Quiet the Critic

Shhh. The artist is speaking and the critic needs to pipe down. I don’t want any notes or suggestions, paragraphs of derision, pedantic ennui, or mentions of cracks and flaws. Now is not the time for feedback for we are just beginning the song!

We are writing. We are singing. We are brainstorming ideas. We are laying down vocal ideas that are not fully formed. We are at the dawn of the process with which we are so familiar: the process of writing a song.

I can’t have a little voice in my head telling me I can’t do it, that this idea or that melody is dumb, or that I should quit while I’m ahead. There is a time and a place for revaluation, for editing, for tuning up, for perfecting. But, right now, before I’m more than 10 minutes into the process is not the time. That critique, at this very moment, is counterproductive.

Here, at the onset, the critique will only serve to sully my joy and prevent me from doing what I love. It will cast doubts and sink me into depression. It will shield me from picking up the guitar and make me sulk. And then what? What have I accomplished? Now, there is nothing to critique anyway!!1

Shhh. Quiet on set. Quiet the critic. I don’t need him right now. I need to be present in my craft and my process. I need to feel untethered, free like a bird. I need to welcome my muses and my imagination into a home of safety. Unburdened by my inner critic, I can make my art. Will it be perfect on the first try? Will I have lines to parse apart later? Who knows! Not I if i let my inner critic stop me.