Bygga, skriva, bygga … Om att pendla mellan olika göromål

Abstract

Building, Writing, Building … Switching between different tasks

Two old houses by the sea have made me an enthusiastic do-it-yourself man, performing manual work of different kinds. Switching between writing and manual DIY can be experienced as moving between separate realities, where body and mind are employed in different ways. Using autoethnography as a starting point I observe myself performing manual tasks, using various tools. Being an acting subject as well as an observed object I then try to capture complex events in written words. In this process the differences as well as the similarities between building and writing become clearer.

For example, the questions of involvement, troubleshooting and aesthetics are crucial in both activities. You have to be mentally present, think hard and be concerned about the look of your result. The reality of manual work is linguistically organized. It is symbolically constructed, learned and communicated. Accomplishing DIY-projects you also need to acquire a tacit knowledge residing in your body. This tension or cooperation between hands, tools and brain seems to be more evident in manual work than in writing. Another difference is that in DIY there are ready-made answers. While building, for example a wood shed, mostly is a linear process where you pretty well in advance know the result, writing can take you almost anywhere. But in the end, switching between these activities, using different tools and senses, has integrated them with each other in everyday life as repeated struggles to create something valid.