{"id":11152,"date":"2016-02-29T06:00:01","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T11:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dougbittinger.com\/thoughts\/?p=11152"},"modified":"2025-04-21T01:56:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T05:56:38","slug":"hush-the-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/hush-the-voices\/","title":{"rendered":"Hush the Voices"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-11153\" src=\"https:\/\/PineyMountainFoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/Writer_Hush-the-Voices-of-Discouragement-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Hush the Voices\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/>Writers hear voices in their heads. That may sound psychotic, but it&#8217;s not: everyone does but most people ignore them. We listen. We listen intently.<\/p>\n<p>When we listen to the wrong voices, it can be damaging to our work \u2026 and our psyche. When those voices whisper to us, \u201cyou&#8217;re not good enough to do this\u201d, \u201cyou have nothing new to say\u201d, \u201cthis has been said before\u201d we need to hush those voices \u2026 or at least turn them around.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-11196\" src=\"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/0618i-Perspective_Lobster-Titanic-Miracle.jpg\" alt=\"Perspective_Lobster Miracle\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" \/>Even if it is true that what we&#8217;re pursuing has been said before \u2013 King Solomon, the wisest man in the Old Testament said, \u201cWhat has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.\u201d (Ecclesiastes 1:9 NIV) \u2013 there are always new ways of saying it. Your perspective of a common issue may be something fresh and new. You can also make a point by coming at an issue with satire, as I did in <i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecreativepenn.com\/2011\/06\/07\/stick-with-legacy-publishing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">6 Reasons to Stick with Legacy Publishing<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cyou&#8217;re not good enough\u201d accusation may have truth in it. No one (except possibly Harper Lee) nails a best seller with their first novel, but you have to start somewhere. Write. If, when it&#8217;s done, it&#8217;s no good: lay it aside and write another. Go back to that first one when you&#8217;ve gained experience and dissect it; can it be made into something good? If you feel you&#8217;re wasting your time, ask yourself, \u201cCan one become an Olympic runner if they demand medals every time they step onto a track?\u201d Training is as important to a writer as it is to an athlete. Those lame stories are not wasted time and effort: they&#8217;re training.<\/p>\n<p>So when those voices of dissension whisper their poison in your mind&#8217;s ear, if they cannot be ignored, write about them. Use it as a writing exercise by writing your bio: the one that will go on the back of your best-seller, and talk about your humble beginnings and overcoming doubt. Write how you did it, then do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Writers hear voices in their heads. That may sound psychotic, but it&rsquo;s not: everyone does but most people ignore them. We listen. We listen intently. When we listen to the wrong voices, it can be damaging to our work &hellip; and our psyche. When those voices whisper to us, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re not good enough to do &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/hush-the-voices\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Hush the Voices&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-11152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-educational","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11152"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20324,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11152\/revisions\/20324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}