[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"]
[/caption]Anyone who’s been reading the blog knows my muse and I seem to have a disagreement and she split.
Since she left, in an attempt to make her jealous, I’ve been writing about politics. Politics like all rebounds has worn me thin. Sure it’s a cheap date and a quick thrill, but when you wake up in the morning it isn’t pretty. In fact politics is pretty shallow and soulless.
With nanowrimo “write” around the corner I need to woo my muse back. The first step is to get back in writing shape. I need to start out with the basics and recondition my mind to win her back.
Before I can start that I need to do one thing first. Kill my inner editor. I can’t think of how many students I’ve given that advice to. Kill your editor.
Writers write. It’s a simple enough statement, that I’ve even blogged about before; but very difficult to do, especially in the age of Word. Those squiggly red lines are enough to drive a man over the edge. They taunt you, like a school yard bully, daring you – double dog daring you—to stick your tongue to the flag pole. The flagpole of correction, so it’s toady, your inner editor, can trap you, frozen and lifeless in the cold.
Your inner editor may seem like a helpful friend; after all he has your best interests at heart. He wants your story to be perfect. He’s not. In fact he hates your writing and you need to kill him. He will keep you from getting your ideas out. If you take the time to edit as you go six pages can take hours or days or forever. Agonizing over every comma, word choice, descriptor shuts the writing process down.
It also kills the fun. It can destroy a great idea and turn inspired writing into drudgery. Worse than the buzz kill it chases away your muse. She can’t stand to be ignored while you edit. She can’t stand the misery and drudgery of the inner editor. And neither can I.
Related Articles
- Creativity 2010 - Week #38 (my-creativeteam.com)
- How To Get Past Writer's Block and Release Your Inner Muse (blogher.com)
- APB out on missing muse! (thinkspin.blogspot.com)
So true. There's a time for editing and a time for locking your inner editor in a box and ignoring the hammering on the lid. You can't write if you're censoring yourself; you have to be free to experiment.
ReplyDeleteabsolutely right, at some point you just have to let them loose.
ReplyDelete