The internal critic

Writers often speak of the internal critic, the voice that sometimes tries to squash our deepest work with messages such as:
"Don't say that."
"That's not nice."
"That's not lady-like."
"That's disgusting."
"That's embarrassing."
"What will people think of you?"

Such statements are mostly useless.  The internal critic is most helpful during revisions, when opining thusly:
"That's boring."
"How many times are you going to use that same metaphor?"
"Ditch the adverbs there."
"Is there actually a point to t...