Tonight Chris and I made our way to a little café where Chris and his fellow guitar students would each be performing a solo song. We sat at a table and sipped our mochas as one of the students, a man in his forties, took center stage.

He adjusted the mic, talked a little about what he was going to do and then did his thing – or should I say he did Eric Clapton’s thing. When that man took stage, he said that he wanted to be Eric Clapton and it showed. The mans voice wasn’t his own, his style wasn’t his own and the playing wasn’t even his own. About two minutes into his performance I had lost all interest – I wasn’t seeing Eric Clapton or even a second rate performer. What I was seeing was a man who was trying far too hard to be someone else.

After the performance, Chris and I exchanged notes about the Eric Clapton man. Chris asked what I thought and I told him.

“Yeah, that’s kind of what I thought too,” he said. “You know, I didn’t learn to play the guitar so I could be a great guitar player or the next big So and So. I wanted to learn just so I could play music. I don’t want to be someone else, I just want to do what’s in me, whether that gets me anywhere or not.”

I understood completely as I’m the same way with my writing.

I want my words to be my own, my voice to be my voice and my style to be my style. I don’t want anyone to come along and say “Oh, she’s trying to be (insert name of anyone famous here).” I want them to say, “That’s Alex Beauchamp.”

Of course I’m inspired by writers before me. SARK showed me that I could make a nonlinear book. HC Anderson taught me how to weave a story. Nick Bantock taught me to make the ordinary extraordinary. Yet with all the admiration I hold for these writers, I do not want to be them. Instead I use the inspiration I get from them to be me.

Judy Garland said it best in In Life As We Live It:

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of anybody else.”

I think that’s such an important thing to remember but sometimes a tricky thing to do – especially when you’re starting out and you lack confidence in yourself. But people can tell authenticity – they’ll know if it’s you they’re seeing or a second rate version of someone else. And you don’t want to disappoint them – or yourself – with anything less than who you truly are.

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