Insecure Writers - be who you are

so there are 2 ideas for today's post floating around in my head. and since i like them equally well, i'll use both of them. and they're both from movies, neither one of which has anything to do with writing.

the first comes from a movie called The Legend of Bagger Vance. it's about a great golfer who goes to war, loses his company, and comes back a broken man. suddenly he's asked to be in a local fund-raising golf tournament and he says he "lost his swing" and can't play. it isn't until Bagger Vance helps him get past his wounds that the golfer finally "finds his swing."

"Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be learned... something that's got to be remembered."

"Now play the game... Your game... The one that only you was meant to play... The one that was given to you when you come into this world... You ready?... don't hold nothin back. Give it everything... Now's the time... Let yourself remember... Remember YOUR swing..."

i know that when life and its troubles get in my way, i lose my "swing" in writing. have you lost yours? what will it take to find it again? maybe it's just a matter of remembering.

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the other is from Ratatouille. it's only one of many i'd love to use in a blog post. i chose this one because i just realized it relates to the quotes from Bagger Vance.

if you haven't watched Ratatouille, basically, Remi (a rat) idolizes Gusteau (a famous deceased French chef), and ends up working in Gusteau's restaurant. he has to hide under the hat of Linguini (who doesn't know how to cook at all) and can somehow control Linguini by pulling on his hair. he ends up making the best food Gusteau's has ever served.

this is a dialogue between Remi and Gusteau. the chef who used to run Gusteau's has been kicked out and has captured Remi. he's going to force him to come up with new frozen dinners with Gusteau's name on them.

G: So, we have given up.


R: Why do you say that?


G: We are in a cage inside the car trunk, awaiting a future in frozen food products.


R:  No, I'm the one in a cage. I've given up. You are free.


G: I am only as free as you imagine me to be. As you are.


R: Oh, please. I'm sick of pretending. I pretend to be a rat for my father. I pretend to be a human through Linguini. I pretend you exist so I have someone to talk to! You only tell me stuff I already know! I know who I am! Why do I need you to tell me? Why do I need to pretend?


G: But you don't, Remy. You never did.


(Remi's dad and brother break open the trunk and free him.)


Remi's dad: Where are you going?


R: Back to the restaurant. They'll fail without me.


Dad: Why do you care?


R: Because I'm a cook!

and then Remi goes on to make the best food he's ever made for a food critic who's never had anything good to say about Gusteau and his motto that "anyone can cook." the critic is so impressed that he writes this review:

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."

in the end, the critic's entire demeanor changes. after the health inspector shuts down Gusteau's (because rats were working in the kitchen), the critic loses his job and decides to invest in a small restaurant where Remi is the head chef.

you can draw your own conclusions. all i have to add is - be yourself. go out and write. you never know what will happen.

to read more Insecure Writers' posts, you can go to Alex's blog.