Ok, here I am blogging. Why? In a hopefully non-futile attempt to find my writing voice. That nebulous style thingy that is all my own. Something that (if you read all the articles by published authors) is needed to grab attention and transport you from an unpublished author to one that can pop into a bookstore and see the holy grail. Your name (or mine in this case) on the cover of a novel.
It seems in my writing that I constantly go back and edit myself. The backspace key is my enemy. My inner crit (I can't take credit for that, saw it somewhere on the web) won't shut up long enough for me to finish a project. Add in the distractions of children, a husband, and myriad household details that need my attention, and it leads up to a ton of frustration. (You missed it, just stopped to change a diaper.)
What this boils down to is a basic chance to trust my voice, and in effect, trust myself. That is what this blog is for. To throw myself out into the wind and trust that I can pull off a safe landing at the bottom, and not just become a red splat on the pavement. I wish myself luck, I have a feeling I'm going to need it.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
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Hi there,
ReplyDeleteJust thought I'd throw in my two cents to encourage you to follow your love of writing. I've authored hundreds of articles over the last 15 or 16 years. In the beginning, it took quite a few queries to editors to gain their confidence in me as a writer. My keys were my persistence and a little luck. I think most people can "gather" up their own luck just by being decent people. It took a number of years before my writing really picked up steam, but I'm now a full time writer and photographer.
My articles are about the outdoors and mostly about fishing, kayaking, hiking, and assorted other topics. I've been told that you should be an expert on the subjects you write about because your authenticity and credibility, or lack thereof, can be "seen" right through from your words. I believe that is true.
Further, I believe in doing the things I write about. Of course, that's the best part! I happen to love to fish, kayak, hike, camp, you name it, if it's outdoors, I will do it!
I was lucky early on, too. I had a very close friend who was already an established outdoor writer and when he sensed I was in slump, or I couldn't sell a story, or had writer's block, he would always say to me, "No matter how dry that "inkwell" of ideas is, or how difficult it seems to sell an article, always write." Every now and then I still hit those slumps, but those words always come back to me and always bounce me back. He passed away a number of years ago, but his words have never left me.
Hope this helps. Keep on writing and good luck!
Joel
New York
I wish you luck as well, a wonderful reason to blog... love the line about trusting your voice. Do, and good things will happen.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great your committing to really trying to work on finding your voice. I really struggled with this myself so I know what your up against. For me I found that taking risks (not worrying about quality and just letting my characters do/say whatever they needed to) and changing to first person really helped. Best of luck!!
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