“No Matter How Much You Practice, You’ll Never Be Anyone Else…

You will always be… just yourself.” Ernie Watts, Jazz Musician

An interesting quote that rings true, not only for musicians (though that’s what he was referencing) but for writers as well.

When writing, the words should come from within, just as the music comes from within for a musician.

“I’m me and I’m coming from where I come from. It’s about who I am” says Ernie Watts, discussing his performing live. This discussion is in Mark Schaefer’s book ‘Born to Blog’. It’s a seemingly defiant statement about being who you are today, now, in performing your music, or as a writer. As a writer, this hit a nerve with me. It made sense.

You see, I’ve spent the better part of a couple of years writing, and in my opinion attempting to be someone I wasn’t. I was told I needed this course and that course, needed to read this and mirror that. This is what makes one successful I was told.

This past year I knew something was off. Nothing felt “right”.

• I had lost desire.
• I was lost and missing direction.
• I didn’t want to write like everyone else and mirror their sales letters.
• I didn’t want to use “swipe files” and fill in the blank software.

Writing email content, website content, sales content meant to sell something to others, for someone else, and none of these things were enjoyable to me.