Koan

It's been the one thing on my mind over and over for the last 24 hours.

I did an interview with Robert Earl Keen the other day. Keen said a lot of things, but one thing that's been sticking to me is Emerson's statement, "Imitation is suicide." It's such a smart statement because it explodes the notion that while wanting to be someone else is flattering to that other person, it's not very flattering to the person doing the imitating.

I can't help but notice I've sometimes sought to imitate, particularly with my writing. I've sought out authors I wanted to emulate. Oddly enough, I've noticed I can't write certain kinds of things as easily if I'm reading specific authors. It's hard to write what I think of as scary when I'm reading Kurt Vonnegut. It's harder to write quirky, funnier fiction when I'm reading something like Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian."

I think any aspiring writer learns from other writers, but I'm wondering if I need to slack off on my reading to write something of my own or do I need to keep reading?

Yep. I've got a case of writer's block.