Hogs, Mathematics, and Critics

One of the hardest things for writers is to keep going.

There are time pressures.

Skill deficits.

Frustrations in the writing process itself.

No wonder that most aspiring writers struggle with one huge hurdle: finishing.

Worst of all is that nagging inner critic, that inside-your-head voice that says this isn't any good.

As a corrective, try to remember that even the very best writers have been creamed by the critics.

Here's one of my favorites: The 1855 critic of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass said that Whitman was "as unacquainted with art as a hog with mathematics."

We all know what we think of that, don't we? Hogwash!

Trudy Krisher