Finding My Voice

As I mentioned earlier, I'm currently studying for a test, and that means a break in most everything else I'm doing in life.  Over the past couple of months, I've been getting out these last few posts before shutting everything down.  So, this will be my last post on this blog until November.

In the meantime, I'm going to let my subconscious mind work on a problem ... what exactly is the voice I'm pursuing?  What separates the aspiring writers from the ones that everyone wants to read?  What separates the composers who write just interesting music from those who everyone wants to download?  What separates the viral videos from those who are trying too hard?

The answer: those who catch everyone's attention are those who have something to say--the ones who have found their voice.

Think about it.  I know my aspiring writer cohorts are reading their aspiring writer friends' books, and they are also reading the big name authors ... and guess which books they are enjoying more ... the ones written by the established authors who have already found their voice.

Yeah ... it's kind of depressing, isn't it.

I have spent the last several years working on my technique, improving my writing, learning to better organize my stories.  But nobody wants to read something that's only well-written.  They want something that moves them--takes them places they've never been before--something that makes them forget they're reading a book.

If you take a really close look at a book that many find fun to read, I bet you'll find the same things I find--mistakes up the wazoo--mistakes that established writers tell us we should avoid or our submissions will be thrown out.  But who really cares about the mistakes if the books are FUN to read?

So, when I come back, it'll be time for me to do what I'm suppose to do:  WRITE.

I mean: REALLY WRITE.