Naming the Internal Editor

One of my biggest challenges in writing has been the subconscious belief that thoughts should always spring fully formed and polished from my brain. This has been the case for as long as I can remember, going back to term papers in college and even reports in high school.

The part of my subconscious that is responsible for this is known as my Internal Editor. Even now, as I write something as simple and innocuous as a blog entry, this voice in my head makes me go back and fix things that are perfectly valid, but just don't sound quite right.

One of the benefits from this BIAM challenge I am doing is that to make any progress at all it needs to be done without the internal editor. This has been a very helpful exercise for me. My internal editor is very insistent, and at this stage of the game he just gets in the way.

Another writer participating in this exercise has given her internal editor a name, and it was suggested that everyone think up a name for their own editor. I've recently gotten into naming things, so I figured I'd give it a try.

The name I have chosen for my internal editor is Ponopono, which means (among other things) correct, revise, work carefully and neatly.

So now when he slows me down to try and make me polish a sentence, I can say "Hamau Ponopono!"

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