Kevin Barhydt
Today I answered a questions I'm asked from time to time. I thought I'd share it here:
Q: What’s your advice for aspiring writers?
"I'm not one to share advice, only experience, strength and hope.
As an aspiring writer I thought I had to embody the authors I revered. That I had to write like the child in This Boys Life, express myself without bitterness like the Pulitzer Prize winning Angela's Ashes, and honor my mother in the image The Color of Water.
Instead of embodying those beautiful works of literature, it is my goal to nurture the qualities in myself that I find reflected in the authors who created them. To love my inner child as Tobias Wolfe. To seek generosity of spirt and kindness like Frank McCourt. To embrace the deep passion as a son to honor my mother as does James McBride.
I've made it a primary responsibility to read other authors, primarily to remind myself that I don't need to write like anyone else. I hear a lot of advice to writers to find their own voice. I disagree. I think you already have your own voice. It's the process of stripping away the other voices that crowd out our own singular notes.
Trust yourself. You are already all that you will ever need."
Q: What’s your advice for aspiring writers?
"I'm not one to share advice, only experience, strength and hope.
As an aspiring writer I thought I had to embody the authors I revered. That I had to write like the child in This Boys Life, express myself without bitterness like the Pulitzer Prize winning Angela's Ashes, and honor my mother in the image The Color of Water.
Instead of embodying those beautiful works of literature, it is my goal to nurture the qualities in myself that I find reflected in the authors who created them. To love my inner child as Tobias Wolfe. To seek generosity of spirt and kindness like Frank McCourt. To embrace the deep passion as a son to honor my mother as does James McBride.
I've made it a primary responsibility to read other authors, primarily to remind myself that I don't need to write like anyone else. I hear a lot of advice to writers to find their own voice. I disagree. I think you already have your own voice. It's the process of stripping away the other voices that crowd out our own singular notes.
Trust yourself. You are already all that you will ever need."
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