I love this Nancy. I fell in love with narrative therapy early on in grad school. There is so much power in understanding how our stories influence our lives. And self-compassion is another incredibly powerful tool. I love seeing this in the context of writing.
Dear Nancy, thank you for an incredibly helpful newsletter. I'm very hard on myself, and recognize this syndrome from your piece. I'm at a stage of planning a new novel, which is incredibly hard. I come up with new ideas as I brainstorm, and each idea adds huge complexity to my plot. Now I'm stuck with a lack of credibility. I've plotted myself into a corner, but don't want to relinquish any of my amazing plot twists. What's a writing girl to do??
'If we just move the “chapter breaks,” we can tell a different story.' I found this a very helpful way of looking at my own story. Great insight from narrative psychology (which I had never heard of before).
Thank you Nancy, this is exactly what I needed to read today as I struggle with a sixth draft of a novel and reeling between hope and despair that I can get it right. I appreciate the reframing you offer using narrative psychology and the powerful prompts to reset our intentions this month around our writing. Thanks for reminding me about Kristin Neff’s brilliant self-compassion work. In coming weeks I will be having a guest on my new Substack podcast series, a narrative therapy practitioner and professional oral storyteller, and you've given me the seed of an idea, to ask her how writers can apply her knowledge to the way the stories we tell in our heads can be rewritten.
This 'headline' is by far the best I've seen in January 2024... Maybe in years :)
I love this Nancy. I fell in love with narrative therapy early on in grad school. There is so much power in understanding how our stories influence our lives. And self-compassion is another incredibly powerful tool. I love seeing this in the context of writing.
Dear Nancy, thank you for an incredibly helpful newsletter. I'm very hard on myself, and recognize this syndrome from your piece. I'm at a stage of planning a new novel, which is incredibly hard. I come up with new ideas as I brainstorm, and each idea adds huge complexity to my plot. Now I'm stuck with a lack of credibility. I've plotted myself into a corner, but don't want to relinquish any of my amazing plot twists. What's a writing girl to do??
'If we just move the “chapter breaks,” we can tell a different story.' I found this a very helpful way of looking at my own story. Great insight from narrative psychology (which I had never heard of before).
Thank you Nancy, this is exactly what I needed to read today as I struggle with a sixth draft of a novel and reeling between hope and despair that I can get it right. I appreciate the reframing you offer using narrative psychology and the powerful prompts to reset our intentions this month around our writing. Thanks for reminding me about Kristin Neff’s brilliant self-compassion work. In coming weeks I will be having a guest on my new Substack podcast series, a narrative therapy practitioner and professional oral storyteller, and you've given me the seed of an idea, to ask her how writers can apply her knowledge to the way the stories we tell in our heads can be rewritten.