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Me: This book is depressing me.
Long Suffering Husband: What’s it about?
Me: It’s not what it’s about that’s the problem. It’s how well it’s written. I’ve heard people talk about getting intimidated by really good writing but it’s never actually happened to me before. Listen to this. *I read a section aloud* Listen to that! It’s like every word is lovingly carved from duck fat. I don’t write like that.
LSH: *laughs* Duck fat! See, you write like THAT.
Me: Was that something?
LSH: Yes! Go write that down.
Me: But that’s just how I talk.
LSH: And, trust me, nobody talks like you.
And it got me to thinking, the man has a point. Maybe instead of worrying about how you sound compared to anyone else maybe it’s better to just work on making your writing sound like your unique voice.
My writing is never going to sound like someone else’s but that’s just fine because they can’t sound like me either.
Have you ever found yourself intimidated by a particularly good piece of writing?
Hillary DePiano is a playwright, fiction and non-fiction writer who loves writing of all kinds except for writing bios like this.
