is how can I motivate myself to write something interesting. I’m hoping you’d enjoy this too, once you’re done with the work, and if you have someone pushing you to get shit done.
Another reason is that it will almost certainly show me something new about you, how you think, what you’re interested in. We’ve all been friends for a long time. We know each other pretty well, but don’t often spend time diving deep on something of our choice or taking the time for dedicated listening (like reading). Also, imagine discovering who can turn a seemingly obscure topic into a masterpiece, or getting a good chuckle at reading our attempts.
As ChatGPT helped me write, “Synthesis Sessions” is about pushing our boundaries, learning from each other, and fostering deeper connections through our shared explorations.
What’s going to push me along to actually get this written?
How does money sound?
You can either take an easy $5 for finishing on time or throw in $10 to compete for a cash prize pool, which goes to the writer of the best essay as voted by all of us.
Timeline, and check-ins
Don’t worry, this doesn’t need to be a novel. I think a decent scope for us to attempt would be 2 to 5 pages max.
If/when enough people sign on to this idea, I’ll start the timeline (TBD). It might be something like:
- Week 1, share a title for your paper or short thesis statement that it’s going to be about.
- Week 2, confirm that you have at least finished either: outline, or one full paragraph.
- Week 3, check in that you’ve been able to make progress -how much is up to you
- Week 4, confirm with that group that you feel like you have a complete draft.
So basically from the start, you’ll have a month to get at least a shitty version of the essay put together.
Then I’ll give you a bonus week to revise or feel free to share and get feedback from others if you want. I think I prefer to keep mine a surprise. Up to you!
We can figure out distribution, reading/sharing, and voting later.
That it! That’s the idea. That’s the introduction.
We can definitely figure out more specific details later, but I just want to get a sense of how many people think they can do it.
Look, would I rather play video games? Sure!
Would I rather do literally anything else? Probably.
I’m personally just kind of curious if I can even do it again. I’m also really interested to read what you can write.
