Mary Q. of Kansas City, MO wrote to me with the following writing tip. She says it’s helped her to turn off her internal editor.
Mary says:
This quarter I’m writing a poem, so for my assignment Ms. Hodge assigned me an exercise of writing non-stop for ten minutes, or for a certain length on a page. (I’m writing a whole page each time.) After I’m done writing I can’t read what I wrote, I have to stuff it in a drawer, till my exercise – which lasts ten days – is over. The weird thing is, not being able to read what I wrote is killing me, and the actual writing part is helping a ton! I sometimes have to force myself to stop writing, and then the next page is done even quicker!
So for those of you who struggle with turning off your internal editor (and don’t we all?) give Mary’s trick a try and see if it works for you.
Have a tip you’d like to pass along? Send me an e-mail, and be sure to include your name and location.