Challenge,  On Writing

A Real Test…

June 24, 2020 /

For What Remains of My Critical Voice…

Which is clearly nothing.

Tonight I had to read a lot of assignments in the critical voice workshop. This assignment details out how each person makes projects important and thus allows critical voice in. Now in all those assignments there was an amazing amount of reasons, excuses, and just scary problems. I read them all tonight to get a basically form-letter response to everyone. Nothing I could really say. It was one of those awareness assignments.

But tonight I also had a short-notice short story due that I had to finish by tomorrow. That kind of deadline can make a story “important” quickly and bring in critical voice, especially after reading everyone’s critical voice issues about making stories important.

Oh, oh…

And I had to get my steps in to make my 5 miles today, so I knew I wouldn’t be starting until late.

So earlier on I read all the assignments and got responses back, took a walk to get my steps in, then at 11:30 pm sat down to start the short story.

Bang, typed in a title and got right into it, no issue. Did almost two thousand words by a little after one am with a short break, so got it about half done. I will finish the rest tomorrow without a problem.

So no influence at all from the assignments.

No critical voice, and if I had one, tonight would have been the time it popped up.

So pretty much my critical voice that is meant to stop me from writing is dead, or cowering in a hole somewhere.

And the story was great fun.

4 Comments

  • Indiana Jim

    June 24, 2020 at 11:21 am

    I like to think if it like this: Your Critical voice simply knows what it’s job is, and no longer intrudes on the creative process. It obeys you now instead of trying to be your boss.

    • dwsmith

      June 24, 2020 at 11:53 am

      Nah, it’s dead. No reason for it to exist at all in and around publishing.

      It does live in the real world of the virus and helps keep me safe there.

  • Britt Malka

    June 25, 2020 at 12:18 pm

    Your Killing Critical Voice workshop has helped me a lot already.

    Yesterday, I had 23 minutes before I should walk my dog, and I thought, “that’s too little to write fiction.”

    Then I figured it was my critical voice talking, started writing and hit 400 words.

    Later yesterday, I only had a quarter without nothing else to do, and I was about to again think it was too little, but nope. I sent my critical voice off to sulk in a corner and started to write. Another 400 words.