Authenticity Matters
Knowing who you are allows your artistic style to shine!
“There was about a two-year period at the end of the ’60s, when I realized I was in the wrong place and entertaining the wrong people with the wrong material and that I was not being true to myself. I went through a metamorphosis into something more authentic for me, a more authentic stage voice and writing voice.” ~ George Carlin
Recently, I had a similar epiphany as George Carlin. I have been under the illusion I would be the type of person who would inspire through words in a particular way. I had a sense of what this inspiration looked like in the form of a Facebook group and memes. Yes, memes. Then, I realized how creating inspiration in this way was not for me. It was actually draining, and wasn’t authentic. It wasn’t my style.
A couple of days ago I experienced a greater acceptance of who I am as a writer, a greater acceptance of my style.
Let’s take a brief moment to look at the different between style and voice because they are often used interchangeably.
Style: Our unique experiences, perspectives, values, beliefs, and understandings about life. Often style is something we develop after writing or creating art for a few years. We learn from our influences and then dive deeper into more of our unique flair by finding our own way. Our creative way of weaving ourselves into our work.
Voice: Our choice of words, and the way we put words together along with the tone imbued upon those collection of words. Voice becomes more clear when we choose the way words bump up against each other, make friends and enemies, and create exceedingly long sentences or declarative short ones. Voice happens when words impart details of the senses while expounding their journey through a specific essence of tonal expression.
An Epiphany of Comparisons
Through an internet search of “Esteemed Poets,” I came across Morgan Harper Nichols, a woman who has become well known through her uplifting and inspiring Instagram poetry.
I read a couple of her poems and realized this type of inspiration was not my style. In that very moment, I recognized how I had been attempting to inspire women, especially via social media, in a similar style as Ms. Nichols. However, because this style wasn’t true to my nature, my sense of being, I didn’t have much success.
The thing to know about Morgan Harper Nichols is her poetry has been inspired by answering letters of people yearning for advice. Here’s a beginning poem from her book: All Along You Were Blooming: Thoughts for Boundless Living
“Hold tight to hope,
amidst all unanswered questions
for even in uncertainty
there is strength to be found,
and grace will still abound
in what you do not understand.”
“I believe that finding your writing voice is a lifelong journey. And not just a lifelong journey of finding some big, grand voice of yours out in the distance somewhere, but I believe it is finding out how to get in touch with the voice that is already inside of you.” ~ Morgan Harper Nichols
What I appreciate about Ms. Nichols’s approach to voice is she’s inviting each writer to acknowledge that their particular voice is already accessible. She’s inviting writers to truly find their own ways of sharing how they feel by connecting with how they specifically convey a message.
Failure or Not?
“Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.” ~ Napoleon Hill
It wasn’t that I had failed in communicating my message via memes during those years on Facebook. I simply wasn’t being true to myself. This is why many thought-leaders today speak about the importance of failure. In failing, we find out true selves: we come into greater acceptance of who are not, so we can fully accept who we are.
That being said, I did find a poet who inspired me. Ada Limón’s authentic, evocative poetic style discusses difficult topics with poignant metaphors and emotional perseverance.
Ms. Limón’s poem: The Vulture & The Body from her poetry book: The Carrying
“On my way to the fertility clinic,
I pass five dead animals.”
She goes on to list the animals and their poses including a raccoon, a coyote, and three deer. Toward the end of the poem she poignantly questions her ability to become pregnant and the grief she carries:
“I drive home on the other side of the road, going south now.
The white coat has said I’m ready, and I watch as a vulture
crosses over to me, heading toward
the carcasses I haven’t properly mourned or even forgiven.
What if, instead of carrying
a child, I am supposed to carry grief?”
Accepting My Gritty Honest Style
. . . I really just wanted to do good work. And that’s not much different from how I usually feel. I’m competing against myself, right?”
~ Ada Limón
Yes, Ada Limón, our only true competition is ourselves. This is the first step of accepting ourselves as writers. Comparisons and influences help us learn about the writers we love and why we love them. Then, we can take a real, honest look at who we are and what we truly want to create in the world.
I’m the type of writer who needs to express the gritty stuff of feminism and relationships, my personal struggles as a woman, and the degradation of the Earth as much as the mindful conscious raising stuff. Poetry that uplifts through sharing my experiences where people have the opportunity to relate to it or not.
What was helpful about learning about Ada Limón’s work and her perspective (style) was recognizing how different it was from Morgan Harper Nichols’s work and perspective (style). I was able to acknowledge who I was pretending to be and who I actually am. My style isn’t quite like Ada Limón’s style; however, she speaks to me in a similar way that my poems speak to me. The epiphany opened me up toward acknowledging more of my authentic myself.
This doesn’t mean I won’t read other styles, on the contrary. It’s important to read other styles for fresh perspectives. And now, I recognize the type of audience more apt to receive and consider my poetry. I have a beginning idea whereas years before I had been trying to be something I was not.
Each of these women have a strong following on social media through their books and inspiring words. Each of these women go about connecting with people in their own authentic ways. I can truly applaud the success of both Ada Limón and Morgan Harper Nichols’s because of the subtle yet profound realization that I am me, not them. I have my own style and voice that begets certain types of readers.
This information, knowing ourselves and being authentic with our voice which ultimately creates our style, is vital to continuing forth as writers. Because it means we become closer to reaching a niche of people and understanding who they are while also fine tuning our work. Then, when our style needs a haircut or a shift, we can do so because we have built a strong foundation of our work as artists.
