Write Now! Coach Rochelle Melander is an author, a certified professional coach, and a popular speaker. Melander has written ten books including Write-A-Thon: Write Your Book in 26 Days (And Live to Tell About It). As the Write Now! Coach, she teaches professionals how to write books fast, get published, and connect with readers through social media. Get your free subscription to her Write Now! Tips Ezine at http://www.writenowcoach.com. | Did you know, you were born as the first, and the last and the best and the only one of your kind, and that eccentricity is the first sign of giftedness? These are two of the crone truths I have to offer you. —Clarissa Pinkola Estes, The Dangerous Old Woman: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype I recently had a conversation with a three-year-old boy wearing a cape. He told me about his secret super powers (I’m not allowed to share them with you). I don’t know about you, but on most days a few super powers (not to mention the cape) would come in mighty handy for writing. Author and Jungian psychoanalyst Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes says that we can find our giftedness (e.g., our secret super powers) inside our eccentricities. Often people criticize us for the very thing that makes us unique and exceptional. She encourages people to list everything they’ve been ridiculed or criticized for—and then look for the gift hiding under the criticisms. When I did the exercise, I remembered something a colleague said to me in grad school, “It’s not that you lack intelligence. It’s just that you’re not serious enough.” At the time, I felt criticized and hurt. I ranted in my head: “What did she mean by not serious enough. I’ll show her. I can be just as serious as the rest of them.” But I couldn’t. No matter how hard I tried, I could not hide or lose my sense of humor. Perhaps that classmate was offering constructive criticism, but now I hear it as a sign: You are playful. You are funny. Keep that at the heart of your work. When I’m stuck with writing, I can always write forward by using my secret super power: my sense of humor. Writers, take a second look at the criticisms you have received. Make a list of those eccentricities that your friends and family complain about. Then dig a bit deeper to find your genius—or secret super power—lurking inside those eccentricities. Once you know your secret super powers, you can use them to overcome writer’s block and finish that writing project! |
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Tina Merwin is Assistant Vice President and Retail Technical Communications Specialist at Associated Bank. She works with Management of the Retail Banking team on a variety of internal communications programs and projects, including planning, writing and editing articles for a daily online newsletter, website design and maintenance, supporting special events, and other additional projects as needed.
In her spare time, Merwin takes advantage of all that downtown Milwaukee has to offer, especially pubs and restaurants, live music and festivals, museums and theater.
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