Survival Tips for the Waiting Part of Writing Tip #19 – Remain teachable

My dear Mother-In-Law is ninety years old, but she’s not like any senior citizen you’ve ever met. Power suits, three-inch heels, bright red fingernails, and crimson lipstick are her trademarks. She’s a celebrity in her neck of the woods, not only because of her dynamic style and outgoing personality, but because she’s spent her whole life caring for others. Just a few years ago she retired from running a non-profit organization and is still active today as a representative of the Texas Silver-Haired Legislature. Yes, at age ninety!

I’ve often pondered the secret to my MIL’s success. The answer hit me one day as I witnessed her interaction with my fifteen-year-old daughter. My daughter was trying to teach her the clapping game Miss Mary Mack. Time after time again my MIL would get half way through the rhyme and accidentally clap left when she was supposed to clap right. But did she quit? Never. She laughed at herself while my daughter giggled with her, then they would begin the game again. She was teachable. Yes, at age ninety!

Teachability is one of the most valuable tools in any successful writer’s tool chest. Most of us begin the writing journey with tons of it, but as legendary basketball coach John Wooden states it: “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”

Here are five probing questions to keep us on the path toward teachability:

• Am I willing to ask a question even if I’m afraid they will expose my ignorance?
• When my writing is critiqued do I listen openly for truth or do I become defensive?
• Am I willing to learn from a writer with less experience or fewer credentials than me?
• Do I remain open-minded about doing things differently than I’ve done them before?
• How do I handle failure? Do I consider it an opportunity to learn?

Scripture: Proverbs 9:9, Proverbs 15:32, Proverbs 1:5, Proverbs 19:20

Fun Fact or Helpful Resource:
If you’d like to catch a glimpse of my amazing Mom-In-Law in action here’s the link to a news story from a few years back.

Annette Marie Griffin is a award-winning writer who speaks at local women’s group meetings and women’s retreats on the topic of biblical womanhood and finding our identity in Christ. She is the Operations and Events Coordinator at a private school for special needs students and is the editor of their quarterly newsletter. She has written custom curriculum for women’s retreats and children’s church curriculum for Gateway Church in San Antonio, Texas where she served as Children’s Ministry Director and Family Program Director for over twenty years. She and her husband John have five amazing children and two adorable grands. She’s a member of Word Weavers International, ACFW, SCBWI, and serves on the Board of Directors for The Creative Writing Institute.