I know in my last post I said the best way to get creative is to read all the damn time, but one commenter got me thinking. He said:
Might I add one more, which may sound a little contradictory: don’t read others blogs in your same field too much. Why? Because it can lead to feelings of inadequacy.
One of my blogs is about personal finance and I find that if I read too many other personal finance blogs I end up feeling like I cannot do what they are doing (“I can’t write that well”, “how can I break into this field when they are all so well established?”).
My dear Russ, I could not agree with you more. See, my roommate and I have this thing where we refuse to be humble and basically remind ourselves every day how awesome we are. My friends think I’m awesome, and what can I say, I am. And if you think this is cocky then you can go screw yourself because I promise I’m rocking this shit better than you. Do you know why? Because I’m awesome.
But then the more involved I get online, the more I realize how un-awesome I actually am. Now that I’m a freelancer slash pastry student slash speaker (more on that later) I have a ton more time to promote myself/get involved/generate content. Yet while it’s been mildly successful, I look at other Gen Yers like Rebecca Thorman, Jamie of Oh! How Lovely and Matt Cheuvront, and I want to crawl into my hidey-hole and cry. How could I ever write so well or be so interesting? I’m just another chic with a blog who wants to be the next Julie/Julia Project.
Except I don’t really read the news any more. My social life is restricted to my roommate (who I secretly have a crush on) and fellow bloggers. And Twitter. Reading other people’s crap is where I get my info. Lame? Perhaps. But it is the unfortunate truth.
So to be a better blogger I have to read the blogs and figure out how I can be similar in their success while also being entirely unique. So to be a better blogger also means that I’m a little less awesome in my own eyes.
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