Word Search

When asked for a word on the spot my mind goes blank. I don't touch cross-word puzzles. They're impossible.

But if I'm given time to come up with a word on my own, say as in Scrabble, I love it, but I'm slow at putting those little letters together.


Life throws at me moments and feelings that are indescribable. If I try to find the exact word to describe it, my mind goes blank. I'm searching for the words, the all encompassing words for these moments, these feelings...

Standing on the edge of the ocean, I find it to be inviting yet threatening all at once. 

The ebb of peace washes back to sea, revealing a deep tremor of the finality of engulfment. 

What word describes that feeling of welcoming tranquility 

while harboring an instinctual threat to survival?

Holding my two-year-old over my pregnant belly, 

I breathe in love as the edge of wanting space unsettles the moment. 

What word captures a mother's heart yearning for physical freedom 

yet clinging to the waning umbilical cord?

Waking before dawn, I listen to my toddler sing "I love Mama. I love Dada." over and over 

and I want to run to her to inundate her with my love, 

but I burrow deeper into the covers wanting more time alone. 

What word holds the essence of the moment a woman tips over into a mother?

What words are you still searching for in your life?

A Down-To-Earth Discussion on Cliches

Once in a blue moon, somewhere over the rainbow, whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, an apple never falls far from a tree. A little boy he picked it up and put it in his pocket, for an apple a day keeps the doctor away. A babe in the woods, as white as snow, couldn't see the forest for the trees and let out a flood of tears for Mom (the apple of his eye) and apple pie. A down-to-earth old man, pushed an apple cart from the ends of the earth and sang "Don't upset the apple cart, so go with the flow." He saw the grass was greener on the other side, where the babe grew green with envy, so he asked the boy, who grew like a weed, to share his apple, which was as juicy as a watermelon, with the babe, because one rotten apple spoils the barrel. Not wanting to be a stick in the mud, the boy didn't stop to smell the roses and fed the apple to the babe. Now they're like two peas in a pod and the old man is snoring.

I purposely wrote this short short story to be chock-full of common sayings (cliches) that we hear and use daily. I find myself even using them with my toddler, who may not understand the hidden meaning behind some of them yet, but they're fun and easy.

As a writer, however, I have to be conscious of them so that they don't spill out on the paper when I am writing, because they are too ordinary. A successful writer creates words and phrases that are original and creative. But some times a cliche slips in, like a ghost in the dark.

So how can I avoid using the ordinary? To nip cliches in the bud, I try to think about every image, every comparison, and every descriptive moment before I write about it. This makes me work harder to create a unique description rather than falling through the trap door and using a cliche. During the revision/editing phase of my writing piece I also put on my thinking cap, analyzing the text for cliches that slipped in the back door.

Writing that includes cliches makes it easier on the reader to understand, but the text is plain, flat, and boring. To make your writing engaging and memorable, it helps to pick the cliche out of your text and practice writing several different ways to describe the image or comparison. Use your five senses to dive into creativity and you'll find yourself spinning a thread of gold!

Well, now that we've reached the end of this tale, I truly hope I haven't bored you to tears!

A Series on Voice: Day Three

Day Three: Developing Your Voice

To identify and understand my personal writing style I have worked through a set of exercises that I made for myself that I will list below. To develop my voice for a particular book I am writing I am starting to work on a set of exercises that so far have been a learning experience. These too are listed below.

Depending on the audience I am writing for, I have found that developing my voice may come naturally or may be more challenging. In certain pieces of writing (fiction and non-fiction) that are based mainly on my experiences and background knowledge, my voice flows easily into my writing. But when I am working on a piece that includes characters, settings, or plot details that are very different from me, I am not as comfortable in finding and using my voice. The key to remember, however, is that all humans experience similar core truths of humanity that come through in a writer's voice, so this is what I strive to find in my personal writing style.

Exercises to Identify and Understand My Voice

1. Take a personality quiz.
2. Make a detailed list of my hopes, fears, opinions, and beliefs.
3. Tease out the list to identify strengths and weaknesses of my personality.
4. Create a timeline from childhood to present that documents traits of my personality (i.e., tastes, dress, interests, friends, books, music, activities, choices, education, jobs).
5. Create a timeline from childhood to present that documents events in my life that deal with certain emotions (i.e., anger, pain, sorrow, love, joy, humility, hope).
6. Create a set of note cards with one word per card that identifies things I feel most deeply.

Exercises to Develop My Voice for a Book

1. Create character sketches for the central characters of the book (i.e., descriptions of appearance, actions, mannerisms, habit of speech, things that affect the senses).
2. Write several versions of the first chapter using different approaches (i.e., first person, third person, different settings, different starting points).
3. Write a letter from the main character's POV (in first person) to his/her parents, a friend, an enemy, a stranger, and me.
4. Make a list of how I want the overall atmosphere of the book to impact the reader.
5. Use the list to write several examples of this atmosphere based on setting, dialogue, character description, and a mini-plot.

Where Do We Go From Here?

When I used to paint on a regular basis, I approached my canvas having a very clear image in my mind of what I intended to create. I almost always had sketches of the entire painting or a photograph I'd taken to accompany the vision in my head. I felt more at ease planning the painting in steps on paper and in my head, eventhough the end results were usually some what different.

Like painting, my writing is more successful if I feel comfortable knowing the overall atmosphere. Researching, thinking, and visualizing are key components of preparing myself before I begin to write. But at some point I have to say to myself "Okay, I'm ready to begin." I think the final thing that I hold on to is knowing exactly what voice I will be trying to use in my writing.

