Voices in My Writer’s Cave
I have times when I am writing and it’s all flowing. My fingers are flying over the keys without conscious thought, creatively propelled by an unseen muse. I am sitting up straight in my chair with good posture. I am well fed and watered. I am focused and I am making progress. Then my inner critic snidely remarks, “That was crap” or “They are going to hate that” or “Dude, who do you think you are writing?”
These are shortened statements of my inner critic’s key message as if everything I write should be labeled, “Ha ha! That sucks!”
The Judger and the Critic have shown up: they are king & queen killers. Here is how I handle them: I get up. I open the door to the hall. I tell them to get the @#$%& out and close the door. I sit down and start writing again. They are not welcome in the creative stages of my writing.
There is no place in my Writer’s Cave for the Judger and the Critic. He can exist out in the world to some extent. And I know professional ones exist. That’s fine. The constructive ones serve a productive purpose. Lots of people need someone to give them a qualified opinion, or they simply want to be entertained through reading and then bashing with great glee someone else’s work.
That voice in my Writer’s Cave is a creativity killer. How many of you reading this have those voices in your heads? How many are not writing because it already sucks, or it will never be better than it is in your head? Or you feel that you can never write as well as your idol.
That message has no room in the creative stages of any project. The balanced part of that voice is intended for the later stages. For me, that means third or fourth time through my personal editing stage.
So anytime those voices show up, what can you do? Are you in a place where you can do the same? Literally or metaphorically you can get up. Open the door to whatever is outside your Writer’s Cave. Tell the Critic and Judger to leave. Close the door. Sit down and start writing again.
If you write in a coffee shop and one day feel the need to close your laptop, walk to the door, and yell at your inner critic and judger by telling them to get the f… out, followed by slamming the door, let me know how that turns out for you. It might be a good story!
At the very least, the message is clear. What works for me, is to stand up, walk to the door to my Writer’s Cave, kick the judger and critic out, then sit back down and start writing immediately. Deep in my being, I am determined to write passionately. I can do this when I know they are out in the hall judging and criticizing each other.
