A (fairly unique) style is very simply the hardest thing for a writer to obtain. It comes from stealing other writers' styles, writing a lot with them, and slowly letting your own voice begin to poke through the cracks. It takes a lot of writing, and style isn't really something one can develop -- least not in poetry --, because it relies so heavily on your own personal voice. The purpose in writing repeatedly is to develop your ability to articulate your unbearable secret, and nothing can replace the experience of reaching a stylistic vertigo -- that moment in your career when you truly realize who you are, what you're doing and what you're writing is focused on. While many people would not classify my poetry as "happy," I tend to think so; all of my poems deal with hope, life and love, and particularly, the love of life that hope implies. Just write enough, and one day you'll find people able to identify your voice and style with the words on the page.
"If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing on my shoulders." -Hal Abelson
That reminds me of something else: If you're trying to work on finding your style/voice by practicing writing, make sure to be careful with what sort of writing you do. If you feel you need to work on being persuasive, write essays and articles. If you need better flow and emotional portraying, write poetry. If you aren't good at storytelling, do fiction or nonfiction. That's pretty obvious, but it's still something to think about.
I'm covered in pixie dust and flying without a care.
Please don't make me fall; the ground's too hard for me to bear.
We mustn't dwell over past losses; we must cherish present gifts.
I wondered why we put villains in our stories when we have plenty of them in real life; then I realized that maybe we wanted stories where the good guy wins. — nogutsnoglory
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