Writing Like My Heroes

In Bird by Bird, Anne Lamotte describes how writers imitate the authors they most admire, especially after having read them recently. I am soooo susceptible to this. I just finished Bright Lights Big Ass by Jen Lancaster, and I want to add the word asshat to my vocabulary, and develop a much more sarcastic, funny, snarky tone. Years ago when I read Bridget Jones' Diary and was blown away by this novel that actually reflected what my life was like, Iwanted to begin sentences with the word "am" (Am imitating famous writer now. Daily calories, 2700. ) and incorporate the words fuckwit and wanker into my vocabulary. I read at least one Jodi Picoult novel every year, and always close her books convinced that it's time to write a novel about a pressing issue of our time with a legal twist, and illustrate how it tears families apart and affects those we love. I read Annie Dillard and despair that I can never be successful unless I learn to describe, in excrutiating detail, every living thing within a ten-mile radius of my home. Tom Robbins makes me want to write stories with inanimate objects as characters.

So how do I reconcile this? Well, I recognize that Jen Lancaster doesn't write like Jodi Picoult, who doesn't write a thing like Anne Lamott, who doesn't write like Brenda Ueland, even though they're all brilliant in their own right. I think it's a pretty common struggle for writers. It's called finding your voice. It's a matter of confidence, really: the confidence to choose your own words and know that they're the right ones to get your point across, and the confidence that your way of doing it is valuable somehow.

I still really want to make better use of words like asshat and wanker, because they're such great words. But my husband says I shouldn't curse- not because it's offensive to him or to anyone else in our circle of friends, but because it just doesn't sound right when I do it.

Are there other writers out there? To quote a favorite line from one of my favorite movies, who are your influences? (Bonus points if you can name the movie)