This week's advice for writers from Robert Boice is Rule No. 6: "Moderate negative thinking." Easier said than done, right? Here is one way
Boice himself put it: “Whatever their origins, our internal critics and other negative self-talk can easily overwhelm and block writing.” You've felt it, right?
When Boice studied early-career writers he found them embroiled with themselves in their own minds. They strugged with perfectionism, worries over future criticism, preoccupation the technicalities that could
be corrected later (spelling, grammar, etc.), and they focused on negative outcomes and engaged in negative self-talk. His advice? replace those thoughts with positive, constructive, mindful ones. And we should focus on the process rather than the product of our writing.
At the Writing Table we make it our habit to share strategies at the end of our session. The closing strategies become a way to recall what is working, rather than focusing on what did not work. It helps us moderate our negagive thinking.
I look forward to writing with you this week!
Warmly,
Eileen
