 |
| My Muse vs My Anti-Muse |
Don’t you hate when you are writing a story and the little worm that’s the inner critic peers at your story and goes, “You’re kidding right?” It’ll start to rattle off all the reasons the story won’t work. If THAT doesn’t stop you, than it starts to remind you of all the things you should be focusing on that isn’t THAT story.
So that’s when I seek out my muse which is tragically easily intimidated by the site of the inner critic (the anti-muse). But you know there are a few things that I find helps improve the strength of my muse in order to battle the inner critic.
1) Get exercise.
Lately it seems like the best approach to clear my head, which in turn, clears out that inner critic, is going for a walk. I head outside. Luckily this weather is suitable these days to clear my head – it’s cool but not too hot – and since I can’t afford to find a fitness instructor these days – it’s also a good way for me to get exercise. I’m sure the wellness and fitness community in my heart appreciate my efforts to exercise!
2) Just go ahead and obsess on those worries for a while.
Once I listed out all of the things plaguing my mind these days and you know the second I did that, I felt better. I let myself obsess for a while and actually I’ve kept those list of worries and when the anti-muse hits, I’ll look over those worries for a while and drop off that anti-muse onto THAT page and go back to the story I was writing before.
3) Be flippant.
The anti-muse may taunt and say that your first draft isn’t any good, but you know what? All of the writing advice that I hear tells you that it’s okay for your first draft to be crummy. As I write, I tell this to the anti-muse and it humphs and pouts and storms off.
So these days those are my three tactics for battling against my inner critic. What are yours?
This post contains sponsored links for which I received small compensation for including in my post.
Music seems a good way to clear the head as well.