The Inner Critic is that voice in your head that talks to you telling you if something is worthy of appraisal or not. Everyone has one. It just seems that writers tend to be the most tortured by this voice.
That nasty little voice in our heads if we are not careful will become judge, jury, and executioner to our work. If we allow it that critic can shut a story down and keep us from submitting our work. By listening to that voice in our head saying things like. “That’s not really good enough to send out.” “No one is going to want to read that.” “You’re no Stephen King, baby. Or we leave a manuscript unfinished because that voice convinced us it wasn’t what readers wanted.
When that voice begins to niggle… stuff a sock in it. Tell that inner critic to pack his bags and get on the next train out of town. Put him in a bag and toss him in the river. Whatever it takes to silence that voice.
Writers have to stuff that voice down and get the job done. Tell those stories that are aching to be told. Just as we would with a rejection letter or a bad review, we write another page. Write another and another until your work finds a home to adopt it.
The inner critic will come back after a while, but, that doesn’t mean you have to listen to it. What does a voice in your head know anyways? When I was three he told me dirt might taste good… yeah what does he know.
great blog -what does a brain know - dirt tasting good indeed!
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