A shot at emulating Charlie Lamb (5)
I believe the answer is:
essay
'a shot' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I don't understand the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for essay that I've seen before include "Short literary piece: attempt" , "Analytic or interpretive literary composition (5_" , "Test" , "Try; short written work" , "School compeosition" .)