One of my lesser known claims to fame is this: I had a story published in one of the Chicken Soup for the Soul Series.
I don't know what I expected: kudos from my community, excitement at a book I was involved with being on the best seller list, lasting pleasure from hordes of people arriving and engaging with me at multiple book signings.
All these things happened to a certain extent, but beyond all of that I remember one phone call quite vividly. It was from a long time friend I hadn't heard from in a long, long time. Her voice on the line was excited - back then we didn't have facebook or twitter or texting to constantly keep in touch.
"I just read your story!" she chirped. "I knew it was you before the end of the first page!"
I was confused until she continued. "I was taking a bath and Jonah was reading to me, aloud, from the book. He read a couple paragraphs and I said, "Who wrote that? Look to the back and see who wrote that! It was you. I knew it was you!"
I hadn't said my name or my children's names in the opening sentences, but I had done something else that was just as recognizable: I had left my unique thumbprint in my words os much so that even as her husband was the one speaking the words, the voice she heard was mine.
Listen to that again:
Even as my friend's husband was the one speaking the words, the voice she heard was mine.
Bloggers have distinctive voices when they write - their own creative and writing thumbprint that is different from everyone elses - well, hopefully it is different from everyone else's. I have lost track of how many times I have told my writing students, "If you can speak, you can write."
Here are 5 simple steps to learning how to hear your voice in your blog posts and writing.
1. When you decide on a topic to blog about have a conversation with your camera about that topic. Speak into a camera or other voice recorder as if you were talking to a friend.
2. Transcribe what you said on the recording into a document.
3. If the recording is stilted or stiff, this is not your voice. This is a you-wannabe-or-don't-wannabe-voice. Try again but this time remember this is playful and fun and yet another way to improve your blog.
4. Take the transcription and briefly edit it into a blog post.
5. Repeat as necessary.
Before you know it you will get a text - tweet, blog comment, facebook message or maybe even a phone call from a far away friend saying, "I knew that guest post (essay in a book, magazine or whatever) before I even saw your photo!"
Bloggers, Writers and Other Creative Folks: Why not participate in Let Your Words Flow? We offer new prompts to spice up your blogging, writing and creative thinking every day!
Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist. Her word-love themed art will be for sale at a First Friday soon, when it is warmer than it was in December!, in Downtown Bakersfield. Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.
Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot
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© 2014 - Julie Jordan Scott - all rights reserved.
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