Write What You Know

I don’t think I read agent blogs as religiously as many of you do, but I do try to keep up-to-date on what my colleagues are writing and saying, and one of the things I love is that in a weird, blog-like way, I feel we’ve developed our own little community. We often have very different things to say, and then there’s the occasion when one of us posts something the other had fully intended to post at some point that week, or when we post similar things on the same day. I have to tell you that as of yet, none of this has been planned.

The reason for this post is that something I’ve really learned while writing the blog is that I can only write what I write. I couldn’t write Nathan’s blog or Janet’s blog because they have their own unique voices and styles and the subjects they cover are uniquely theirs. Frequently I’m asked to write posts on certain subjects or why I don’t give my opinion on things, and sometimes, frankly, it’s because I have nothing to say. At other times, I’ll start writing a post and realize I’m boring myself. Instead of “post” I’ll hit “delete.”

If blogging were my job and not something I did in my spare time (often nights and weekends) I know I could push myself to make those boring topics more exciting or to post on things that don’t thrill me, but it’s not. Blogging is my hobby, which means I only have to write what I want to write.

So what’s the point of this? I’m not really sure. Ever have those days? I think, though, that it’s to say we all have to accept the certain limitations we have when it comes to what we do and we can’t look at the success of what others are doing and decide we need to be doing that. While I greatly admire bloggers like Agent Kristin, I can’t decide that’s how I’m going to write or that’s what I’m going to write. I can only be me, and while I can and should certainly push myself to be the best me possible, I still, no matter what, have to be me. And I think, more than anything, that’s what it means to write what you know. That you need to write what is you and not what everyone else is writing or write something just because it’s hot.

Jessica