I have an inner critic and I prove it wrong every day.

I have an inner critic. It tells me sometimes, I am not good enough to be a writer. That it is unlikely my book will ever be complete. It tells me to be careful who I talk to about my novel. I can't imagine writing full time is ever going to sound as impressive as whatever 'they' are doing. I can't imagine it is not going to sound contrite even 35ooo words in. 

It doesn't remind me about the people who love to talk about writing, who are interested in what my novel is about and who love the idea of me finally doing something I wanted to do since, forever. It doesn't remind me that I have to pinch myself some days that life feels peaceful and simple, that I have never been so interested in the landscape and the details big or small. It forgets to remind me, I feel more at home and content on the farm than ever before and yet connected to others who also love writing, that I have found a group of friends who also love to write and how they feel like soul mates. That I have found purpose and meaning, even though fiction writing is so new to me.  

When my inner critic is active, it feels hard to explain to someone who doesn't write, that this is going to take me years to achieve. Years of sitting on my own, with my first and second and third and fourth drafts - Waiting for the next part of the story to come into my mind and onto the page. Why would I do this to myself? 

But do you know what I do to cope with this inner criticism? I prove it wrong each and every day by making myself a coffee each morning and heading straight to my desk. I prove it wrong by writing for anything from 15 minutes to four hours. Then I reread my work and find some small section I like (sometimes it's even a larger section) I say to myself, "You are a writer!" 

It has me wondering if there are others out there who don't feel 'good enough' sometimes.  I wonder how you overcome your inner critic. I'd love to hear from you...My email is nelhunter@bigpond.com