My Inner Critic

8 'Ilm 162 B.E. October 22-23, 2005 A.D.

Why is it that I listen to my inner critic, when I know that his opinion is not valid. Why do I refer to my inner critic as he. I am a woman, true I have had some very bad experiences with men, but not all men are louses. Some men are quite nice and show respect for a woman’s hopes and dreams. However, I still refer to my inner critic as he. I suppose a psychologist could make something of this, but at this point, I don’t want to be psychoanalyzed or even psychoanalyze myself. I am just trying to find a way to overcome or drown out my inner critic.

My inner critic always looks on the negative side of things. He tells me my writing is no good and that I have no talent. This is not the way a writer needs to look at her work. I know how I feel when I listen to my inner critic - I fee depressed. At this moment, while I am writing this, I can hear my inner critic telling me “This is stupid.” or “You’re not really writing this are you.” When I write the voice of my inner critic is distant and almost drowned out by my writing.

What I am say is that my inner critic doesn’t seem to be a problem when I am writing. He (my inner critic) is a problem before I start to write. He tells me, “You can’t think of anything to write.” or “This is stupid.” The last statement is the one he uses most, I hear “This is stupid.” a lot from my inner critic.

Going back to finding a way to overcome the voice of my inner critic there is an article in the November 2005 issue of Writer’s Digest concerning the inner critic. The article is by Jacquelyn B. Fletcher and is called Squelch Your Inner Censor and gives several suggestions on silencing the inner critic. I think I will try some of them and see how it works. Of course not every method is going to work for every writer, but there has to be one method that will work for me.