Second Draft, Honeymooning & Visiting DIJGTAL Vancouver
✍️ 🍯 🏔
I maintain that this is a monthly newsletter, I just experience time differently. Ok, it has been a while since last I wrote, but that’s for (mostly) good reasons. Here are some of the things I’ve been up to in that time.
FINISHING MY SECOND DRAFT
In February last year, I finished writing a novel. Well, I say finished; I wrote a 60,000 word first draft. As it turns out, first drafts are trash, which is why you need to do second drafts.
Now, I did my first draft as part of a course with the Writers Studio in Bronte (see this past newsletter for more info). They have courses for second and third drafts too, but I decided I wanted to follow my own process. I wanted a less structured approach this time, and a chance to feel my way through rather than being locked into a rigid framework. Maybe that was naive, but it certainly ended up being a valuable learning experience.
Here’s what I ended up doing.
Mar - Aug 22 (5 months):
I read through my first draft in one sitting, and then wrote down everything I liked and didn’t like.
I also mapped the outline of this draft in Miro (the UX designer in me couldn’t resist). This helped me see the overall structure at a glance, then zoom in to the smaller chunks of story too.
What did I find? The entire middle section of the book was boring, most of the characters sucked, and the story didn’t focus enough on the topic I was actually interested in. Let’s call this “less than ideal”.
I played around with a few outlining methods to try and figure out a better story structure. In particular, I had some breakthroughs using the seven point story structure and eight sequence structure.
I couldn’t get it perfect though, and it was frustrating. Eventually, I decided I just had to start writing again based on the ideas I had, and see what came out.
Sep - Nov 22 (2 months):
I wrote the first couple of sequences and was really happy with them. They were much more engaging than my first draft - the characters felt real, the story was heading in the direction I wanted, and it felt like something I'd actually want to read.
I was moving slowly, though. My original goal was to finish draft 2 by the end of 2022, and I wasn’t going to hit that target.
Nov - Dec 22 (2 months):
A friend of mine (Ruby, read her work here) convinced me to join her in doing Nanowrimo, and that was the best writing decision I made all year. Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) is a challenge you set yourself to write 50k words in the month of November. At the time, I was averaging about 5-10k words in a month, so it seemed so ridiculously unachievable, but since Mumma didn’t raise no bitch I decided to give it my best shot anyway.
I made a spreadsheet to track my daily word count (because of course I did), and set off.
In November, I wrote 60,000 words. Beat the target by a full 10k. I had to give up exercising and write for 2-3 hours per day, but I did it, and fuck me it felt good. As it turns out, word count goals and time pressure work exceptionally well for me.
After November, I continued as if Nanowrimo was still going, and I came tantalisingly close to finishing before the end of the year. In the end, I had to prioritise planning my honeymoon and wrapping up some projects at work, but I was proud of where I’d got to.
Dec 22 - Mar 23 (3 months):
I stopped writing to go on my honeymoon, and focused instead on having the best time possible travelling the world with my wife. When I got back to Sydney, I did not get back into normal habits until March.
Mar 23 (1.5 weeks):
After a writers group session, I was again feeling motivated, and picked my daily writing habit back up. I finished the book within 1.5 weeks.
It took me a little over a year, but as you can see, most of this time was spent either figuring out what to do, or not doing anything at all. The moral of the story is, surround yourself with people that motivate you to do your best work, and focus your energy on building strong, measurable habits.
Some choices I made that significantly improved my second draft were:
Starting the story much later. The middle section was boring, but the end was cool, so I just started at the end and came up with a bunch more cool stuff to happen afterwards.
Giving the characters more flaws. In the first draft, everyone was a bit too friendly and perfect; particularly the protagonist. In draft two, he’s an asshole, and it was much more fun.
Using two perspectives. Giving one of the other characters a viewpoint allowed me to tell the story I wanted to in a much more compelling way. It also meant that when I ran out of ideas for character one, I could switch to a chapter about character two, and vice versa. For me, that was a lifesaver against writer’s block.
So what comes next? Onto draft 3!
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HONEYMOONING
From December to January, my wife Kristina and I took the longest and best trip of our lives. We were married in 2021, but for obvious reasons, we couldn’t go away for a proper honeymoon, so when we finally got the chance we decided to do it right.
Rather than bore you with the details of what we did, let me recommend to you some things you might want to try if you decide to visit any of the same places.
Edmonton, Canada
The main highlight here was seeing our family, but since you can’t do that without it being weird, here are some other places to consider:
West Edmonton Mall - 2nd largest mall in North America. It has great shopping, a waterpark, rollercoasters, a massive theatre, an ice skating rink, a shooting range, and some of the most delicious beef jerky I’ve ever had.
