Just about everyday a client would sit in my chair and say, “I wish my hair was longer, shorter, curly, straight, (insert adjective here). Nobody was content with what they had. They always thought if their hair was, thicker, bouncier, shinier, (you get it don’t you?), that they would be happy. “If only,” they would say, as I preached to them how beautiful their hair already was.
I think all of us have a case of the greener grass syndrome. We think life would be so much better if only we had this or that. I’m not immune to it either. I’m reading the latest novel by Barbara Delinsky, and I think, “Man, why can’t I write like her!” I think the same thing when I read Jodi Picoult, or other writers who are masters of capturing their readers emotions. I think if I could just write like them, then I would be happy. It sounds absurd but it’s true.
But what’s wrong with the way I write? Sure I’m no Toni Morrison, but I happen to like my writing style. I’m getting the hang of my voice and I’m training it to whisper when needed, and scream like crazy when it’s time for it. But I would never get there if I constantly compared my writing to someone else–I would be too busy trying to copy their style instead of developing my own.
I used to preach to my clients, “Stop wasting so much time with the blow-dryer and love the hair you have.” Some would listen, and realize that their, curly, straight, red, (Oh, enough already!), hair was beautiful like it was and they just wanted me to help enhance it’s natural beauty.
But some would never learn and spend hours and thousands of dollars trying to make their hair something it never would be. Midway of finishing, While My Sister Sleeps, I had to do the same. I won’t ever write like her or anyone else. Like Sammy Davis Jr. sang, I Gotta Be Me. And you know what? It’s good enough.
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