After I've gone through the identification and development of my writing style, I think I will be ready to go with a first chapter and continue with the rest of the book. Right now I've been practicing with different first chapters, and it really helps me to see how my writing style shapes the story differently when I try different approaches. Perhaps as I gain more experience as a writer I won't have to do all of these steps to discover and develop my voice, but for now it seems to be working for me.

At what point in your preparation for a book or article do you say to yourself "Okay, I'm ready to begin" and start the writing process?

Thanks for following along in this short series on 'voice.' I've learned a lot by writing about this topic and I appreciate everyone's feedback!

A Series on Voice: Day Two

Day Two: The Discovery of Your Voice

In day one of this series on voice I defined it as a writer's personal writing style based on who the writer is (personality, experiences, attitude) and the atmosphere the writer wishes to create in the book. I was left wondering how an author truly learns what his or her own voice is before setting down to write a book.

The books I've read that leave an impression on me carry a voice that has a power over my emotions and makes me believe in the book's story. But how did these authors tap into such deep truths of the human spirit with voice? First they had to discover their own individual depths of the soul.

What Are Your True Aspects of Humanity?
In her book Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott states that "you cannot write out of someone else's big dark place; you can only write out of your own." To reach the core of our humanity, Anne suggest that we confront our "anger and damage and grief." And it doesn't work to tackle this confrontation with someone peering over our shoulder; we have to release ourselves to exposure in order to tell the truth in our own voice.

How Can You Acknowledge the Truth?
A first step to take in taking down the barriers and grapling with your deepest truths might be to make a detailed descriptive list of your opinions, beliefs, fears, and hopes. And from these branch out to consider the strengths and weaknesses of each item in how they relate to you as a human.

A second step might be to ask yourself what you've repressed inside of yourself since childhood. What secret identities, personalities, lifestyles do we dream of living but don't? I tried this out by creating a conversation with my self and my shadow (my self being the writer-mama-wife that I see every day and my shadow being what I dream I'd be doing in a dual reality, a rainforest biologist and painter).

When I look to the deepest truths of myself I am embarrassed, sadden, surprised, humbled, happy, and inspired.

From this foundation I can begin to develop my voice. In Day Three of this series I will attempt to learn how a writer develops their voice.

The two steps I've taken to think about what lies at the core of my soul that speak of humanity are just two ways that I've tried. What other steps have you taken to discover your voice?

A Series on Voice: Day One

I learned so much from doing the "Writers Write and Think Outside the Box" series on my blog earlier this month, that I decided to do another series on a second topic that I struggle with: voice. Unlike setting, characters, plot, and dialogue, 'voice' has always been a harder concept for me to understand. What is it exactly and how do authors achieve success with it? How do I discover my voice and how does it differ in each book I write?

These are just some of the questions I have always had on voice, so I am going to blog on voice for the next few days! This series is meant to serve as an exercise for me to truly learn what voice is, how to develop my own voice, and why voice is important, so there may be parts of this series that you don't agree with and I would be happy to learn from you since I am learning as I blog about voice. If you would like to follow along, I'd love to hear your insight and experience with voice! So let's begin...

Day One: What is Voice?

As a writer-mama I often wish the discovery and usage of voice could be as easy as creating different voices for my toddler's stuffed animals when we pretend play. Unfortunately a writer's voice is much deeper than using a strange monster accent or a squeaky mouse trill of tongue.

To answer this question I pulled my first diaries from when I was in elementary school off of my writer's bookshelf. Skimming through the pages, I realized that as a child new to writing my style was all my own. I was too young to have studied the writing styles of other authors. I wrote in my own unique way. I believe this is this definition of 'voice' - a writer's personal writing style.

But what exactly is your personal writing style?
Your individual writing voice is a combination of all the experiences you've had in life, your personality, the personalities of your characters, and your feelings towards the subject you're writing about, the characters, and the reader.

Why is voice important?
After I finish an extraordinary book, I close the cover and say "Gosh, I wish I could write something like that." What makes me say this? The author's voice. In some mysterious, vague way the author has beautifully written a story with characters, settings, plots, and dialogue that create an overall atmosphere that is unique and believable. I can reread these books over and over, and each time I learn something new. But I don't want it to be mysterious and vague. I want to know how the author's personal writing style created such an engaging, successful voice.

How do I identify voice in books?
I made up a small exercise for myself to compare and contrast voice in different books and essays. Among some of my favorite pieces of literature, I looked for excerpts that demonstrate anger. This is what I learned...

In Katherine Paterson's book The Bridge to Terabithia, the two main characters argue about beating up a bully who stole Twinkies. The dialogue of each character shows their personality as well as their innocence. When Jess claims he has to fight "the female gorilla" eventhough "them Twinkies is well on the way to padding Janice Avery's bottom," the reader is given a unique perspective from the author that is influenced by the author's personality as well as the character's personality.

Ben Mikaelsen's book Touching Spirit Bear deals with anger of a teenage boy throughout most of the book. His voice comes through on several pages where he clashes the intensity of the boy's anger with the beauty of the wilderness on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest. For example, the author writes, "In the bay, a mother seal played with her spotted pups as a golden sun peeked through the gray overcast and glinted off the waves. "This place sucks!" Cole mumbled as the breeze drifted sparks upward like wandering stars."

In an essay titled Exile: El Paso, Texas, Benjamin Saenz uses his voice to describe the injustice a man receives in such a way that the reader feels angry for the man eventhough the man himself tries hard to not be angry and speaks calmly and fairly to those who hurt him. By reading about the man's actions but also his thoughts, which oppose his actions, the author's voice comes through in a unique way.

Each of the above authors effectively use their own personal writing style to portray anger, but how did they discover their voice? And once discovered, how did they develop their voice? I will address these questions and more as this series on Voice continues!