Maybe Pessimism isn’t all bad? One of the chief questions that I want to ask myself today is: Can pessimism actually serve some positive function for writers or is it all bad? Pessimism is like anything else if you have a healthy amount of pessimism, it can perhaps help you, assuming you are not a pessimistic type of person in the first place. Otherwise, the pessimism that you experience can be chronic, toxifying every manuscript that you ever produce. So, what is the right amount of pessimism? Well, pessimism that, for instance, makes you check over your manuscript one extra time for typos before sending it off to an editor is a good thing. Also, the pessimism that gives you the wisdom to know that you probably won’t get published with a big name book publisher right off the bat is a good thing too. Any kind of pessimism that helps you to face the realities of a writer, is a good thing. However, pessimism is a bad thing if it paralyzes you to do your best possible writing or to send off your writing to editors and publishers because you don’t think that it is good enough. So, pessimism is bad if it stifles your creativity and stops you from being everything that you can be as a writer, including stretching yourself and trying to be the best that you can be. Generally, optimists tend to be healthier, happier, and get lot of writing done. Pessimists, on the other hand, are not as healthy, not as happy, and get a lot less done because of their pessimism. So, I ask, which would you rather be? Despite some of small benefits of being a pessimist, being an optimism is SO much better for your health and your writing. So, try being an optimist, and don’t let anyone say that being a pessimist isn’t all that bad. ~ Happy Writing ~ Irene