Every creative person, including authors, deals with an internal critic. I’ll give you 5 ways you can continue being creative even when our inner editor is trying to get the upper hand.

We all have that voice in our heads, the one that says, “Careful now. That probably won’t work.” We need to get it perfect. Perfect means no one can criticize you. Perfect means safe. So maybe you should just wait to write until you know you can get it perfect. Maybe you’ll be ready in twenty years? Maybe then you’ll finally be able to get it right.

Our inner editors can be incredibly harsh.

As a writer, I didn’t just hear the voice, I was the voice. I rushed myself, nagged me to clarify my thoughts before they were ready, and made sure I cleaned up any messiness that developed in the creative process.

Today I’m happy to report I’m an independent writer. I work from home. I decide what’s successful. And I try to be a generous boss to myself.

I’ve traded in the culture of perfectionism for a process that allows me to experiment, make and mend mistakes, and create something original. The work I do is more playful. It’s more creative. And it’s more personal. I pour my heart into it.
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My fictions have appeared in numerous publications, including Saturday Evening Post, New Millenniums Writings, Blue Earth Review, Micro Monday, R-KV-R-Y, Funny in Five Hundred, Blue Lake Magazine, Adanna Literary, Dying Dahlia Review, Off the Rocks, and others. The News was on stage at a Chicago Theater.

I was a recipient of a fellowship and grant from the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Prose, and two of stories have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Also, my book of my stories will be published by Atmosphere Press fairly soon.