April 3, 2024
What liberated me from the paralysis of judge-pleasing?
I’m glad I stuck to my recent attempt to draft a contest entry, because I finally got past the feeling that the judge was criticizing my every word. This transition seemed to happen by itself, but probably it was a direct result of my decision not to give up.
It happened more or less overnight, which shows the value of incubating an idea or a process. I awoke one morning and knew my attitude had changed.
Instead of that hampering conviction that my composition wasn’t good enough, I felt “in-your-face” about it. So what if the judge hates what I’ve written? I thought. I’m doing this to please myself.
If you hesitate to enter contests, suspecting it might be a waste of time, take heart. If you can learn to ignore all those critical voices telling you how bad your writing is, or how picky the judge is, there’s hope for your future compositions—starting with just ensuring that you generate something in the face of being pestered by judge-pleasing.
Music of Writing 
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