my first book,Zen and the Art of Writing, I called this voice
Mr. Editor.
Our educational system installed this internal editor when we
were kids in English class. You and I were taught to watch our
spelling, grammar, punctuation, logic, sentence structure, and so
on. We were made so cautious of mistakes that we actually be-
came paranoid. We made Mr. Editor our trusted friend and advi-
sor and let him run the show whenever we picked up a pen to
write.
But Self One isn’t such a good buddy. It’s this very voice that
prevents you from writing some topnotch material. Though Mr.
Editor seems like he is helping you, he is actually keeping you pro-
tected. Safe. Controlled. And under those circumstances, you can’t
be free to write anything that will grab attention.
Imagine this: You are about to write a letter. You sit down, flip
on the computer, and prepare to tap the keys. But suddenly your
sixth grade English teacher appears at your side! Oh no! “What are
you writing?” your teacher asks. “A letter,” you say. “Let me help,” he
says. Gulp. As you begin to write, your teacher judges your work.
“Did you spell that right?” he asks. “That line doesn’t make sense,”
he says.
Do you think you would get very far under those circumstances?
Yet that very teacher is in your head, whispering in your ear, as
you write! No wonder most of us create mediocre work! We’re
under guard!
In my writing classes I watch people write. I see them write a
line, stop, think it over, scratch it out, write another, and try again.
That’s stuttering on paper! Those students are listening to their in-
ternal editors and it’s blocking them! Mark Twain was right. Imag-
ine what the world would sound like if you and I edited ourselves
so ruthlessly when we spoke!
Another exercise to reveal your internal critic is something I
do in my workshops. I have people pair off. One stands, the
other sits. The one sitting begins to write something, anything.
The one standing gently, quietly, but persistently, judges what
is being written. No one can write under those circumstances.
The Inner Game of Hypnotic Writing