Don’t Be Anyone But Yourself.

Perhaps as someone who hasn’t published much except a few things online, I don’t have much of a say in this. However, it seems to me that the writers who excelled are the ones who didn’t try to be anyone but themselves. They may have been inspired by other authors, even borrowing some things from their style. In the end, their stories were still their own.

I tried so long to be like J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles Dickens and C.S. Lewis. It was all a failure, really, because I wasn’t reaching my true potential. My potential is not reached in trying to be someone else. I am not someone else. I am me. I write very distinctly and definitely with intensive detail. While I may be inspired by other authors, I cannot allow their styles to overshadow my own.

Maybe I’m going too far with this, but I don’t think I could be more insulted than being told I am the next version of an old author. I do not want to be the next C.S. Lewis, although I love C.S. Lewis. I don’t mind it being said that I write like a certain person. I have someone who I write somewhat like. I am fully aware that we have similar styles, and we’re actually good friends.

(This would be the fantastic Caitlin E. Jones that I am referring to, by the way. She is currently writing Chimehour, an excellent Gaslamp Fantasy.)

Still, our stories and content are very different, and I think both would be happy to say that we’re different.

Don’t try to be the next J.R.R. Tolkien or Emily Dickenson or Ernest Hemingway or Robert Frost. They’re all dead. Just try to be you, and you’re already on your way to greatness.

They’re all dead. Just try to be you, and you’re already on your way to greatness.

Just try to be you, and you’re already on your way to greatness.

A Post on Caffiene

Alright, I’ll clear it up, I’m not actually on a terribly large amount of caffeine, just two cups of Mountain Dew, which is the same as like, five cups of tea. However, it has mixed with my own tiredness, and therefore is making me loopy. So this is my post on caffeine.

Herp de derp.

Which, by the way, is an excellent song. I want some yellow people to follow me around and dance awkwardly. It would break the ice really quickly. Either that, or they would walk away really quickly. Either way, ice is broken, even if it leaves an awkward stain of awkwardness.

I don’t like the way that last sentence sounded.

I have no idea what’s going on anymore, so I’m going to leave that alone.

I have just come to realize that there will absolutely be no cross-breeding between gnomes and humans, unlike in LotR. In LotR, dwarves and humans could possibly mate. In Soldier Chronicles, gnomes look like mole-people. You would have to have one seriously pervy brain to make that work.

I know that may sound racist, but it’s more like… species…ist. Yeah.

It’s a darn good thing I am not walking outside in this state. I would not stop talking. And I might just randomly gain a British accent. I have been known to do that in my boredom. It’s not a very good one, and it wouldn’t fool an actual British person. But it’s enough to fool your typical American. And they’re like, where are you from? And I’m like, “Well, I used to live near Amsterdam…”, which is true. Amsterdam, New York. It’s hilarious to me. Only one American has ever recognized it as false.

Poor roommate came in while I was blogging / Skyping and just saw me talking randomly. The best part is he said nothing about it. He would be totally ok with me talking to myself like a psychotic person.

I swear, if we were romantically interested in each other at all, we would already be married.

But I think I’ve let you guys hear my psychoticness enough. Have an excellent evening and party hard!