Thought Piece 1 : Calming the Inner Critic and Getting to Work

John Lauer

ENGL 250

Calming the Inner Critic and Getting to Work

By Allegra Goodman

Thought Piece

My Thoughts…

               When writing, what do we focus on? The grammar… the ideas… or what people will think of it? I believe that the “inner critic” inside of our minds is most influenced by the overarching eyes that will be looking at our writing. As humans, we have the natural tendency to care what people think of us. If we stopped caring about other people’s opinions of us, would the inner critic go away? Or would we still find fault in our own writing? Longing over every page of and essay or book, realizing we aren't perfect and there must be something wrong in every paragraph. The realization is that we will always have the inner critic in our head; we just have to realize when he is on duty. Can we get him to take more vacation days per year? Maybe we can, but only if we start thinking about our writing differently.

               Writing is something that people do. Whether it is for school, a job, or pure enjoyment we all do it at one point. Some people like writing and love producing works of art with words. Others, like myself, look at writing as unenjoyable, stupid, and unneeded if it is purely creative and not used to educate and/or for betterment of the world. As an engineer, I look at literature in a different way than other people. But I know writing is important and I know that it is needed for the world. It is used in so many different ways that it is involved in everyone’s job or daily life. The reason I mention this is because the way we look at writing affects how we write and how much the inner critic really affects us. If we care about our writing, then the inner critic will control us so much more than if we are writing just because we have to for a class and don’t actually care about the meaning of our writing. I feel that if you don’t care about your writing in a class setting where it will be graded, then you don’t care about your grade and/or the class itself. Which is why in every setting, you should have the inner critic in your head to some degree. I believe that the bother-some inner critic is most determined by how confident we are with our own writing. If we are confident with knowing that not everyone will like our writing, we will be able block the inner critic more. For me, when I write, I just try to write grammatically correct and have my ideas in a good order. Writing can’t be perfect because everyone has a different opinion so I guess in theory, there will always be something wrong with your paper. Some people can write close to perfect papers, but writing will always be up for interpretation and you must except that you are writing for you and for you to be happy with it. The inner critic does help you think about how your paper will be portrayed and makes you think in a way that will help you produce writing that will please more people, but don’t let it block you. Don’t let it keep you from writing what you believe. Freedom of speech was written in the constitution for a reason. As writers, we owe it to ourselves to write what we want and be accepted.

               In the end, the inner critic will always be there. Don’t let it get you! Be confident and know that your writing does not need to be controlled by it. You don’t need others approvals because writing is free to whatever you want it to be. If you find yourself getting stuck then it may not be the inner critic. It might just be writers block and that means you just need a break. Even to someone who doesn't like writing, even I can enjoy just writing my own thoughts down and knowing that all writing just needs to be thought provoked and done with a purpose. Even though I’m an engineer, writing will be a part of my job, so I have and always will make an effort to improve and do well when doing it. Just keep the mind clear and keep writing with the inner critic in mind. He loves to mess with you, but you have to remember his presence and be one with your writing.

               John’s Mind (First thought piece done… not too bad in my opinion… but inner critic thinks paragraph two needs some work… screw him... I’ll leave it… hopefully I’ll get a good grade… alright time for my next class… J-Lauer out.)