Negative Self Talk For Writers
October 16, 2008 by John Hewitt
I never did get around to publishing a summary post for my Negative Self Talk series. I had reason this week to reread my article (these habits are easy to fall back into), so maybe it is a good time for other people to read them as well.
Negative Self Talk for Writers: Negativising
Negativising occurs when you focus only on the negative aspects of an experience.
Negative Self Talk for Writers: Awfulizing
Awfulizing occurs when you take a difficult situation or a problem and you turn it into a terrible, intolerable situation.
Negative Self Talk for Writers: Catastrophizing
Catastrophizing occurs when you expect the worst to happen, especially in situations in which the risks are moderate or low and the reward is worthwhile.
Negative Self Talk for Writers: Overgeneralizing
Overgeneralizing occurs when you take a single or rare event or fact and you use that as the basis for a negative opinion or outlook.
Negative Self Talk for Writers: Minimizing
Minimizing occurs when you diminish the value of an accomplishment or skill.
Negative Self Talk for Writers: Blaming
Blaming occurs when you assign responsibility for your problems or the events in your life to another person rather than accept personal responsibility for your situation.
Negative Self Talk for Writers: Perfectionism
Perfectionism occurs when you hold yourself or others up to unreasonably high standards.
Negative Self Talk for Writers: Musterbation
Musterbation (great word) occurs when you insist that an event or a project turn out exactly the way you want it to, otherwise you will either get very upset or give up.
Negative Self Talk for Writers: Personalizing
Personalizing occurs when you convince yourself that you are the cause of other people’s problems and behavior.
Negative Self Talk for Writers: Judging human worth
Judging human worth occurs when you decide your self-worth or another person’s self-worth based on a single trait or behavior.
Negative Self Talk for Writers: Polarized thinking
Polarized thinking occurs when you believe that there are only right or wrong outcomes or views.
Negative Self Talk for Writers: Fairesy
Fairesy occurs when you feel angry or resentful because you think that someone (or the world) has treated you unfairly.
Negative Self Talk for Writers: Right stepping
Right stepping occurs when you decide that your opinions and actions are the right ones and that you must continually prove this to others.
Negative Self Talk for Writers: Shoulding
Shoulding occurs when you dwell on the things that you or others should or should not have done.
Negative Self Talk for Writers: Obsessing
Obsessing occurs when you take a relatively minor problem or issue and dwell on it to the point of distraction.
Note: Much of the terminology I am using is from an excellent textbook called Stress Management for Wellness — by Walt Schafer
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Related links
- Writing Productivity -- Using an Idea Log (0.500)
- Writing Productivity - Overcoming Writer's Isolation (0.500)
- Finding Time to Write (0.500)
- A Lesson in Writing From My Cat (0.500)
- How to Make Deadlines Work for You (0.500)
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John,
I appreciated this series a lot. It was helpful to spend time thinking about these fears instead of denying them or avoiding them. I also found that having a clear picture of their symptoms helps me to recognize that a problem is occurring more quickly.
@ Jenn,
I’m glad you enjoy the series. I wrote it for myself as much as I wrote it for others.
John,
This was a great series, and it’s timely to summarize it now. With all the doom and gloom we’re hearing these days, I suspect many people are falling into some negative self-talk.
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[...] Negative Self Talk For Writers at PoeWar. A summary of high-larious and hard-hitting series. [...]
Perfectionism seems to be my negativism of choice. Thanks for exposing these to the light of day.
Peace,
Evelyn
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@ Lillie
It is pretty easy to feel negative these days, but it really doesn’t do much good.
@ Evelyn
Perfectionism can be very haunting. Some standards are impossible to live up to.
[...] Negative Self-Talk for Writers: No matter how good or experienced you are in writing… it’s difficult to dodge negative thoughts. [...]
Wow, this is a very good list. I do all my own writing and am guilty of more than one on that list! But you know what they say, admitting it is the first step to recovery! Thanks again
This is a very good list. I’m guilty of a couple of these, and so are a couple of my friends. Hopefully I can work on those issues, and encourage others to as well.
Myself, I’m guilty of perfectionism and polarizing. I’m a casual writer (I have to be as I am in the military and as of now do not have sufficient time to write on a regular basis), and one of my stories that I really want to finish has taken over 7 years since I keep revising it everytime I get to it. I should finish it first, and then get to revising it.
Thanks!
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