Friday, September 4, 2009

NEW RULE

Write me. Write as I speak, as I think. Write in a way that sounds like Ruth, that my friends and family will recognize, that new readers will appreciate as honest and fresh. Don’t try to be Frank Bruni- that Santé review was an awful attempt. Don’t try to be Julie Powell- who can yell at her husband and eat that much butter but still be charming? Plus, I don’t know anything! I’m not a chef yet. I’m not a food critic yet.

Sometimes, as I try to find a job and a vocation and a place in the world, I still feel like a little girl playing dress-up in her mom’s closet. A woman is meant to wear these clothes, this lipstick, these high heels. Yet, the dress doesn’t fit, the lipstick is all over half my face, and the shoes make me trip.

That’s what it feels like when I try to write like a Food and Wine editor or Wine Spectator travel correspondent (ok, Croatian food is good, but not that good). Perhaps that’s why I write so sporadically; I am writing in a style that I don’t enjoy.

So the new rule stands: Write the Ruthie way, whatever that may be.

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