It’s Day Three of the Inner Critic Investigation series I’m collaborating on with writing coach Deb Norton! We’re hoping these prompts can give you all some insight into what your little jerks are thinking and feeling as they go about trying to stop you from making creative work.
The rules are as follows:
- Get a pen and a sheet of paper.
- Set a timer for six minutes.
- WRITE. Ask your inner critic the question and find out what they have to say. Keep your pen moving, even if you’re writing lies or “Blah blah blah” over and over.
Here’s the prompt:
What is precious to your Inner Critic? What do they value above all else? Fame? Security? The knowledge that they’ve successfully prevented you from making a mistake?
There will be a new prompt once per day for the rest of the week. This is a great exercise to do as a warmup before you sit down to tackle your daily NaNoWriMo goal, or just launch into creative work of any nature. There are no wrong answers. Go wild.
If you want to listen in to a whole conversation about this Creative Resistance stuff, check out this talk I just recorded with Deb.
NOW GET WRITING!
Hey Lucy,
How’re these going over? Is anyone responding by posting the results or letting you know how the process is working?
I wondered if you wanted me to write a little something, just a quick para inviting folks to share the interviews since shame and secrecy are 90% of the problem – demons thrive in dark like mold. Sharing “outs” the demon as the havoc-wreaking hitchhiker it is, reminding us that it’s non-native. Hearing the vicious and/or absurdly anxious voices of other’s inner critics inspires compassion, which we can then turn self-ward. Or we could just let people have their own process with it. What do you think?
deb
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