Monday, August 17, 2009

Stop! Thief!

I was just reading over some of the stuff I have written recently to select a few I like (we have a rehearsal for our Writers on Mondays reading in only two days!) and I've noticed how much I borrow the tone of whoever I'm reading. I can almost read each poem and work out who I was reading that day. It's ridiculous, I feel like such a fake a lot of the time, like I'm just hanging on to the coat tails of someone else's writing.

I tried to write something called 'Biography of a day' thanks to Judith Thurman for that title (stealing again!), I'll have to remember to acknowledge her if it ever gets published. I trawled through heaps of news articles and not sure if I managed to create any kind of coherent narrative, but it was interesting to try.

2 comments:

  1. I think it is like that for the first ten years or so when you start writing. I can see Hass all over my work. Not to mention Galvin! I am hoping that my own voice will finally break through. Anyway writing is all about stealing...lines from a conversation, signs you see on the streets, moments you experience.

    Sarah

    ReplyDelete
  2. There's signs on the street?!
    :)

    ReplyDelete

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