Let’s say I give you a line or two – just the seed of a story – and I ask three of you to come up with something. Hell, let’s not just suppose it, here’s something to work with:
“Yes, Time-Travel isn’t something you’d normally find on an expense report, but hear me out.”
You’re welcome.
So if I asked three of you to take the above line and run with it – any length, any Genre, do what you want – I would get three different stories. I don’t think any of us would argue about that.
The reason why I’d get three different stories is that I’ve involved three different people. Three different people with different life experiences, and different points of view. With few exceptions, you could compare those three people along any metric and you’d get differences.
Even if two, or even all three were identical twins they’d still generate three different stories.
It’s that difference that’s important. It’s that difference that shines the light on the idea that writing is a competition, and shows it for the falsehood that it is.
There’s simply no comparison because there can be only one you. What you produce has your fingerprints (actual, or metaphorical) all over it. It’s got you running all the way through it. You’ve taken that idea and you’ve run it through the unique filter that is You.
That difference is EVERYTHING.
Only you can do what you do, the way that you do it. There can be no comparison – not with me, not with anyone else, not even with any past work that you may have done. You are simply not the same person, right at this moment, than you were back in the past. You are days, and days, and miles, and miles away from that person, so there can really be no comparison.
And that’s a good thing. You’re constantly evolving, learning, and honing the skills that enable you to do that thing you do.
And the world needs your unique voice. It needs the ideas seen through the You filter.
Thanks for reading. Be safe out there. Be Excellent to Each other – and yourself.
I’ll see you on Thursday.
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