[The following is only a glimpse of the topic … not a transcription]
As a coach, editor, workshop leader, and writing instructor, I’ve given a lot of feedback to writers at all levels.
For several years I taught composition and creative writing to high school students. Working with students reminded me to deal tenderly with developing writers. Encourage them. Gently help them grow. Affirm in as many ways as possible. Because it’s so easy as a teacher to focus on correction and minimize affirmation but I learned I got far better results when I showed them what worked well in any given project. If I focused too much on what needed revision, they grew discouraged. So I tried to affirm, affirm, affirm.
I’ve also worked with adult writers for over 20 years, giving input on their work, and I have come to realize adults can be as tender as teens. Writers producing any kind of writing—from a poem or personal narrative to a comedy sketch or brochure—they all need affirmation. Writers at every stage and every age need tons of affirmation to build confidence that they’re on the right track.
Writers do need to develop thick skin to withstand the red pen and rejections we’ll get along this writing journey, and we must not mislead or lie about someone’s work; however, along the way, writers need to know what aspect of their writing is going well and what their strengths are.
We can be a voice of health and life and energy to another writer.
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Listen for the full podcast (4:22). You can subscribe to The Writing Life with Ann Kroeker with iTunes and Stitcher.
You can also connect with me on Twitter and Facebook, where I’m always sharing ideas to help us be more curious, creative, and productive.
Writers at every stage and every age need tons of affirmation to build confidence. http://t.co/UofL9JgBC3 #writinglife #podcast
— Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach ✍🏻 (@annkroeker) September 9, 2015
I appreciated your well-rounded feedback on my writing when I took your workshop. Thank you for being an encouraging and helpful voice in the world of words.
What a treat to see you here, Bethany! I know I could do even more to affirm–I thought about that after I recorded the podcast, how I could have been even more affirming to those students. If they were to listen, would they remember more affirmation or more critique?
At the same time, you bring up an excellent point–that “well-rounded” feedback truly helps the writer. I’m going to talk about that in the next two podcasts with some specific suggestions.
How is your writing life these days?
I remember more affirmation than critique. Ideally, I should just take whatever comes my way in stride. But for me, the critique adds legitimacy to the affirmation. And the affirmation helps the critique to go down smoothly. I felt you offered a balanced serving of both.
I have been doing quite a bit of journaling over the summer. In August, I sat outside for 15 minutes per day to soak up the oudoors. What refreshment! I wrote a little bit about it most days, and managed to put together a poem too. I’m taking another poetry workshop later this month. Did I tell you I did my very first public poetry reading?
So good to connect with you again, Ann.
I always enjoy your posts and good words.
Hazel, what a treat to see you here! Thank you for your affirming words!
I just love getting to hear your voice, Ann, even though I can’t see your mouth moving. 😉
You are such an encourager. You’ve held my heart tender… many times.
Sandra, thank you. I love watching your dreams emerging in new ways. It’s a privilege to be a small voice of encouragement along the way. “Go, Sandra! Go, go, go!”
Ann,
Thank you so much for your encouraging words even as you gave me feedback…You’re right about us writers being tender but we all need to hear the truth and I appreciate you so much 🙂
Dolly, I’m so glad to work with you!
I love this advice Ann. (I do think this advice applies to other areas of life.) I remember years ago when my son’s 6th grade English teacher changed her way of grading writing assignments after a conversation with my son. She was affirming his writing efforts. He was (and is) very black and white in his thinking. He looked at the paper marked all over with a red pen and told her that the red marks told him that his writing wasn’t as good as she was telling him. She later traded the red pen for other colors, marked less and began highlighting the best parts. As far as I know, she continues to do this years later. My son is a writer at heart. Writing brought him through a “valley” several years ago and then he put it down. Someday I hope he discovers his gift again.
Love your podcasts!
Dea, I definitely agree this advice is applicable to far more than writing! 😉
Your story is terrific. You should write that up someday–wouldn’t it be amazing if more teachers could provide feedback that way? A perfect, perfect example of that approach at work, changing a life.
So glad you took time to listen and join me here!