Writers and Attitude

 

Many of you know I am a big Kansas State University football and basketball fan and supporter. After this last basketball season, our coach resigned. Always sad, as there are good and bad things about every coach's era. Jerome Tang, assistant head coach at Baylor University was hired. The portal transfer system went into high gear, and suddenly, Coach Tang had only two players left from our K-State team. 

He didn't hang his head and feel sorry for himself. Instead, he spoke in positives wherever he went, with whomever he tried to recruit, and as he hired his staff. I read an article about him this morning as he went on a Catbakcer tour across our state to meet and greet the fans. Long article filled with his great attitude. He's already recruited 5 new players, all with fine credentials, and there are more to come. He speaks to the fans with the attitude that we are going to be winners, and that outlook is transferring to those who back the Wildcats. Coach Tang's perspective is one we can all learn from.

How does the above link to writers? Attitude is a real biggie in the life of one who writes. Our poster today tells us that, if we think positive, positive things will happen. I'm a firm believer in that thought. 

Coach Tang has a gleam in his eye and a smile on his face, along with the goals he seeks. Writers should strive for the same. Moping around feeling sorry for yourself because of multiple rejections isn't going to move you very far on your writing journey. If you've set goals for your writing life, you'll reach them much faster with a positive attitude.

If you are a writer who does Morning Pages or keeps a daily journal, make it a habit to write at least one good thing about your writing world each day. More is better, but try to find one, only one, even if it is something miniscule in size or strength. If you've got plenty of negatives to write about in your journal, go ahead. It helps to vent sometimes, But don't forget to pen one positive.

The poet, Maya Angelou, has given us many fine quotes, but one I especially like is:

             If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.

If you go to a search engine and look for quotes on attitude, you'll find an abundance of well-known people whose advice we should consider carefully. These words are from successful humans. If it worked for them, their thoughts could work for us if we begin to practice having a positive attitude. 

When I run into a snag in my writing life, I'm resolving to look at it with Coach Tang's positive attitude. Can't hurt, and it's very likely to help. How about you? Are you willing to give it a try?