Fairmont Hotel - fancy hotel with great food and nice views. We went on a Monday, when they have a buffet lunch for a reasonable price per head (can’t remember what it was, but not too bad).
Costco - ok hear me out - they have the BEST poutine in the entire world. I could (and intend to) eat it until it kills me.
Sacramento, USA
Same with Edmonton - we visited Sac to see family. While not doing that, you may want to check out the following:
Old Sacramento Waterfront - beautiful part of town built in the gold rush era. Feels very wild west saloony, and has some nice shops and bars.
Fab Fourties - a few blocks of rich people houses where they go all out on their Christmas lights. Each street coordinates on a colour scheme and my biggest question is who foots the power bill, but look; any of them could afford it so it’s fine.
Dutch Bros - really, really good hot chocolate in a drive-through type scenario. I’m firmly in the black coffee camp when it comes to hot drinks, but the German Chocolate option was insanely delicious and brought my sweet tooth back from the dead.
Dublin, Ireland
Temple Bar Inn - iconic venue with a great vibe and some of the most incredible live music I’ve seen. It’s particularly beautiful when decked out in Christmas lights.
Guinness Storehouse - take a tour of the factory where Guinness is made! Really fun and interesting experience. It’s fascinating how one simple product had such an enormous impact on one country, and how far and wide they’ve managed to distribute it. Also you can drink a Guinness with your face printed on the foam and it's the weirdest, coolest thing.
Morrison Grill - a fairly unassuming place on the river with some very, very good steak. Get it with the Cafe de Paris, it’s amazing.
Edinburgh, Scotland
Edinburgh Castle - of all the castles I’ve toured this is probably my favourite, or at least top two. Last time we were in Edinburgh we just looked at the front of it but it’s very much worth the entry price.
Loch Ness & Scottish Highlands Day Tour - some of the most beautiful countryside I’ve ever seen. Loch Ness itself isn’t all that special, but it’s worth it for the trip itself. We did this tour, and I’d recommend doing the cruise of Loch Ness when you get there. It’s a fun time, and if you choose not to, you’ll just be holed up in some average pub for a few hours.
Kwok Brasserie - a small Chinese restaurant with the single best salt & pepper chilli squid you will ever eat. It’s a little out of the way - we discovered it last time we were in Edinburgh because we were staying nearby - but we decided to go back to see if it lived up to our memories. It certainly did! The rest of the food was so so to be honest, but the squid will live on in my dreams for years to come.
We weren’t in Edinburgh for New Years this time around, but if you get the chance I highly recommend it. We did Hogmanay in 2018/19 and it was seriously one of the greatest nights of our lives.
Reykjavik, Iceland
Hallgrímskirkja - the single coolest building I’ve ever seen. Beautiful minimalist architecture and interior. Just breathtaking.
Sandholt Bakery - we stayed in the hotel next door, and this was our go-to for breakfast every day. Their breakfast salad involved bacon and eggs, which is the kind of salad I can really get behind. They also had great coffee and very nice pastries.
Northern Lights Tour - if you’re in Scandi, you have to see the lights. We took a bus tour that led us south to a national park, and we were lucky enough to see the lights, although only faintly. I’d recommend trying to find a small group tour if you can - the one we were on had about 7 bus-loads of people so it was very busy. Still cool, but would have been better with less of a crowd.
Special mention to Blue Lagoon, which is a picturesque and mesmerising place. Want a freezing head and a warm body? Look no further! It’s a very worthwhile visit and an icon for a reason.
Zermatt, Switzerland
If you’re going to go to one place in Europe, I would recommend making it Zermatt. This was our favourite stop on the honeymoon, and it’s such a ridiculously beautiful place it doesn’t even feel real when you’re there.
Gornergrat - this is the mountain with the best views of the famous Matterhorn peak. Take the train up to the very top for a viewing platform, but our favourite part was actually the walking trails a few stops down. We were completely alone out there in the snow, hiking around with spectacular views on a clear, sunny day. Plus at the end of the trail was a restaurant where we could stop for schnitzel and beer, a mandatory component of being on a mountain.
Soupi - I have never been much of a soup person but this place converted me and now it is my religion and purpose in life. Soupi is a humble shopfront with a sunken kitchen, so that you’re looking down over the 1-2 staff as they boil and chop to reggae music. Their fresh ingredients line the window, and everything smells delicious and warm. The product itself is to die for, too. I’d recommend the potato and leek, or the tomato. They also sell a hot lemon ginger beverage that kicks ass.
