Comments on: pouring poison http://www.margothovley.com/2010/07/17/pouring-poison/ The writing and adventures of Margot Hovley Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:55:38 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 By: Janci http://www.margothovley.com/2010/07/17/pouring-poison/comment-page-1/#comment-60 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:55:38 +0000 http://www.margothovley.com/?p=53#comment-60 I used to do some very real damage to myself with self-talk like that, not just about writing but about everything. It took me years to stop, but I finally found something that worked for me. Whenever I had a "poisoned" thought, I made myself stop and replace it with something new. If I thought, "your writing sucks and you'll never make it," I had to tell myself to stop, and then replace it with something like, "this piece has problems, but you can fix them." Sunny, happy, everything-is-wonderful thoughts never worked for me, but I could coax my brain not to reject thoughts that acknowledge an imperfect reality and then offer hope. And so gradually I stopped beating up on myself. And now I feel so, so much better.

I've been meaning to do a whole blog post about this, but I haven't yet.

]]> By: Chris http://www.margothovley.com/2010/07/17/pouring-poison/comment-page-1/#comment-57 Sun, 18 Jul 2010 04:12:37 +0000 http://www.margothovley.com/?p=53#comment-57 My dearest Margot,

Gene Fowler, an American writer and journalist is the author of the quote "Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead."

I don't want to bleed either; I'm not sure we can avoid it. Let's limit it to no more than a couple of drops, shall we?

*C*

]]> By: momonine http://www.margothovley.com/2010/07/17/pouring-poison/comment-page-1/#comment-56 Sun, 18 Jul 2010 02:53:29 +0000 http://www.margothovley.com/?p=53#comment-56 Your critique group offers tons of anti venom, no? What about your adoring family–including your sil who recently read the WHOLE thing?

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