The Jerk in My Head

As writers, we frequently endure the caustic heckling of acid-tongued internal critics that live inside us. It comes with the territory. Writing requires a certain amount of critical thinking, but it’s not so easy to get into an enthusiastic, productive groove if the soundtrack to your writing life is a corrosive tirade of criticism and self-loathing.

I know writers who even have a name for the inner jerk who works tirelessly to undermine their confidence, self-esteem and writing productivity.  How’d these destructive creeps get into our psyche in the first place?

These loudmouth, asshole-introjects are  usually the result of intentional or accidental brainwashing that we’ve been subjected to in the past. Parents, siblings, teachers, nuns, editors, bosses significant others, or colleagues might be involved. Maybe they even thought they were trying to help, rather than curse us, but at the end of the day the impact was to give us an  acerbic inner voice that prevents us from pursuing our writing dreams.

There is no one to blame. It happens, and we have to work with this part of our psychology, however it was developed. The least we can do is have some compassion for ourselves as we attempt the challenge of writing and in this way, eventually teach ourselves that the inner jerk’s barkis worse than his or her bite, and we do not have to abandon our writing because some scary or critical thoughts have cropped up. They’re just thoughts.