Ten Minute Tuesday: Talking to Your Critic

Ten Minute Tuesday: Talking to Your Critic

by | Apr 18, 2017 | Ten Minute Tuesday, writers, writing

We all have at least one in our head. One critic that doesn’t shut up. He or She is the critic in the stands that Brene’ Brown often refers too. They aren’t supposed to matter because they do not get down in the arena with you. They don’t wrestle with the world and come up dirty. This critic tries to stay above it all. Always criticizing  but never trying. Since this is National Letter Writing month  let’s write  a letter to this critic, Tell this critic what you think of them. See who they are clearly in your mind. Man or woman? Insolent child? Think of this letter as standing up and addressing them directly. If they are a critic that is not willing to get down in the mire with you, do you fire them? Send them on vacation for a while? What do you want to say? I once wrote a letter to this critic firing them. He was a cranky old man in my head. One who was never happy with anything at all. It didn’t matter how good something was, HE did not like it. So I fired him. Now, I will warn you, since firing him, he does not come around as often, though a couple of new ones took his place. But everyone once in a while the cranky old man slips past my defenses and into my head once again like an employee who never gets the hint that he is doing terrible at his job. So I have to fire him again. Here is my letter to the critic in my head and how I fired him.

Dear Critic in the Stands,
I’m letting you go.
I’m saying good-bye to your harsh tones and your sandpaper words
that scrape away
the soft parts of my heart.
I’m turning away from you,
and
Leaving you standing with your arms crossed and
frown lines on your face
while tapping your foot.
This relationship is not working for me.
I do not enjoy having you shred my skin away,
expose the broken bones beneath
while you are up in the stands, keeping your hands clean
and your bones safe.
I have made my list of the ones who matter,
tucked it in my pocket… the loved ones who get down in the mud with me.
So, I will tell you again.
I’m letting you go.
I’m saying good-bye.
Please leave the arena now,
you are fired.
Sincerely,
Susan

Fired: My Inner Critic

by | Oct 1, 2015 | Uncategorized

Most of us have heard the voice in our head.

Not the one that tells us how successful we will be, or how beautiful our creations are, but the other one.

The one that tells us, “Don’t bother painting, nobody will see” or “nobody likes what you write”, or “that blog is much better than yours”. Some days it is easy to ignore it, or turn it down so it becomes like static whispering.
On other days, for me, on the days, I am about to put a deep amount of passion into my project, the voice gets louder and louder. It is more persistent. There is no “shushing” it. If I let it, that voice will keep me from creating.
That’s when I decided to FIRE THE VOICE! (for me, it is an old bald man, wearing a sweater vest and glasses)
Here is the dismissal poem I gave to my inner critic:

Firing My Inner Critic

“I’m letting you go.
I’m saying good-bye to your harsh tones and your sandpaper words
that scrape away
the soft parts of my heart.
I’m turning away,
Leaving you standing with your arms crossed and
frown lines on your face
and tapping your foot.
Its not working for me
to have you shred my skin away and
expose the broken bones beneath
while
you hide under the bed
inside your glass house.
I’m letting you go.
I’m saying good-bye
before I pick up stones and
you and I are the same.”

He packed up his briefcase, rather reluctantly, walked out the door.
He does pop in from time to time, unwelcome and uninvited, and I send him back on his way.
Somedays, though, I beckon him. I ask him to come sit with me while I edit. He guides me then, ever so kindly. The inner critic can do things that I cannot do. He tosses out my precious lines when they aren’t quite right; he moves paragraphs, and kills of characters for the sake of the story. These are his strengths.
He has been fired from permanent employment. Now, he is just a brief consultant.

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