Zermatt Air - taking a helicopter flight over the Swiss Alps was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life, but also one of the most memorable. We’d flown in a helicopter once before in New Zealand, but this flight was much longer, and the weather was far windier. It felt like being in a tin can, being tossed about in the air, and coming frighteningly close to being dashed against the beautiful rocky peaks. All things considered, I would strongly recommend giving it a try.
Bern, Switzerland
Entrecôte Fédérale - a French restaurant with beautiful tender steak and crunchy pomme frites.
Bern Old Town - wandering around the picturesque old town and taking in the architecture is a good time, particularly when you’re lucky enough to see some snow!
Jet Wash Self-serve Laundromat - look, we were only in Bern for one day so I don't have too much to recommend, but we did find a self-serve laundry a convenient 5 min bus ride away lol. If you're in Bern and you need clean clothes, look no further.
Paris, France
Obviously, you’ll want to visit the major attractions like the Arc di Triumph, Champs Elysees, Louvre, Napoleon’s tomb, etc. Most of these don’t make the list because they’re obvious.
Eiffel Tower - this one does make the list, because even though it is the most obvious, it is also overwhelmingly glorious to see it in person. I assumed like many tourist attractions it’d be overrated, but it lived up to the hype and then some. You just need to go there, trust me.
Au Pied de Cochon - an iconic restaurant that we stumbled onto after visiting the Louvre, on a quest to find frog legs. They were insanely delicious; like chicken but more tender.
Le Marais - my favourite part of Paris to wander. Anywhere you look in Paris is stunning, but the Marais in particular. Narrow alleyways, polished boutiques, Juliet balconies and courtyards. Get ‘em in ya.
As you can see, it was an incredible trip. Hopefully, some of these recommendations are useful!
DIRECTING PRODUCTS
Another big change for me this year is that I’m now DIJGTAL’s Product Director. It’s an exciting and flattering opportunity, and I’m working hard to do the best job I can.
For the company, it means we finally have three clear departments - Marketing, Creative and Product. These have always been our key areas of speciality, but our team structure has never fully reflected it until now.
Product as a function contains three broad areas:
UX Research.
UX/UI Design.
Technology.
The tech side of things is my newest remit and clearly has massive potential in and of itself. Our tech team has a strong full-stack capability, but we’re also still at the stage where it could become whatever we wanted it to be. That’s very exciting but also poses an interesting challenge. We need to decide what we don’t want to be just as much as what we do.
A great team is just like a great product or even a piece of art; they’re defined by the things you choose to leave out. You could try to do anything and everything, but then you have no focus, no clear identity, and no remarkable quality that makes you unique. Over the next couple of years, our goal is to establish what engineering means at DIJGTAL, and what we want to be known for.
On a personal level, this role will involve a lot of the work I was already doing as Experience Design Manager, but with a shift in focus. Some of my main priorities are:
Team - establishing a scalable structure for our global team and ensuring the right people are in the right roles. Nurturing a culture of continual improvement so that we’re always growing and learning, both as individuals and as a collaborative unit.
Output - empowering and challenging the team to do work that we’re immensely proud of. Maximising the quality of our deliverables by ensuring we have scalable and efficient processes and tools in place.
Client Success - continuing to build meaningful relationships with our clients. Structuring engagements that deliver the best possible value by fully leveraging our cross-functional team.
Commercials - ensuring we’re fulfilling client needs while operating in a profitable manner by allocating effort to the right areas, tailoring our approach to any given budget, sustainably growing our client base, and utilising smart business models.
I’m lucky to be in a position where I get to work with wonderful, talented people every day, and I want to thank everyone in the team for their support, their hard work, and for making the office a hilarious, joyful place to spend time. Here’s to another great year.
WATCHING VENGEANCE
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a mystery film as good as BJ Novak’s Vengeance. I watched it on the plane from Frankfurt to Singapore, and then watched it a second time when we got home; it was that good.
The story follows a writer as he attempts to solve the murder of a girl he used to hook up with. His plight takes him from his home in New York City down to the deep south of Texas, where he does not exactly fit in, nor does he particularly want to. For him, it’s just a podcast opportunity and a good story. But as he learns more about the people who live there, he realises there’s more to this town than the simple stereotypes. In Texas, he finds rich culture, dangerous cartels, and talented, aspiring artists. All of them will lead him to an answer that you won’t expect.
The screenplay is cleverly written, with great pacing, an intriguing plot, and satisfying character arcs. There is just the right balance of comedy and dark mystique to keep things interesting, realistic and enjoyable to watch.
