Embracing the Odd.
I was often told that if I wanted to be a writer I would need to grow a thick skin.
My papery epidermis has taken a tear or two over the past couple of years, but a comment I received last week was to prove to be my biggest test yet.
It is never nice to be told your work isn’t good. So far, I haven’t yet come across too many unhelpful comments, and most of what I am told is justified, even if I am a little reluctant at first to admit it.
Last week I was given some feedback in relation to a freelance job I was bidding for. The company had asked if I would write a trial piece for them, which is industry code for “we want you to write something for free even though we can see a huge portfolio of your work online.”
I obliged, and it was within an evaluation of this piece (which came from an anonymous ‘evaluator’ that hid behind the name of the company) that I found this pearl of wisdom…
“Your words seemed odd.”
Baffled by the buckets of brilliance that it must have taken to come up with that little whip-smart nugget, I didn’t quite know what to say.
It took the strength of a superhuman not to reply with an equally insightful observation such as “your face is odd”, but instead I printed it out and I pinned it on my pinboard.
Over the past few years, I have started to embrace my eccentricities. So if it shines through my words I’m afraid it’s just the mark of someone who’s becoming a bit more comfortable in their skin… which, funnily enough, is getting ever thicker.
I like your fictional writing and your regular writing. Moral of the story: I like your writing 🙂 Stay odd 🙂
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Good morals, thanks! I shall. 😀
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your writing is great and your words most certainly aren’t odd! x
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Thank you! It’s much appreciated 🙂
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That’s no problem 🙂
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I used to teach in the gifted program – one of my students, who knew how I loved all of their quirkiness, made a sign for my door – “Freaks, geeks, and nerds welcome here!” I always told them to embrace their inner nerd and quit worrying about other people’s definitions of that word if they wanted to be happy.
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That’s absolutely fabulous. The world needs more teachers like you. I might have to make a similar sign for my office 🙂
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well said
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I’m a supporter of the odd. Really, normal is vastly overrated. Homogenized thoughts are boring. Embracing the odd is truly a fantastic way to live.
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Having tried the so-called life of a ‘normal’, I can wholeheartedly agree!
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I don’t find your writing odd at all. I quite enjoy it and find it refreshing. Keep on keeping on!
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Thank you! Always happy to provide a little refreshment, haha 😉
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Think I’m echoing a lot of other comments but you are an amazing writer and ‘odd’ is a brilliant thing to be!
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Thank you James, I appreciate the echoes!
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Let me first day that his sentence is grammatically uninspiring. Your work is wonderful, interesting and often very beautiful. I love that you pinned it on your board. In the lab, we had our “wall of weird” where we put up odd things that we found, such as “sterile”, never-used pipette tips with a hair trapped in the biological filter!!
Anyway, good on you for developing your skin and great use of a histology image!
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Thank you! And I love the fact you know the proper term for that image… that’s my learning for the day ticked off! I like the idea of a wall of weird, I might have to adopt that, perhaps I’ll combine it with a bad feedback wall, I’m sure they will seamlessly blend…
How the hell does that happen to something that’s supposed to be sterile anyway?!
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We were super shocked to find it. We can’t figure it out and neither could the supplier.
Priceless!!
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This is wonderful – the idea that you are a writer who writes, well, like you! Embrace your odd words, I do. And I think discovering your voice, tone, and even oddness is not only what makes writers great, but also unique, and high up in the “free thinker” range…you know what I mean. I personally LOVE my cynical, sarcastic words too!
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And so you should!
You’ve hit the nail on the head, it was when I started to embrace my quirks that I found my ‘voice’, before then I didn’t have a style at all.
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“Odd” is new “in” for this evolving era. Time when technology can also breed lab-rat who can write, “oddity” is what makes difference. Love your writing. Just keep on going.
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Thank you! This is very true, and I’m sure there’s not an algorithm for human quirkiness, so hopefully we’re safe from the robots too… 😉
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I tracked down your published Popshot piece last week. It’s excellent. Their loss, your motivational gain. 🙂 Keep going, Odd-girl.
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Thank you. Your opinion is probably much better informed, I’m sure they did no such tracking down. Might have to adopt that nickname.
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