Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach

[The following is only a glimpse of the topic … not a transcription. Also, this episode is about 6 minutes long.] In the last episode, I encouraged anyone who is in a position read and respond to a writer’s work to affirm, affirm, affirm what’s working. I’m not talking about a formal reviewer online or at a newspaper who is reviewing a book. I’m thinking of someone in a writing group who's workshopping a short story or a someone giving a friend feedback about a poem. If you’re in that kind of situation—helping steer someone and encourage their growth as a writer—I recommended you err in the direction of honest affirmation. Honest affirmation is kind of like clicker training for writers. It works especially well when you have the luxury of taking a long-range view, trusting that over time, the writer will self-correct the more confident he grows from knowing what he does well. Sometimes, though, we don’t get that much time and have to point out a few things that would ideally be changed, eliminated, twe