Sit Experiment 5: “I’ll Never Be a Writer” Gremlin
Rick Carson, Taming Your Gremlin®, Quill, 2003
My first coach gave me this book not long after it was published. I don’t know whether she thought I had particularly loud gremlins or whether she just liked the humor. I’ve had a few clients who have responded well to comparing their self-critical inner voices to mischievous creatures whose goal is to keep them from being happy. Sometimes, they give them names. One particularly insightful client learned to wonder, “What was I doing right before my gremlin became so loud?” She got clues about possible breakthroughs that she realized her gremlin was trying to prevent her from making. I think most writers can identify the inner voices that sap their energy.
Howard S. Becker, Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article. University of Chicago Press, Third Edition, 2020.
This book was assigned reading when I started the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology program in 2005, and I’ve always treasured this forthright description of writing papers in college.
