My inner editor masquerades around like my common sense. She looks like me, talks like me and what's worse, knows about that time I ended up on the floor of a black cab, completely shit faced from one too many pitchers of caipirinhas, singing happy birthday softly to myself.
In other words, she knows my secrets and she's not afraid to use them. Every time I've tried and failed at something, every time I've been embarrassed, every time I've felt small. I'm assuming she knows about good times too, but she's not talking about those. Her job, she tells me comfortingly, is to save me from any more heartache, by telling me to give up before I get hurt.
She must die.
During NaNoWriMo, there were lots of message boards about how to kill your inner editor. Here are some of my favorite methods:
-Make a play dough IE (inner editor) doll and have cruel things befall her ala Mr. Bill.
-Make a paper IE and burn her in effigy.
-Visualize putting a gag on your IE.
Like the cave paintings in Lascaux, ritualizing what you fear can give you you power over it. So, here's my tip: Take your inner editor out of your head. Look at her. Realize what she really is - just your own fears and negativity dressed up to look like logic. Bringing your IE out of the dark recesses of your mind and into the light will make her seem small, insignificant. Pretty soon, she'll start to fade. She's the one made of insubstantial shadows. She can't stand being looked at head on, preferring to sit on your shoulder like a demented 'lil devil' and steer you towards the only true failure you could ever have - not trying.
For me, besides dragging the little heathen out whenever I hear her rattling around in my head, I like to play Kill Your Television by Ned's Atomic Dustbin, really, really loud. I substitute 'Inner Editor' for 'Television'. It works for me.
So what do you do to muzzle your IE?
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