By Carol Grannick on December 31, 2010
This will be my last post at The Irrepressible Writer for awhile or forever, although it won’t be my last commentary on creating and maintaining resilience for the writer’s journey.
My tri-yearly column continues at Illinois-SCBWI’s The Prairie Wind and I’ll happily guest post, put my two cents into conversations, and remain available for consultation via [...]
Posted in Learned Resilience: How To Do It, Lessons From Life, Rethinking Writing Obstacles | Tagged How to Stop Negative Thinking, Resilience Workshop
By Carol Grannick on December 8, 2010
It seems to be human nature to want to begin anew by setting goals we can’t possibly meet.
So…nothing wrong with beginning anew as we come up on January 2011 (yikes!)…and nothing wrong with setting goals, even making resolutions or vows. Such activities are built in to our secular and many religious frameworks.
If you’re the type [...]
Posted in Learned Resilience: How To Do It, Rethinking Writing Obstacles | Tagged writing goals, writing resolutions
By Carol Grannick on October 28, 2010
Sometimes you have to trade one kind of positivity to get even more of another.
In the writing life, that can mean putting aside a manuscript you’d love to keep working on because you’ll have a fresher, probably stronger, perspective for the “re-visioning” to come.
In the first years of writing for children I didn’t have [...]
Posted in Lessons From Life, Rethinking Writing Obstacles | Tagged positivity, positivity for writers
By Carol Grannick on September 23, 2010
Unwanted empty writing time can be a breeding ground for gratuitous negativity.
If you’ve ever faced unwanted empty writing time between projects, or while waiting to hear from an editor, critique partners or agent, you may know what I mean.
Sure, you know the solution: “Get to work on something else.” But what if nothing else is [...]
Posted in Learned Resilience: How To Do It, Rethinking Writing Obstacles | Tagged dispute pessimistic thinking, downward spiral, how to dispute, negative thinking
By Carol Grannick on July 13, 2010
I’ve had more than one email that conveys to me the pain inherent in the writing life. And the question the emails ask is always the same: when should I quit?
If you’re a writer who’s faced self-doubt, failure, rejection, and despair you may know how difficult it becomes to maintain hope. Hope that someday someone [...]
Posted in Learned Resilience: How To Do It, Rethinking Writing Obstacles | Tagged negative thinking, quitting writing
By Carol Grannick on July 6, 2010
I’m so excited to share an interview with author Jenny Meyerhoff about creating and maintaining resilience on the writer’s journey. If you struggle with holding on to your resilience, or simply need an occasional ‘lift’, notice how deliberate Jenny’s choices are about how she stays creative and productive. Note, as well, how important is her [...]
Posted in Interviews: Resilience At Work, Rethinking Writing Obstacles | Tagged Jenny Meyerhoff, Queen of Secrets, writers' resilience
By Carol Grannick on May 11, 2010
I’m honored this week at The Irrepressible Writer to have a guest post by Meredith Resnick, whose blog at http://writersinnerjourney.com is a constant source of nourishment and inspiration. I am particularly fond of Meredith’s brilliant, concise interviews that explore the heart, mind and spirit of the writer’s creative process.
I hope you’ll enjoy her – here, [...]
Posted in Rethinking Writing Obstacles | Tagged writing growth, writing stagnation
By Carol Grannick on May 5, 2010
It’s not just the negative self-talk that wastes your writing time. It’s the negative self-talk over and over. And over.
Ruminating is a common and unhappy, unproductive activity. And the desire to “just say no” and switch it off can be unsuccessful.
In fact, yelling at Rumination to stop often kicks in a bigger and “better” [...]
Posted in Rethinking Writing Obstacles | Tagged rumination
By Carol Grannick on April 28, 2010
Here’s my office.
To me, it’s the best room in our home. Two windows looking out on an open street with trees bring in light from sunup to sundown, and many of my favorite office ‘mates’ line the shelves and walls – books, sculpture, prints and wall-hangings.
A perfect place to write…in my mind, a [...]
Posted in Rethinking Writing Obstacles | Tagged writing dreams
By Carol Grannick on April 20, 2010
One day we feel fine, and then we don’t.
In part, that’s because we’re always changing, and our feelings come and go.
One of the ways to pull yourself back into a positive space is to reach out for help.
Recently, I began to sense my inner Medusa waking, but she wasn’t threatening writers’ block. No, it was [...]
Posted in Rethinking Writing Obstacles | Tagged feeling overwhelmed
