Shush your inner critic

My creative writing students remember lessons with the objective of telling Bob to shut up. Yes, we use those words in my classroom, and Bob deserves it. Bob is the name chosen for the inner critic we all have within us. Often, he's good at grammar and plotlines, and thinks he's an expert on what the audience wants. But Bob is wrong, and after a few weeks of beating the inner critic down, you very easily could have witnessed students of mine mumbling the words, "Shut up, Bob" or whatever they may have called their inner critic.

Writers and many creative types fall prey to the pressure to be correct the first time. Their inner critic tells them each idea is crappy, and they probably have erased more ideas, sentences, or whole novels  than they want to admit. I didn't figure out the whole "Shut up, Bob" principle until I went to grad school. That's where I learned that I was my worst enemy; I was editing before I ever wrote anything down. I had done that my whole life. My pattern is that I need roughly three levels of crap before I find the gems on which I can work. It takes a lot of fight and perseverance to get through three layers of crap.

Writers are vulnerable to people's opinions, and that vulnerability twerks with the writer's confidence which then invites the writer to critique before it's time. There is a time for editing and there is a place for Bob, but we have to keep Bob reigned in until it's his turn to shine. And, while confidence can grow with experience and success, vulnerability is always palpable for the writer. That means Bob will always need to be told to shut up. But he's strong and can handle it because he knows he will have his day.

(Apologies to any real persons named Bob who may have taken offense.)