The Writing Life
Today’s post is by Jim Dougherty.
Has anyone ever told you to “find your voice“? It’s a curious bit of opaque advice that people like to share, but what does it really mean? Does it mean that you should write about the things that interest you? Does it mean you should become an indignant, uncompromising (underappreciated) artist? Does it mean you should find a voice that someone else wants you to have?
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Unlike the answer found in the song lyrics, email etiquette isn’t good for absolutely nothing. It’s good for absolutely everything. On a pragmatic level, it facilitates responses and productivity. On a personable level, it ensures understanding and respect.
The other day, I updated my Facebook status with a wish for a writing day. I said that anyone who wished to go home from work and write for the rest of the day could do so. One of my friends commented, “What if we can’t write right?” I joked that that’s when people were supposed to come see me. I then followed the comment with a more serious one: “Besides, you have to write wrong before you can write right.”
One of my favorite things to do is to bake; however, it’s baking with a purpose. I rarely bake for myself unless I have a strong craving for cookie dough. I like to bake for others. I’m happiest when I’m making other people happy.
In the first Tomb Raider film, Lara Croft finds a clock that contains a clue. Her butler decides to dismantle the clock piece by piece, screw by screw. He creates a diagram and numbers each piece. He wants to put the clock back together after he finds the clue.
I tend to avoid questions related to creative writing since I’m a business writing coach and not a creative writing coach; however, one of my readers asked if I could give any insight into writing summaries for fiction works. I’m not sure I’ll have much insight as I’m not a fiction writer nor do I write summaries of my poems – they’re usually too short to require a summation. I also hope that what insights I do have will be of use to people who write for their businesses. Summaries, after all, are not solely the realm of fiction writers.