We writers always talk about how to turn off our inner critics. In my opinion, completely turning off our inner critics is how we churn out a lot of crap.

True, some of us have inner critics that are so harsh that they make writing truly painful for us, and even keep us from getting anything done. In these cases, our inner critics can use some softening. But most of the time, our inner critics are helping us discern between “good enough” and “great.”

If your critic says, “This sucks,” ask it why the writing sucks. Maybe you’ll discover something, such as you used too many adverbs or you went overboard on the alliterative subheads or you really need just one more quote. Then fix the problem and reward your inner critic with a chocolate brownie. (Inner critics love chocolate brownies.)

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