Don’t Let Your Inner Critic Stop You from Writing

Starting a novel or script is exciting. We can already see our finished story with its page-turning plot and well-rounded and entertaining characters.

But as the story makes it way from mind to page, reality begins replacing our ideal. Within the pages we can see the book/script/play is far from perfect.

It’s easy to start beating ourselves up. Why finish is when it’s nothing like we imagined? Who’s going to read this?

If the Inner Critic Takes Over

It’s important to stop the inner critic in its tracks. Why? The reasons are numerous:

• You’re unfairly judging the first pages against an ideal (would you judge a cook as they were mixing the ingredients together?).

• You’re not allowing yourself to imagine the positive directions your manuscript might take.

• It’s hard to write while beating yourself up.

• You’ll probably quit writing before you even get through the first draft.

Gagging the Critic

How do you quiet that inner critic?

It’s not easy. But the first step is to recognize the critic when it enters the scene. Let it know there will be a time and place for a sharp, critical eye, but now is NOT the time.

Stay tuned for more tips for quieting the critic in the next blog.

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