Silencing the Inner Critic

Prolific author Barbara Brown Taylor admits being a perfectionist. This can be a real handicap if we keep revising and tweaking, unable to let go. Taylor was asked recently what she does to silence this inner critic. “I give it $50 to buy a pair of shoes and tell it to come back later,” she said. 

I had to do this with my first book, which I kept polishing and enlarging until my late wife Judy appeared at my shoulder to watch what I was doing. She eventually said, “I think it’s time to let this child go out and play in the street.” I knew she was right, so I sent the manuscript off to my publisher and didn’t look back.

Don’t get me wrong. I think every writer needs enough objectivity to evaluate and improve a manuscript; but if our inner critic paralyzes us, our work will never speak to the world. It becomes like a floundering swimmer who grabs an able swimmer and pulls him underwater. How do we get the benefit of our inner critic without allowing it to drown us?

I suppose there’s no hard and fast rule, but try this: Heed your inner critic as long as it builds your confidence, clarifies your meaning, and engages your reader. But when the inner critic becomes a voice of self doubt, pay it no mind. Take that as the cue to let your child go out and play.

Joe Allison writes both fiction and nonfiction, and has been a member of the Indiana chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers since 2010. His most recent book is Hard Times (Warner Press: 2019). He lives in Anderson, IN, with his wife Maribeth.