Writing the Right Way--Your Way!

You know, there's really nothing wrong with you.  Sure, you have got 11 toes and walk a little funny.  Sure, your eye does that weird thing every time J. Lo's attempting to captivate us with her "acting."

Did she just say, "Gobble, gobble?"

And sure, you laugh so hard at times that you snort and end up nose-vomiting milk on the person interviewing you for your dream job.  It happens.  But let me assure you that all that awkwardness makes you YOU.  (Though you probably won't be getting a call back from that snot-covered interviewer.)

So you want to keep that in mind when you're writing.  Yes, I so awesomely schooled you in my last posting on the importance of keeping your audience at the forefront of what you're doing when it comes to writing, but there's bit more to that story, too.  It's you!

Unless you're ghost writing, that is, selling your soul to every overly paid moron who can't even write well enough to sound like himself/herself--like every damn U.S. President in the past 50 years--your unique writing style or voice will be present, and should be present.

Jon Favreau 3.28 seconds after he sold his soul for finished up another ghostwriting speech-writing
 gig for the president.

Think about it:  Every author on the New York Times best-sellers list didn't

1. Write about the same crap,
2. Write in the same style,
3. Deserve to even be on the list in the first place.

The last number in the list should give you REAL hope.  You, too, can be four years old with nary an understanding of even how to make it one hour without soiling your pants and STILL get people in the U.S  to throw obscene amounts of money your way despite living in an economically depressed environment for the past three years--all despite the fact that you can't even spell yet.  If that's not being yourself and being accepted, I don't know what the hell is.

Some people have a lighthearted writing style that's suitable for entertainment sites or the erudite prose that is Playboy Magazine.  That's cool.  Somebody's got to keep the den of iniquity going.

Some people's writing oozes empirical evidence, facts and figures, and hard data, which is suitable for scientific journals and publications.  These writers also tend to have gargantuan vocabularies that they have picked up from all the years of not dating.

Some people's writing is grammatically correct, never missing a semicolon or antithetical phrase, and makes you feel guilty because you love using "u" for "you."  

Some people naturally write poetically and expressively (read:  talk too damn much and are SOOOO sappy) and make reams of money from it all.

Different styles, different ways to express yourself.  That's okay.

What you don't want to do is adopt someone else's writing style or try to write like the guy who's making millions from his writing.  One Emily Dickinson is enough, thank you.  While there are best practices in writing, there is NO substitute for authentic writing that speaks the heart of the author and captivates the mind of the audience.  It's when those two concepts are married that you produce truly stellar writing.  Or, at the very least, writing that will one day allow you to stop ordering from the McDonald's dollar menu.