Ever heard the old saying, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me?” You’d think we would learn from our mistakes but those I coach report they seem to go around the same mistakes over and over again like they are on an emotional carrousel. I’ve done it myself more times than I care to admit. If we continue to make the same mistakes over and over again, it can be damaging to our emotional health in many ways. Here are a few: 1) We conclude we are in some way incapable. If we continue to fall into the same hole, it has a way of telling us we were meant to be in the hole. 2) We learn to accept living in the hole. When […]
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Villainous Antagonists: Tips, Tricks and Hints
This week on our fast Maass notes review, we’re going to look at the antagonist. What is an antagonist? The opposite of protagonist. (Yeah, thanks, Rach, big help!) Antagonist is the villain. The opposite of the hero. The trouble maker, the one who pulls against the protagonist to keep her from achieving her goal and dream. Some famous antagonist you might remember: Darth Vadar Lex Luthor Kryptonite The terrorist in Die Hard Biff in Back to the Future In Sweet Caroline, the diner, The Frogmore Café, was the antagonist. A broken down diner the heroine inherited. She could’ve cared less about the building, but the people who came with it tugged on her heart. In Dining with Joy, her secret – that she can’t cook – is like the antagonist. […]
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Don’t Be Fooled, Part Two: I Only Thought I Could…
Last week we talked about fool’s gold and not being attracted to bright, shiny objects. Today we’re going to journey in the opposite direction because I coach individuals all the time who fall into this trap. It goes something like this: You spend nights and weekends at the keyboard pouring your best efforts into creating the manuscript you just know will be a New York Times Best Seller. You save your pennies to register for a writer’s conference and practice your elevator speech until you recite it in your sleep. An agent and editor both want to see the manuscript so you run back to your hotel room you couldn’t afford and press the “send” button. Then you wait. You don’t want to leave your room to attend the workshop […]
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