To me, it feels very consistent and complete, which sets it apart from many of the other films in this genre. I highly recommend giving it a watch.
VISITING DIJGTAL VANCOUVER
About 6 months ago, we hired a small Product team for our Vancouver office. It was a strange experience, interviewing people in another continent for an office I'd never been to, but after a couple of months we found the right people and brought them on board. Since then, we’ve been working together on a mobile app design project for one of our global clients in the finance industry. We’ve built up a solid working relationship, but there’s a limit to what you can do without meeting in person.
When you work with someone in another continent, your only interactions with them are in meetings. What this equates to is that every time you speak, you have an agenda and a time limit. You can make this functional, but it’s very difficult to thread deep meaning through that.
That’s why, in late March to early April 2023, I was lucky enough to work from our Vancouver office for 2 weeks.
It was a fun and challenging time where I learned a lot. Here are some of my biggest takeaways:
Small interactions matter. Forget scheduled, formal check ins every couple of weeks; it’s so much more efficient to take 15 mins every day or two for a collaborative working session. On top of that, the moments in between meetings are vital in relationship and culture building. It’ll be difficult to replicate this across locations, but there are tools and techniques available that we can certainly test (eg. having an idle chat audio channel open for anyone who wants to join).
Working across 2 timezones is hard. Sounds obvious, but it’s something I underestimated. There were several key projects happening in Sydney during the time we were away, and being a leader means you sometimes need to be present even when it’s hard, so I got in the habit of working a full day at Vancouver and a half a day of Sydney time. It was difficult, but worth it.
Our Vancouver team is rich with talent and personality. Again, this is something I knew going into this, but I couldn’t appreciate the depth and specificity until I experienced it in person. This doesn’t just apply to the Product team, either; there were people I’d barely spoken to before in the Marketing department who were delightful and opened my eyes to new possibilities.
On top of work life, we got to experience a slice of Vancouver culture, from which I learned:
The food is great. I did not cook for the entire trip. I bought bread and peanut butter, intending to at least make breakfast every day, but then I discovered the croissants at Small Victory Bakery and my time of discipline was over. I bought one every day and I have zero regrets. On top of that, Adam (GM of DIJGTAL North America) was an amazing guide and took us to a wide range of local staples for lunch & dinner. It is a medical miracle that I didn’t put on 1,000 kgs.
Whistler is amazing. We managed to squeeze in a last minute visit to Whistler with a few DIJGTALiens, and it was a magical experience. I’d been once before with Kristina (wifey) and we’d spent a great day snowshoeing, however didn’t have enough time to ski. This time, I got to experience the velvety smooth slopes first-hand. The quality is right up there with the Alps, and the village has a great nightlife too. There’s a kind of positive energy in skiing villages that’s unmatched anywhere else, and Whistler certainly has it. There’s also a high density of Australians, and it was kind of bizarre to hear the accent in every bar, cafe and store we visited.
Walking to work rocks. As someone who routinely commutes 3 hrs per day, living in the Stadium district of Vancouver and walking 20 mins to work was a unique and thoroughly enjoyable experience. Vancouver as a city feels quite culturally similar to Sydney, but it’s physically a lot more condensed. While Sydney has the kind of sprawl that makes commuting for 1+ hours the norm, in Vancouver that would be considered an outlier. It was a nice change to experience a central city life for a couple of weeks, although I probably wouldn’t make the move permanent as I’d miss having land too much.
It was a productive and enjoyable trip, and I’m extremely thankful to DIJGTAL for giving me the opportunity.
COOPER PUPDATE: THE BEACH BOY
On the weekend we got back from our honeymoon, we took Coop to the dog beach in East Corrimal on Sydney’s south coast (down near Wollongong). He is a big fan of the dog beach, because it is full of dogs, and it is a beach, which are both very exciting things.
Some of the highlights were as follows:
Trotting along in the sand.
Running away from the waves when they roll up the shore, then stomping on them when they start receding back towards the ocean (and are no longer threatening).
Reluctantly swimming in the lagoon to earn some nice treats.
Sitting directly on mother and father as they try to relax in the sun.
Saying hi to the other dogs but keeping it appropriately formal because the beach is a place of business after all.
He had a great day and slept the entire way home with a smile on his small dog face.
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It’s super helpful to hear what you did and didn’t find interesting:
Thanks for reading!
- Jack
PS: I have accepted that this will never be a monthly newsletter and changed the verbiage accordingly. Please enjoy the erratically scheduled content.
Love what you’re doing Jack. Keeps me inspired
Jen W