What You Are & Who You Are
At the recent Inbound Marketing Summit 2011 in Boston, I was impressed to hear the behind-the-scenes stories of author, Ben Mezrich, who is known for creating his own genre of nonfiction. (Sidebar: other highlights from #IMS2011 were recorded by the Pulse Network.)
As a quick background for anyone who may not know Ben Mezrich, he is known for writing the true-to-life stories behind the MIT blackjack team and the rise of Facebook, The Social Network, i.e., stories, which his website describes as “chronicling the amazing stories of young geniuses making tons of money on the edge of impossibility, ethics, and morality.”
About his writing style:
He explained how he uses the Method form of writing, which I never heard of for writing before. It is, like in acting, where you “live it…and writing it is like re-living it.”
Among the many stories and learnings Ben shared (and, boy, can he talk, a mile a minute, though riveting all he way), I was most inspired by advice he gave on being confident in your writing.
For anyone struggling to find their voice in writing, see if this advice rings true for you:
Inspiration for Writers:
To paraphrase, Ben shared: “..it is okay to be really insecure everywhere else in your life, but as a writer, you need to really believe in your writing.”
But, like the saying goes…I believe he said this saying was from the movie Terminator, but since I never saw the movie and couldn’t find a direct quote in Google, I’ll just get to the essence of it…he goes on to state something like this:
“Write as if writing is ‘all you are and what you do’…feel strongly about what you do because it comes through in your writing.”
Here is a quote most similar to the essence of what I believe he was trying to say:
“Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.” ~John Jakes quote.
Simple advice. Maybe easier said that done.
I can relate to how putting yourself out there is a scary thing to do, but I can see how it has worked for Ben. He recounted collecting endless copies of rejection letters along the way. But by keeping on doing what he does, he eventually found his place — an interesting example to follow.
Whose example of confidence do you follow?
