Define Yourself

I don’t know if any of you follow Amanda Hocking’s blog, if not I encourage you to take a look.  It’s a fun blog and she has a great voice, her personality really shows through.  Anyway, on a blog post a little bit ago she said this,

When I was in high school, I got really sad about the idea of being a writer. I mean, I wanted to be a writer, but everything I knew about writers made them seem boring and stodgy, or they were older men and alcoholics and depressed. I didn't want to be any of those things. I wanted to have fun and be silly, like a rock star.

But now that I'm older, I realize I can be whatever writer I want to be. That's an important truth. Or at least is to me. You live your life on your terms. Don't let anybody else's definitions rule you. Define yourself.

I really liked the last paragraph.  I’m sure many of us had preconceived notions of what an author is or should be.  We see “rules” all the time of how to be, or not be, an author.  But part of writing is finding your voice and that involves letting who you are shine through, or at least who you want to be. 

Be who you want to be, write what you want to write and don’t let anyone else’s definitions rule you.