Your Writing Glass—Half Full or Half Empty?

By Susan Goodsell - Jul 06 , 2009

I recently met a person in the business office of a friend—woman in her 40s, well-dressed, obviously cared about her appearance. However, after our 15-minute conversation, I left feeling angry and grinding my teeth, with a quicker heartbeat, raised blood pressure, and an upset stomach. Why? Because that woman was the most negative person I’d ever crossed paths with!

Her tone was sarcastic and had a staccato beat. She persistently refused to let anyone else finish their sentence before she was off into another negative comment of her own. A quick glance at her body language showed crossed arms, a slight frown, furrowed brow, and clenched muscles. I could almost see the black cloud floating above her head!

Now mind you, I had no business dealings with this woman, no vested interest in her words one way or the other. Yet I walked out of that office with harmful physical symptoms after meeting her! That fact astounded me so much that I started thinking about how our attitudes of positivity and negativity affect us in our professional writing.

As far back as 1911, Walter Cannon, a professor of physiology at Harvard University, observed that when working with animals, “Any change of emotional state in the animal, such as anxiety, distress, or rage, is accompanied by total cessation of movements of the stomach.” Thus, my upset stomach after my negative interaction was perfectly understandable.

So what does this have to do with writing? Well, let’s look at poor Annie Author, who has the belief that life for writers is impossible—–nothing but rejection and depression.

When casually asked by an editor, “How are you?” Annie’s heavy sigh of a response is a litany of complaints: “Not so great…I haven’t sold my book idea because no one is willing to take a chance, I can’t even get someone to respond to my query letter, I haven’t made a dime in months, my office is a mess, my car’s in the shop, my kids are driving me to drink, no one appreciates how hard things are for me, etc.”

Pick one or all of these negative responses and doesn’t she make that editor suddenly see someone across the room that he simply must connect with?! What did Annie expect his response to be? “Great…let me give you a writing assignment!” Fat chance!

How would that same editor have responded had Annie cheerfully replied, “I’m wonderful –thanks for asking! Keeping busy, lots of new ideas, I’ve been in the writing zone, my articles are popping up on the Internet in places I never dreamed of, and I’m absolutely loving life!”

Wow! Who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by that aura of success! And here’s a bonus – It’s not just about your professional life…an optimistic, glass half-full attitude improves your health, stress management, and even your longevity!

So here are some tips to help you keep that glass positively overflowing!—–

1. Have a Can Do! attitude about your writing. Remember Eeyore the donkey from Winnie-the-Pooh? For the Eeyores of the world, everything is an issue or a problem, one is always the victim of circumstance, and Woe is me! permeates their every pore. Don’t be an Eeyore or editors will avoid you like the plague! You want a reputation for being easy to work with and that you are willing to go the extra mile with a smile on your face.

2. Do your best and realize your best should be celebrated, no matter what the outcome. Be the best writer you can be. Do a re-write before you’re asked. Delve a little deeper into the research. Treat every submission as your most important ever!

3. Remember we all have setbacks as writers. For inspiration, one needs only look at Theodor Geisel, “Dr. Seuss,” whose first book, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street” was rejected 27 times before being published by Vanguard Press. Talk about positivity and persistence!

4. Change your view. The view that the world should behave according to one’s wishes is a childish view of the world. We all have challenges but what needs changing is not the world, but ourselves and our views. In writing, acknowledge the rejection, but learn the lesson and use it to make you a better writer.

5. Program yourself. Like attracts like —– a negative attitude will draw other negative people to you, a positive attitude will attract others with similar cheeriness and optimism. Think of it as a groove on a record:  following the same path simply etches that groove deeper and deeper. We are literally programming ourselves. There’s a huge difference between telling yourself you can’t write a book and asking yourself how you’ll achieve writing a book! Whether you say I can’! or you say I can! —– you’re right, literally! Half-full thinking!

I love my daughter Kelsey’s take on this topic. “Positive people make you feel better about everything – big things and little things. Like warm chicken noodle soup – they are the cure for everything!”

We sometimes have little control over what happens to us. We always have control over how we react. We must keep in mind that our attitudes do affect virtually every aspect of our lives —– emotional, physical, personal, and professional.

See that glass as half full —– and see the immediate positive changes in your writing successes!
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Susan M. Goodsell is a referral marketing professional, trainer, and author, based in Southern California. She is Executive Director and owner of BNI Riverside & San Bernardino Counties, CA. Her focus is helping entrepreneurs and business owners reach higher levels of success through word-of-mouth marketing.