Boy do I know about the cop! My voice seems a lot meaner than a cop's. Anyway, I get you sister. A friend said to me just today, maybe the voice is trying to help you, to keep you safe. You can give it a little compassion, thank it, and then continue your journey. It made me pause. Would that be better than trying to kick it to the curb? Maybe...
I took a writing course back in the '90s taught by SF writer David Gerrold. One of my favorite memories of his lectures was the brief segment he devoted to what he called "the shitbird on your shoulder." It would sit there as you wrote, looking down at the page or screen, unceasingly carping: "What the hell is THIS?" it says, and "What makes you think you're a writer, anyhow?" "That's not even grammatical!" etc. etc.
Gerrold was talking about the practice of writing, of course, not the more general practice of life and work. But I sense the general resemblance of the cop in your head to the shitbird on my shoulder.
Yes!! Actually when I chose the image for this post, I was thinking I liked it because it reminded me of the angel and devil on the shoulder. Or, you know, the shitbird.
Boy do I know about the cop! My voice seems a lot meaner than a cop's. Anyway, I get you sister. A friend said to me just today, maybe the voice is trying to help you, to keep you safe. You can give it a little compassion, thank it, and then continue your journey. It made me pause. Would that be better than trying to kick it to the curb? Maybe...
Aye, let us all befriend our inner cop :)
I took a writing course back in the '90s taught by SF writer David Gerrold. One of my favorite memories of his lectures was the brief segment he devoted to what he called "the shitbird on your shoulder." It would sit there as you wrote, looking down at the page or screen, unceasingly carping: "What the hell is THIS?" it says, and "What makes you think you're a writer, anyhow?" "That's not even grammatical!" etc. etc.
Gerrold was talking about the practice of writing, of course, not the more general practice of life and work. But I sense the general resemblance of the cop in your head to the shitbird on my shoulder.
Yes!! Actually when I chose the image for this post, I was thinking I liked it because it reminded me of the angel and devil on the shoulder. Or, you know, the shitbird.
Ha! My writing teacher in the '90s was poet Philip Schultz, and he also constantly referred to the Shitbird.