Productivity and the Inner Critic

I have had a super productive week. I have been focused on my main project, the final edit of my manuscript and I am flying along. Some pages need very little attention and some need a whole lot. Part of the feedback from my readers was that too much fell apart for the main character so I am changing one of the relationships she has.

This has actually been an interesting experience and as I know what I want that relationship to be it hasn’t been too difficult. The rest of the editing  is making sure it works, correcting little errors, ensuring flow and that information doesn’t change from chapter to chapter (nothing worse than the protagonist’s main love interest changing eye colour half way through) and building on some aspects where there were small gaps or not enough description.

My only problem is the inner critic. When I am working on first drafts I am able to shut her out completely and ignore all she tries to tell me. It is a first draft after all, I just want to get the story down, and I can work on all the little details later.

But now I am focused on every word, every detail and every punctuation mark she is starting again. My main aim at this point is to make this manuscript as good as it can possibly be, to bring it up to a publishable standard. I hope . So in some ways the inner critic can help.

When she mutters “that really doesn’t work,” I know I need to re-write that section, or sentence, so that it does work. When she says “that doesn’t sound right,” I can read aloud and work out what does sound right.

It is when she starts to nag, the whining voice at the back of my head, “You know it’s never going to be good enough.”  

Then it is time to shut her out. Ignore the taunts and the worry she causes and concentrate on the pages in front of me. If I focus on her then all would be lost. I would just give up. Dump the pages and start something new. But then I would end up doing the same again.

Maybe this novel won’t be published; maybe it won’t be available in the local bookshops, its glossy cover with my name on it displayed for all to see.

But maybe it will...and I would much rather focus on that voice and that image. Otherwise we would never achieve anything.

Happy Scribbling