I was recently sent a link to a blog post with a request to read through it. As I did, I felt eerily like I was reading someone else’s blog. It sounded suspiciously like the individual had taken on the persona of someone else in my community.

I don’t think this was a ploy to steal someone else’s work. Oh no. It was much more serious than that. This writer was actually being a literary impersonator. They were writing in another person’s voice, other than their own.

I pondered their reasoning for quite some time and the more I wondered about it, I couldn’t help but ask, “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” That’s the only viable explanation I could find for someone not using their own unique—and God given—literary voice.

I know there are many reasons why this happens. Most of those reasons are completely unfounded so I’d like to uproot them for you here, sort of my way of snatching your tongue back from Prissy the feline thief:

I’m not good enough. So many writers try to emulate their favorite authors because they don’t believe they are good enough to write on their own. Well, may I point out that how good you are is beside the point? No one starts out good enough. Writing is a craft that must be honed and developed. So, if you’re not good enough, accept it and work at it. It’s simple, really.

I have nothing to say. If that’s true, please place two fingers on the side of your neck because to not have anything to jaw on about means you are no longer living. Here’s the kicker. Others need to hear what you need to say. Yep. It’s true. That’s by God’s design as well. So don’t buy that sack of horse hocky telling you there’s nothing in your world worth telling others about.

People won’t like me. Umm… well, that’s true, at least for some. No one is liked by everybody. Not even Princess Diana or Mother Teresa. So you’re in good company. Some people won’t like you. They may even be critical of you and what you write. Know what Mother T would say? “Write anyway.”

I’ll make mistakes. Of course you will. Otherwise there would be absolutely nothing to fill up the blooper reels with. Hey, lighten up. It’s actually fun to be fodder for someone else’s roast. Look, there’s not a person alive who hasn’t done something that was worthy of a “World’s Dumbest…” episode. I bet that’s the way Peter felt when that rooster announced “It’s morning, you moron!!” It happens. Learn to live with it.

Here’s the thing: AUTHENTICITY RULES!

There are well known celebrities who have lifestyles I don’t subscribe to. That being said, I have absolute upmost respect for them because they live authentically as who they are. They don’t try to be someone else. They speak in their own voice and don’t try to impersonate anyone else.

Please be you! Don’t let the cat get your tongue. Be you and write in your voice. The world needs YOU, your story, and you message told just the way you would. Please don’t deprive the world of YOU. That would be tragic.

Give us you!