Today’s assignment asked us to describe our writing style which I have interpreted as figuring out how you find your voice. If you go back to the very beginnings of this blog (which I must say I don’t recommend), I had no idea what my voice was. The blog was more like a stream of consciousness and rambling for a paragraph or two. I had not yet found my purpose.
Finding my writing voice took almost three years and finally I began to feel at home here. I had started reading other blogs, found blogging communities like SITS, and discovered Twitter. It was by finding out that there were other people like me looking to share their story that I felt I could share mine as well.
Some tools that have helped me better my writing are the courses 31 Days to Build a Better Blog and most recently Content Brew. Both of these courses have helped me become more intentional about my writing and thinking ahead for posts and series that I would like to cover instead of just sitting down at the computer and writing about whatever the first thing that pops in my head. That still happens some but for the most part I at least have a general idea of topics a few weeks out.
For just about everything in life, I am a pen and paper kind of girl. I print e-books so I can write and color. I like having a paper calendar instead of an electronic one. I practically rewrote my music theory book as it doing things by hand that I seem to learn and process the best. Except for blogging that is! For whatever reason things seem to flow smoother typing. If I feel blocked, I just stick the post in the draft bin and it may or may not get finished later. I’m not sure why its never dawned on me to wrote out a blog post by hand but now that I am thinking about it, I may have to give it a try.
As far as an actual “style” of writing, I would hope my writing would come across as conversational. I don’t want to ever feel like my writing is stiff and emotionless. One of the best compliments ever was about my writing style. She was doing a course on communicating online and she wrote, “My friend Jamee describes herself as, “a YPW (Youth Pastor’s wife), adoptive mom, blogger & spoonie (a person living with chronic illness)”. To me, she is a warrior. Jamee has publicly struggled with infertility and multiple chronic illnesses yet she uses her experiences as a ministry opportunity to others. Her blog started as an outlet for herself and has now become an outlet for others. I not only love her message, but I love her ease of writing. Her blog feels more like a conversation with a friend over a cup of coffee than a long-winded essay. I also like how easy it is to navigate within her blog to find resources and older posts.”
I totally cried. It is moments like those that keep me pushing through. Its encouraging comments and random emails that help let me know that I have found my purpose in writing. Of course, I will never say I have learned it all, because let me tell you, I have a long way to go and I think once I ever get to a point where I think I know it all, I just need to stop. I look forward to hopefully many years of growing, writing, and building relationships through A New Kind of Normal.
You are an amazing writer & an amazing friend! xoxo
i find your writing very conversational and personal. you are among the list of bloggers that i’ve never met but mentally think of as a type of modern-day friends. chronic severe pain is VERY lonely but you help me feel alone in the battle and your voice lets me know someone understands, even on days when pain leaves me bed-ridden and i feel removed from the world.