What I want writers to get after an appointment with me is that not getting it is an inherent part of being a writer.

Writing can be understood as a cognitive process, as the exploring and articulating of our ideas. It is a sophisticated skill that we are constantly developing as writers. Inherent in learning this sophisticated, dynamic skill is the need to take risk, make mistakes, and use those mistakes as opportunities to grow. The importance of this perspective, understanding oneself as developing and understanding failure as an opportunity to grow, is that it allows us to engage in activities that drive forward our development. There are two perspectives of intelligence: an understanding of intelligence as fixed and an understanding of intelligence as dynamic (Effie Maclellan 198). By recognizing our constant development and the value of failure we assume and gain the benefits of the second perspective. As Maclellan explains, people with a fixed idea of intelligence understand their abilities as absolute, innate, and unchanging. They shy away from risk, because they do not want to potentially show their lack of abilities. Because of this, they never really find out if they could do more (198). If a writer views intelligence as fixed, they will potentially avoid challenges-opportunities to develop-in order to avoid showing the weaknesses in their writing. Their aversion to risk ultimately develops in a slowing or even plateauing of their growth. For writers to develop, they must accept a dynamic understanding of their abilities: ability is an ever increasing repertoire of skills and knowledge effected through ones instrumental behavior (Maclellan 2006 198). This understanding of abilities recognizes that errors are an inevitable part of learning (Maclellan 199). By understanding that mistakes are a small, essential part of the larger learning process, writers are no longer inhibited by shame of their present weaknesses. Recognizing mistakes as a natural part of ones development and not as an

overarching statement about ones abilities happens through a component of the process called mingsight (Siegel 25).