September Mastermind for Food Writers Meeting
The September meeting is on Wednesday, September 17th
Hello everyone!
The September Mastermind Meeting is on Wednesday, September 17th and I hope you can join us! (The time of the meeting and link to join is below.)
In the last meeting we tried something new and split into small breakout rooms for part of the meeting. We all agreed that these smaller discussions were enjoyable and beneficial, so we’re going to do that again at this meeting.
A special thanks to Betty Williams who will co-host this month’s meeting. Our daughters will be visiting next week for just a couple of days and I don’t want to give up my time with them. I’ll get the meeting started and then bow out and Betty will take it from there.
Here’s the format and topic for this month’s meeting:
Large group discussion: We’ll begin the meeting as we always do, with an open forum for participants to share what’s working, general questions, wins, and requests.
I also want to spend some time on an important topic: What does it mean to treat one another with respect?
On the surface, this seems like an elementary question. But, this group is a revolving door of food writers with different personalities and perspectives, in different parts of the world and with different ways of relating.
It’s inevitable that there will be disagreement and personality clashes. In fact, I hope there IS disagreement from time to time. No disagreement in a group like this would seem to indicate that people don’t feel comfortable stating their opinion and in that case, what’s the point?
Respect has a lot to do with attitude and intention, and attitude and intention are sometime difficult to discern. But, I had to spend some time last week gathering my thoughts about the pragmatic side of treating people with respect. And that’s what I’d like to talk about.
These are my initial thoughts about what it looks like to
Speak to each other, not about each other.
Try not to react with snap judgements and assumptions. Rather, listen and ask clarifying questions to make sure you understand the meaning behind the words.
Try not to take a difference in opinion personally.
If you disagree or have a different perspective, say so. But don’t attack the person you disagree with.
Possibly most importantly, let’s not take ourselves and our opinions too seriously. To quote another writer, “grace and humor are in short supply these days”. May our meetings have them in spades.
After about 30 minutes in the large group, we’ll divide into breakout rooms. The number of breakout rooms will depend on the number of participants, but the goal is to create a small group for which to get ideas or feedback about something, anything, that you would like to process through with a group.
Come to the meeting with something you would like feedback about or questions you have about anything Substack or food writing related.
What are you struggling with right now? What do you need some perspective about? What ideas are you looking for? Where do you need some encouragement or inspiration?
When it’s your turn to speak in your small group, share whatever you like with the group and ask for their help/ input/ feedback/ encouragement.
Return to the large group discussion: After 30 minutes in the breakout rooms, we’ll all come back to the main meeting space and have the opportunity to share any insights or ideas that came up in our small group with the larger group.
If you’re new here, this is where you’ll find some information about the basic structure and purpose of these meetings: About Mastermind for Food Writers
Meetings are once a month, 90 minutes, and held on Zoom at the following time:
6am — Seattle (Pacific)
8am — Chicago (Central)
9am — Atlanta (Eastern)
2pm — London (GMT)
3pm — Brussels (Central European)
9pm — Singapore (Singapore standard)
1am - Sydney - (September 18)
Link to join the September meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85481195220
As always, let me know if you have any other questions or suggestions! Seeing your faces on my screen is truly one of the highlights of my month.
Quick links
Member directory: This is a list of food writers who have attended mastermind meetings over the past few months.
Community resources: A revolving list of resources from food writers for food writers
Collaboration network: Find other Substack food writers to collaborate with
I'm planning on joining again! It was fantastic!
But I can't remember where you post the link to the zoom! HELP! Thank you!
Hi Rebecca, I don't see the link to join in the post.