If you will be in the NYC area on June 12, please drop by McNally Robinson NYC, 52 Prince Street, at 7 PM. Andrea Buchanan, Caroline Leavitt, Rochelle Jewell Shapiro, Rachel Zucker, Miranda Field, Jessica Berger Gross, and I will read from our essays in About What Was Lost: Twenty Writers on Miscarriage, Healing, and Hope.
Susan O'Doherty, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist with a New York City-based practice. A fiction writer
herself, she specializes in issues affecting writers and other creative artists. Her book,
Getting Unstuck Without Coming Unglued: A Woman's Guide to Unblocking Creativity, will be published by Seal Press in June and is now available for pre-ordering. Send your questions to her at Dr.Sue at mindspring dot com.
Dear Dr. Sue,
I write and have had a few articles published--small successes. There is no way to know if I'm good at writing. Some days I fear I am mediocre, at best. When I listen to others' writing in my critique group, I sometimes feel inadequate. It would be nice if I could believe in myself, but rewriting and revising only serve to show me how much work I need to become really good at what I love to do. I sometimes fret over one sentence for a half hour. Many times I revise 10 or 12 times. I have strong points, but I have weak points. One of my very real weaknesses is the fear that I am fooling myself into believing I can evolve into a great writer.
I am told all writers feel this way from time to time. Maybe.
F.E.
Dear F.E.:
I wonder if you have considered taking a writing class or tutorial with a teacher you trust. Many writers definitely do feel the way you described from time to time, and often this has to do with a very rich imagination. Because there aren't set standards for writing (the way there are in, say, marathon running, accounting, or carpentry) it's hard to tell how well we are working, and when we don't have concrete information our imaginations tend to run wild--often in the worst possible direction.
It's not so much that a teacher can tell you whether you're a good writer or not, but that getting specific feedback and suggestions (again from someone you trust) can sometimes keep the demons away by providing a reality check (reminding us that we are neither the best nor the worst writers who have ever lived and that while we do have areas of weakness, these can be addressed) and by focusing our attention on the steps we can take right now to improve. Critique groups can do that as well, of course, but during periods when we're vulnerable to self-doubt it's easier to fool ourselves into thinking that our peers are just being tactful when they praise our writing, and that they're shaking their heads in pity behind our backs. A teacher who gives strong, clear criticism, both positive and negative, is harder to dismiss. You may decide not to follow all of the teacher's suggestions, but simply receiving them can be enough to recall us from the hell of ambiguity (which one of my clients described, memorably, as a planet whose atmosphere is composed of lime Jell-o) and deposit us back in the realm of oxygen, carpentry, and accounting.
I would also suggest relieving yourself of the burden of the word "great." In the first place, it is such an ambiguous standard that it's impossible to tell whether you've met it or not. Second, it's irrelevant. Your job is to express your personal vision as fully as possible. Nobody else can write the way you do.
We can allow the writers we admire to intimidate us, or we can enjoy their work and study their technique in the service of our own. I may never write as well as my personal "greats" (Shakespeare, Jane Austen) but they couldn't write my stories, either, because they don't have my particular sensibility or experience. This is true of your "greats" as well, whoever they may be. They are not you, so there is no basis for comparison.
Susan O'Doherty, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist with a New York City-based practice. A fiction writer
herself, she specializes in issues affecting writers and other creative artists. Her book,
Getting Unstuck Without Coming Unglued: A Woman's Guide to Unblocking Creativity, will be published by Seal Press in June and is now available for pre-ordering. Send your questions to her at Dr.Sue at mindspring dot com.
What might work even better is to get a job where you have to write on deadline. When the copy desk is breathing down your neck, you don't torture yourself on each sentence for 30 minutes. You get it done. Some people think this is the path to hack work, but if your fear of not being great is sabotaging your output, it might be helpful.
Posted by: lisa hunter | June 08, 2007 at 04:07 PM
I'm my own worst critic when it comes to writing. I have all kinds of ways to sabotage myself. I do my BEST work, however, when I focus on the fact that I love it. When I'm stuck in the loop of endless revision, I find a project I just love (maybe move from fiction to essay or essay to poetry) and write! I try to remind myself that it's about the process as much as anything.
There are some GOOD online courses too - I'm taking mine at UCLA Extension - where the instructors are terrific. They don't just tell you what's wrong; they tell you how to fix it AND sing the praises of what's RIGHT!
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