How to Handle Your Inner Creative Critic

Tools to deal with this inner negativity so that you can stay motivated, confident, and continue moving toward your solo show goals.

This month’s blog is about the tools to handle your inner creative critic and resources for the solo artist.

“If you gave your inner genius as much credence as you gave your inner critic, you would be light years ahead of where you now stand.”  -Alan Cohen

“My story isn’t that unique. I’m sure it’s been told a million times before. So, why tell it again and bore everyone to death.”

“I am not talented enough to pull off a one-person play. I’m not a good enough writer or actor.”

“It’s so self indulgent to take up an hour of the audience’s life with my solo show. I don’t want people to think I’m a total narcissist.”

“If I tell my truth from stage, I will reveal embarrassing parts of myself and then I will lose my friends, family, and good reputation.” 

Does any of this sound familiar? If so, I’ve got some bad news for you…you are listening to your Inner Critic.

The good news is, there are several ways to handle your Inner Critic so that it doesn’t halt and hinder the creation of your one-person play.

Today’s blog will focus on a couple of tools you can utilize to deal with this inner negativity so that you can stay motivated, confident, and continue moving toward your solo show goals.

Confront Your Inner Critic Head-On!

While it might seem scary to acknowledge the voice of the Inner Critic, there truly is no way to get around its negative grasp without confronting it head-on.

A powerful way to confront your Inner Critic is to purge on the page. Get out a piece of paper (or several!) and a pen and go to town purging every last negative and nasty thing your Critic has to say to you.

Write fast and furiously. Do not censor yourself. Just get it all out.

Once it is out there and you have thoroughly exhausted yourself dumping all of this garbage out of your system and onto the paper, have a really fun time destroying this piece of paper.

Whether you rip it up, shred it in a paper shredder, burn it or whatever other cathartic way you wish to annihilate it, you will start to take your power back from the Inner Critic.

You may find that you need to do this exercise every day, or even multiple times a day, and that’s okay. The point is to start to create distance from you and this lying, limiting and critical voice that is not the real you.

Create a Character Out of Your Critic!

Since the odds are good that your Inner Critic is here to stay (at least to some capacity), you may as well put it to good use and let it inspire a character your audience will love to hate!

When you recall the terrible things that your Inner Critic says to you, what images come to mind? How you might personify such an internal monster?

Does the Inner Critic remind you of your judgmental mother? A meanspirited teacher? The high school bully? Or maybe it more of a fantasy creature that takes on a inhuman quality?

Whatever the case may be, allow yourself to create rather than crumble under the influence of your Inner Critic.

Time and time again, my clients and students have found captivating and cathartic characters by transforming this limiting internal voice.

At the end of the day, just know that you are not alone in the battle with your Inner Critic. We all have one. However, we do not need to let it stifle our artistic pursuits and silence our solo voices.

Hopefully, these tips above will help you handle your Inner Critic in order to turn your solo show dreams into an awesome reality.

Jessica Lynn Johnson
Founder & CEO of Soaring Solo LLC
SoaringSoloArtist@gmail.com
www.SoaringSoloStudios.com

Enjoy these Solo Theatre Resources to further guide you on your solo journey!

Best of Fest. Whitefire Theatre’s Solofest 2021

Tune in and Support the Soaring Solo Community in the LARGEST streaming festival in the country, SOLOFEST 2021 as Whitefire celebrates the ENCORES selected from this year’s participants!

Award winning director and developer, Jessica Lynn Johnson, directs a slew of powerful solo shows addressing various impactful and inspiring topics.

This enticing lineup can be found by CLICKING HERE FOR MORE INFO.

Start every Hump Day off right with FREE Guided Meditation and Writing Prompts with “Isolate Meditate Create”!

Start every Hump Day off right with FREE Guided Meditation and Writing Prompts with “Isolate Meditate Create”!

Join BEST NATIONAL SOLO ARTIST WINNER Jessica Lynn Johnson EVERY HUMP DAY @ 9AM (PDT)/12PM (EDT) on ZOOM for ISOLATE. MEDITATE. CREATE!

This is a 100% free guided meditation and writing prompt experience designed to keep you healthy, connected and creative EVERY HUMP DAY during STAY AT HOME and who knows, maybe you will even write your one person play with the content you create.

CLICK HERE TO ATTEND ISOLATE MEDITATE CREATE and obtain the Zoom link and password.

Attend the Soaring Solo FREE One-Person Play Development class ONLINE!

No matter where you are in the creation of your solo show, idea phase, curiosity phase, full draft written, touring the festival and college market, BEST NATIONAL SOLO ARTIST and Founder of Soaring Solo, Jessica Lynn Johnson, will meet you where you are at and take you to the next level! All that is required to attend is a willingness to explore, a pen, and some paper. No previous writing or performance experience necessary, and no need to have written anything to bring to class. Each week Jessica will guide you in exercises to help generate and stage NEW material! So come and meet other creatives in a supportive space for expression and exploration! The class is ongoing and so you may pop in and out as you please as long as you RSVP by clicking here for this FREE ONE PERSON PLAY CLASS.

Schedule an Online Coaching Consultation with Jessica Lynn Johnson to discuss the possibilities for your solo show!

Jessica brings her 15+ years of solo theatre expertise to work privately with solo artists from all over the world on an as needed basis.

A one-on-one consultation is for you if…

  • You are curious about creating a solo show, but you need writing prompts to help you generate material.
  • You are tossing around ideas for your solo show, but you need some accountability and encouragement to commit those ideas to the page.
  • You have already written some material, but you need expert feedback on editing, story structure and play formatting.
  • You have a great first draft, but need guidance on how to utilize multimedia and solo theatre technique in order to make your show a dynamic piece of solo theatre.
  • You already premiered your solo show and now you want some tips on how to tour colleges and festivals, and garner accolades and great reviews!
  • You have heard great things about Jessica’s work and you’re curious about hiring her as a director and developer for your solo show, but first you want to feel her out and see if she is the right fit for you and your project.

Wherever you may find yourself on your solo journey, Jessica will help you overcome whatever immediate obstacle stands between you and your solo success.  

If you resonated with many of the things on this list, then take the next step by emailing SoaringSoloArtist@gmail.com for more information.

Jessica Lynn Johnson
Jessica Lynn Johnson (Director and Developer) is a published playwright, recipient of BEST NATIONAL SOLO ARTIST AWARD, Advisory Board Member of the LA Women's Theatre Festival, and Founder and CEO of Soaring Solo LLC. Jessica has aided in the development of over 150 solo shows (and is still going strong)! As a performer, Jessica has “edu-tained” international audiences touring her own one person shows ZE and OBLIVIOUS TO EVERYONE for over 15 years. Jessica's projects have taken home awards such as TOP OF FRINGE, HFF ENCORE PRODUCER AWARDS, TVOLUTION BEST SOLO PERFORMANCE, LARRY CORNWALL AWARD FOR MUSICAL EXCELLENCE & several other accolades! Jessica was also nominated for the Female Director of Distinction in Theatre by Girl Trip LLC at the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival.