Karen Collum">Australian Children's Author

As some of you know, I have a passion for optimistic thinking skills. I’m not talking about pie-in-the-sky-whistle-a-happy-tune optimism, but a conscious, learned processing of thoughts that enable me to view the world in the most optimistic and realistic way possible. I have always been a cheerful sort of person, but underneath my smile I suffered from enormous anxiety. When I came across optimistic thinking skills through the work of Martin Seligman over ten years ago, it quite literally changed my life. Suddenly I had tools to use to counter my anxiety and tendency to worry. And believe it or not, those exact same skills are the ones that are keeping me afloat as a writer.

The writing life can be tough. We willingly pour our hearts out onto the page for all to see and then open ourselves up for criticism. Right now, I have a group of beta-readers trawling through my contemporary Christian novel and I can tell you, it’s been unsettling for me. I’ve swung from confidence that they’ll love it to complete self-doubt as to whether it is even possible for this story to be edited to a publishable standard. But when these thoughts strike, I keep coming back to the same stuff: optimistic thinking skills.

More specifically, I run myself through one of the skills Seligman advocates. Essentially, you take your fears and look at a worst-case, best-case and most likely scenario. Since most of us tend to latch on to our negative thoughts rather quickly, let’s start with the worst-case scenario.

WORST-CASE: That my book will be the very worst book that my beta-readers have ever read and they will be embarrassed for me as they read. There will be no redeeming features, nothing remotely of value within it and it belongs nowhere other than the rubbish bin. It’s not even worthy of the bottom drawer.

This is honestly my deepest fear. The good news is, that once I’ve identified exactly what it is that I’m so afraid of, I can then take steps to adjust my thinking. So I ask myself:

HOW LIKELY IS THIS: Seriously, how likely is it that my manuscript is the very worst thing that someone has ever read? I’ve been published in a variety of magazines, I’ve got contracts with two publishers for picture books and I’ve enrolled in a master class to learn new skills. With all of that in mind, it is unlikely that it’s the worst novel my beta-readers have ever read. I know what it takes to write a good book and my novel has at least some of those elements.

Already I’m feeling a little more optimistic. My worst-case scenario is unlikely to be true. Let’s move on to the opposite end of the spectrum.

BEST-CASE: That my book will be the best book my beta-readers have ever read, there will be no suggested changes and my novel is totally ready to be sent out into the publishing world where it will wow the socks off editors and agents alike.

HOW LIKELY IS THIS: Once again, highly unlikely. My novel is still a work-in-progress. This is the first time I’ve ever finished a complete novel, let alone gone through the full editing process. The reality is there are going to be suggested changes and probably lots of them. There will be things in my book that don’t work as they stand. The whole purpose of having beta-readers is to have the opportunity to gather feedback and make changes before sending my novel out into the publishing world. It’s unrealistic to think that it’s not going to need any work.

So now I have a dose of reality. My novel isn’t finished and there will be elements of my work that my beta-readers don’t like or they identify as weaknesses. Let’s move on to the final step, the most-likely scenario:

MOST-LIKELY: In all likelihood, beta-readers will find both strengths and weaknesses in my novel. They will make suggestions, some of which I may choose to disregard, but all of which I must seriously consider. My novel with neither be the best nor the worst novel they have ever read, but it will be somewhere in the middle.

Once I’ve processed my worst-case and best-case scenarios and looked for evidence to support and dispute each one, I’m left with what is probably going to be the reality. Accepting that this is the reality I now have the opportunity to create an action plan for myself. This leads me to the real question:

HOW AM I GOING TO HANDLE THAT: I may be overwhelmed, disappointed and even embarrassed by some of the feedback I receive. Conversely, I might be buoyed, ecstatic and joyous at the things that work. I am going to embrace the editing process, thank my beta-readers for their time and compile their feedback in a way that is meaningful to me. I am going to sift through the suggestion and work out which ones I believe are valid. Then, I’m going to put my derriere in the chair for as long as necessary and rewrite, edit, change and polish my manuscript until all of the work is done. It may not be a quick process, it may take longer than I thought, but it is achievable. There will be days when I feel like it’s too much work, and days when I feel like I’m almost there, but in the end, it’s going to be perseverance and hard work that whip this novel into shape.

So there you have it. I’m an optimistic writer but I’m a realistic one. I’m thankful for kind friends and colleagues who have given up their time to critique my work and I’m feeling ready to deal with the feedback that I receive. I have an action plan and therefore am empowered to do the work to reach my goal. I love being a writer and I honestly believe optimistic thinking skills make this tumultuous journey that much easier. Keep on smiling – I know I am :)