My Inner Critic

Monday Musings is a weekly post where I write about whatever is 

currently on my mind.

A recent assignment for the Ninja Writing Challenge involved visualizing my inner critic and the place I would send her when writing my first draft.  I had never really thought much about my inner critic before, so this task was very interesting to me.

My first thought was that my inner critic definitely wears glasses.  I imagined that she probably looks just like me, but with big, thick-framed glasses.

Then a clearer picture started to form.  

I'm pretty sure that my inner critic is a version of my 8th grade English teacher, Mrs. Claus.  Yes, that was her real name, Mrs. Claus, no relation to Santa, although she did always wear red.  Red from head to toe.  

I think my inner critic is a lot like Mrs. Claus.  She wears glasses to prove that she is smarter than me.  She is short and sweet, like my writing should be.  She wears red, like the pen that she is marking my text with.  Her clothing is impeccable, like her editing skills.

But where can I send Mrs. Claus when she gets in the way of me finishing a first draft?  Well, I think I will send her to the North Pole.  Maybe she can reunite with Mr. Claus.  She can correct the elves' grammar and proofread the toys' instruction manuals until I actually need her.

Goodbye Mrs. Claus!  I will need your help soon, just not right now.  Oh, and thanks for publishing that poem I wrote as an 8th grader.  I didn't appreciate it then but you made me believe that I could be a writer someday.  Thank you for that.

What does your inner critic look like?