47
15
The successful novelist will not
worry about competition, but
will concentrate only on the
page ahead.
You’ve just read something absolutely brilliant. It is origi-
nal and fresh, written with such grace and style you’re
ready to weep. A mental voice kicks in: I’ll never write
anything that brilliant. There is no way I can even approach
this! Why try?
I call this type of thinking the “Sam Snead Off the
Practice Tee Syndrome.”
Harvey Penick, the famous golf instructor, wanted
to make a go at the professional tour. He worked and
practiced and showed up at a tournament one day where
he saw a kid hitting absolute rockets off the tee.
His jaw dropped as the kid hit blast after blast, send-
ing the little white ball so straight and long that Penick
knew, even on his best day, he could never come close to
duplicating such prowess.
The kid’s name was Sam Snead. Penick decided to
become an instructor instead. A great one, too. He found
his niche.
Z4273i_039-065.indd 47Z4273i_039-065.indd 47 9/28/09 9:21:53 AM9/28/09 9:21:53 AM
48
In the end, a fi rst-class you is better than a second-
hand version of somebody else. Write books that
can’t be clumped with a bunch of similar ones.
—David Morrell
But when it comes to writing, the “Sam Snead Off
the Practice Tee Syndrome” is based on a fallacy.
When you read something that is stunningly origi-
nal and think you could never, even on your best day,
have thought that up, you’re right. Nor could any other
writer, anywhere.
That’s because that particular bit of brilliance be-
longs to that writer alone. It came from his own mind
and life and heart and experience, fi ltered through bil-
lions and billions of brain synapses over the course of
decades. There is no way anyone else can duplicate that
background.
And that’s why there is more than one book pub-
lished each year.
You have something unique to write, and your job
is to fi nd it.
Same goes for style. You have your own, waiting to
get on the page.
And guess what? Mr. Brilliant Genius Writer cannot
duplicate you.
So learn from the greats. Read and study those you
admire. But never compare yourself to them.
You are becoming the best you, not another them.
Z4273i_039-065.indd 48Z4273i_039-065.indd 48 9/28/09 9:21:53 AM9/28/09 9:21:53 AM
49
Don’t worry about trying to be better than
someone else. Always try to be the very best you
can be. Learn from others, yes. But don’t just try
to be better than they are. You have no control
over that. Instead try, and try very hard, to be the
best you can be. That you have control over.
—John Wooden, legendary
UCLA basketball coach
Z4273i_039-065.indd 49Z4273i_039-065.indd 49 9/28/09 9:21:53 AM9/28/09 9:21:53 AM
..................Content has been hidden....................
You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.