I AM SORRY!! *falls to knees with hands clasped together and tears streaming down face* I KNOW THIS IS A DAY LATE AND I APOLOGIZE AND BEG FOR MERCY!!! *collapses, groveling at your feet* I HAVE NO EXCUSE OTHER THAN PURE LAZINESS!!!
(Not that any of y’all noticed it was late XD)
Whatever the case, here you are: a longer story as a reward (or maybe it’s a punishment, IDK :P) for your patience. *bows*
(Also, I wrote this FOREVER ago, and I cringed at the writing, so I edited it a bit from the original form. ;))
Prompt
Write something about a creative writer banishing their inner critic
Story
A quaint cottage sits on grassy plains next to a wide, wild ocean. White sand borders this expanse of water, and the sand is only stopped by lush green grass. A gentle breeze pushes back a woman’s hair as brilliant sunshine warms her back. She smiles and turns to her companion.
“Here we are!” The woman exclaim, cheer in her voice. Her companion scowls.
“We are in the middle of nowhere, Creative Writer,” he complains. “The cottage is tiny, the ocean is cold, the wildflowers on the plains are already wilted, and the sand is too hot.”
“Look on the bright side!” Creative Writer answers, spreading her arms and twirling. “There are new wildflowers just coming up out of the ground, bound to be blooming by tomorrow. And the ocean isn’t cold. You just have to find a nice, calm, shallow place where it has warmed up to swim in. The sand isn’t hot either, as long as you wear shoes or go out earlier in the morning or later at night. And the cottage can’t be considered small unless you’ve lived in a king’s palace your entire life. What more could you wish for?” She elbowed him playfully. “Plus, it comes with servants to care for your every whim. You can swim here, fish, sail, run, read, go to the town only five miles that way” -she gestured to the east- “whatever you want! Oh, and you can criticize to your heart’s content out here as well. Well, go to go! I’ve got a deadline.” Winking, she walks off, leaving her companion, Inner Critic, staring after her with disgust.
“How rude,” he mutters, but when Creative Writer turns back to remind him of something, he tries to crush the hope in his heart.
“I forgot to say that I’ll come back to pick you up in about seven months or so. I’ve got to get some creative writing done for a while without you pestering me. In the meantime, enjoy yourself! This is a wonderful vacation spot I picked out just for you. You won’t be staying here too terribly long, considering the cost. Anyway, I’m gone for good this time!”
“Your shirt clashes with your pants!” Inner Critic calls after her retreating form. “Huh.” He grunts, eyeing his new home skeptically. “Doesn’t need me? Well, I’ll show her!”
That night, he sends an email to Creative Writer. This is what it says:
Dear Creative Writer,
Do you need me to come back yet? I suspect you aren’t getting anything done, at least nothing worth seeing–yet.
Signed, your loyal critic,
Inner Critic.
He clicks send and sits back with a smirk on his face to wait for a reply.
Almost instantly an email arrives in his inbox.
Nope, sorry. Are you enjoying yourself? I’ve begun my novel and it is going very quickly. I’ll need you to look it over when I’m through, but until then, I’d like to just get it down.
Writing happily,
Creative Writer!! 😄
Inner Critic’s smile fades. Writing happily, my foot.That email was terrible. ‘Just getting it down’ doesn’t work. You need to work it out step by careful step. That’s what I’m for. Right?
Suddenly Inner Critic begins to realize that maybe he’s been doing the wrong job the entire time. However, he pushes the uncomfortable thought away and goes to bed, refusing to enjoy the silky sheets or cloudy pillow.
Late in the morning of the next day, he eats a delicious breakfast with a sour expression on his unpleasant face, informs the cook on what she did wrong, and goes for a stroll on the beach. Although the sand isn’t hot, it gets inside his shoes like nothing else he’s ever experienced. “Confound it!” he yells to the ocean, then takes off his shoes and socks to walk barefoot.
Inner Critic tries to ignore the wonderful, cool, scratchy feeling of the sand on his feet but, as we all have suspected, a tiny smile soon tickles the corners of his thin lips. Surprised at himself, he slams his lips back in their typical downward position. A cute little crab scuttles over one of his feet, but he doesn’t shake it off like normal. Another itty-bitty smile dances around his face, teasing him. He doesn’t notice it, but soon he is laughing on the beach, digging his toes into the white sand, and letting tiny sea critters run all over him.
Out of nowhere a voice interrupts his play. “Having a good time?”
Inner Critic whirls around as his normal scowl overtakes his previous smile. “Creative Writer?!? What are you doing here? I thought you said I had seven months.”
Creative Writer shrugs, her blonde side-braid bobbing on her left shoulder. “I was so excited about my novel that I wrote all yesterday, all yesterday night, and all today – well, up to this point – and got it finished. I’d like you to criticize the first draft.”
Inner Critic’s jaw drops. He stands there in shock, staring at Creative Writer, who smiles back. After a nearly two minutes, she asks, “Well? Are you coming?”
Inner Critic thinks of the crabs that awaited him. He thinks of the soft bed he’d spent the night in. He also thinks of criticizing Creative Writer’s work.
“No…” he replies, scratching his chin. “I won’t come criticize your book.”
Now it was Creative Writer’s turn to stare. “But… I thought that’s what you liked to do!”
“Not anymore. I’d like to read your book and point out a few things to you, but I don’t want to make it so you have to send me away every time you want to write something new. In short, I’m here to help, not hurt.”
Creative Writer grinned. “Come on, then!” she exclaimed, bouncing up and down on her toes in excitement. “Car’s this way!”
Inner Critic follows, hoping Creative Writer doesn’t notice the little crab up his sleeve. “You know, though,” he begins, “if you left your hair loose, or pulled it back with a headband or something, it would go better with that shirt.”
Creative Writer laughed. “I guess I can’t hope for too much change, now can I?”
Wrap Up
There you have it, folks! Yep, I know, the writing is very cringeworthy (not exactly good for my I’M SORRY I’M LATE gift) and I found out that I switched tenses pretty much every other paragraph as well, so I probably missed some of those while editing.
BUT! Let this be a lesson to you writers:
Banish the Inner Critic, eat a lot of chocolate, and GET THAT NOVEL DONE!!!! 😉
Good luck! *waves and dashes away barefoot down the beach*
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