If Shakespeare Can Do It, Why Can't You?

I have nothing against William Shakespeare. I do have problems with people who put him on a pedestal. The people who praise his actions and condemn any other writer for doing them as destroy the English language.

Shakespeare is noted for making up words. He's apparently coined over 3,000 of them. He's also considered a brilliant genius for doing so. I dare you to go and make up a word. Show your writing to somebody who loves Shakespeare. I'd be willing to bet that they will tell you that your made-up word is "not a real word". If that person happens to be a teacher of Shakespeare at a college, I'll pay 2-to-1.

What makes a word real? All you need is a definition people agree on. People think that a word has to already exist to be real, but that's nonsense. Somebody said it for the first time at some point. After that, if it's catchy it continues to live. If it's stupid, it dies.

What I'm getting at is that you should never let an icon, or even a personal hero keep you down. I know this sounds contradictory, since I recently said that you should make sure you have someone better than you at all times, but there is a difference. If you have a hero, you should aspire to be as good as them, and then to be better than them. If you look at your hero and you say that you're never going to be as good as them, then you need to rethink what you're doing.

William Shakespeare was a human being, flesh and blood, just like you and me (unless you happen to be an android of some sort). He wrote things and he put a great deal of effort into them. Because of his hard work and his skillful care, he created amazing pieces of writing. If you work hard and care enough about your own writing, you should do just as well. After all, if Shakespeare can do it, why can't you?