10 Ways to Ignore Your Inner Editor and Listen to the Angel on Your Shoulder

with guest Barbara Scott.

Most of us battle the inner editor perched on our shoulder while we’re writing. Mine is especially obnoxious since that’s primarily the way I’ve earned my living since I was nineteen and worked at a newspaper as a college intern. I’ve learned to ignore her by tiptoeing to my computer while she’s still sawing logs. That’s when my creative angel comes out to play.

Your inner editor is a hard taskmaster who can stifle, paralyze, or even kill your creativity, leaving you stuck trying to write the perfect first sentence. Create first…edit second. I loved the quote Tina posted this month:

“You can’t edit a blank page.”

—Nora Roberts

Since Seekerville is celebrating a milestone birthday this year, I’ve devised 10 ways to improve your creative output and deal with that pesky inner editor.

1. Pray: First things first. When you sit down at the keyboard, pray that the words you write will fulfill God’s purpose. Pray for your future readers. Pray that every word you write will glorify Him—the Creator of the universe. Pray that you won’t be tempted to edit your words before you finish your manuscript.

2. Loosen up and learn to play again. Maybe I should define play. Better yet. Close your eyes and remember the sights, smells, sounds, and emotions of playing as a child. What’s the first thing that pops in your head? Before your memory fades, write down your experience. Ignore your inner editor telling you that you’re wasting time. Don’t worry about pretty words. Don’t think about proper grammar. (Sorry Grammar Queen.) Just write.

3. Find your special time to write. More creative in the morning? Get up an hour earlier. I set the alarm on my cell phone and leave it in the kitchen so I have to get up to shut off the blasted thing and its annoying music. Because I set the timer on the coffeepot the night before, dark, rich, French roast coffee is waiting for me to pour into my cup. My inner editor is still in bed snoring. Find what time works best for you and stick to it. It may be midnight when the house is quiet, or it may be during your commute to work on the train, or at lunchtime.

4. Engage in conversation with that voice in your head. Trust your inner angel and brainstorm your idea with her. If God called you to write, He’s got a story for you to tell. He’s prepared readers to hear what you have to say. Maybe they need to learn how to giggle and play again, to stop worrying and listen to His voice. Your writing might be the book your readers need to lift their spirits or give them a new perspective on how to deal with a situation.

5. Daydream. Every child daydreams. It’s easy for them. Life hasn’t boxed them in yet with the tyranny of the urgent. Writers need to regain their ability to daydream. Don’t think of it as wasted time. Daydreaming is one of my favorite methods to shut out the noise of my inner editor. When I’m paralyzed by her voice telling me to rewrite my first chapter before I’ve finished my second, I lean back in my chair and stare at the clouds. For you, it might mean a long walk or reading for a while. When you relax, the voice of your inner editor fades away.

6. Learn to say no and ditch the guilt. Let’s face it. A lot of us carry around suitcases of guilt about taking the time to write. You feel selfish. Your family needs you. Your church needs you. The world needs you. You feel stressed and guilty you don’t have time to write. You’ve listened to your inner editor who has told you that your writing takes away from the important things of life, and besides, you’ll never publish anything. Ha! Give yourself permission to write and learn to say no to other opportunities.

7. Ignore the voice of your English teacher. When I attended school in the Dark Ages, we learned to write a perfect paper the first time around. Now they teach writing as a process. But long ago, we didn’t have computers that corrected our mistakes. We used typewriters, and typewriter erasers could wear a hole in the paper. Whiteout made a mess. So unless you wanted to retype your paper, you wrote it perfectly. That’s why some of us are such perfectionists, and our inner editors stifle our output.

8. Write drivel on the page. To write drivel is to write nonsense, gibberish, rubbish, mumbo-jumbo, garbage. When you have writer’s block, write drivel. I don’t believe in writer’s block by the way. I think your inner editor has blocked your imagination. When you write drivel, your inner editor gets a migraine and curls up in the fetal position. Cover her with a blanket, and let her sleep while you and your creative angel finish your book. Those words may be drivel now, but when your first draft is finished, you can wake up your inner editor to help you whip your manuscript into shape.

9. Avoid procrastination. About halfway through your manuscript, you might be tempted to quit. Your inner editor is yammering in your ear, and you feel paralyzed. You might succumb to her need for perfection by editing the first half of your book, or you might stop writing and procrastinate. The lawn needs mowing, you need to run to the store for a few groceries, or you need to load the dishwasher. Stand firm with God’s help. Don’t quit. This is the time to write drivel if you must. Set a daily word goal, make it realistic, and sit in your chair at the keyboard until the work is done. Monitoring your progress every day will give you the courage to slog through the mud of hard times. Your creative angel is right beside you, cheering you on. Miss Know-It-All inner editor may be screaming in your ear that your writing stinks. Don’t believe her. Set your eyes on the goal line and keep writing.

10. Finish what you start. It’s tempting to quit when another brilliant idea for a book hits you. You feel that rush of excitement again and want to start a new project right away before finishing the first one. If you give in to that impulse, you’ll have a drawer full of starts, but none of them will have a last page that reads THE END. There’s something special and satisfying about writing those words—a feeling you’ll never experience if you quit in the middle of every book you write. This is the time to give free rein to your inner editor as you produce the second draft. You’ve finished what you started. Congratulations!

How do you deal with your inner editor while writing a first draft? Any tips for the rest of us?

Leave a comment today to be entered in the drawing to receive a free Kindle copy of my novella I’ll Be Home for Christmas, as well as a copy of my historical romance Dreams of My Heart that will release in paperback April 1. Winner announced in the Weekend Edition.

Many blessings and Happy Birthday Seekerville!

I’ll Be Home for Christmas


Walkin’ in a winter wonderland is no stroll in the park . . .

Forget asking for a pony. Sophia Tucker and her sisters have inherited an entire horse farm for Christmas. The money from selling the place should be enough for Soph to open her own veterinary clinic. Finally.

All that’s left to do is return home for one last Christmas. But there’s a catch.

His name is Matt Weatherly, a former Marine medic and childhood friend. Nurse to her late father, Matt sets to work helping the Tucker sisters bring the family homestead back to its former glory.

However, it’s anything but peace on earth when Matt considers reenlisting. Is it possible for Soph to have herself a merry little Christmas? (First published in Sleigh Bells Ring: Four Contemporary Romance Novellas, October 2016.)

Order here!

Barbara J. Scott, an inspirational author and editor, released her first novella with Gilead Publishing in late 2016 titled “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” that appears in Sleigh Bells Ring: Four Contemporary Romance Novellas.  Just in time for Christmas, Gilead released her novella as a standalone e-book this month. Dreams of My Heart, the first book in the Reluctant Brides historical romance series, will release April 1, 2018, by Mountain Brook Ink. She is currently working on a Forget Me Not Romance—Never Say Never to Love in Nashville. Her best-selling novels Sedona Storm and Secrets of the Gathering Darkness were written with co-author Carrie Younce and published by Thomas Nelson. She has more than forty years of publishing experience and has written several novels, screenplays, and gift books.

Barbara and her husband Mike live in the Nashville area, where sweet tea is a food staple, with their two Chihuahuas, Riley and Sissy, both rescued from puppy mills. Reading, writing, and research are her passions.

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