I am in the middle of writing a blog post. Not this one - another one. A REAL one. It is about the title of my blog, but a couple of things happened. First is that the last two weeks seem to have run away with me. Between Thanksgiving weekend, company, weaning calves, driving, trying to clean, taking a mini trip that turned into a small trip, renovating with my sister-in-law, a sick babe and the things coming up this weekend, well, posting to a blog that only a handful of my friends may or may not read didn't seem to make it onto the "necessary" list.
This is a photo taken by my sister-in-law of my mom and I rounding up the cows and calves for weaning Thanksgiving Monday. Giddy up.
Second is that as I was writing, I started to sound a bit like I was attempting to write like a writer. Maybe that isn't an accurate assessment either. I started using a thesaurus and was being (in my mind) a little philosophical. Well, that got me thinking about voice. How could I post something with the words "expound" and "juncture" in it since my last two (first two) posts were about my hair care regime and my sugar addiction! I would sound like a total chaunch - how could I sound like anything but a poser and a tool? Seriously?!
So what is my voice? We all know that the things that go online always have some kind of polish to them. Yes - even you Instagram moms who swear you are laying it all out there on the line. You have to at least consider the things you share and choose the words you write. So what words do I choose and why? And do I have to consistently choose the same types of words or ideas or motivations when I decide to "put it out there."
When I was in jr high school, I wanted to be a surgeon. In high school I decided I wasn't smart enough for that, so I thought about writing and journalism. The problem was that I was only actually interested in editorial style writing. I remember saying I wanted to write my opinion about whatever topic I wanted and have people be interested in what I had to say. How narcissistic - oh, wait... Anyway, maybe I'll blame society for giving me a large enough dose of reality, but I had a pretty strong feeling that nobody was going to pay me for my opinion on my limited knowledge and experience. But who needs to get paid when you can spew it out on the internet for free! -- But back to the dilemma, what is my voice?
I'll tell you what it is. It is mine. Sometimes that is laughing until I'm hysterical at a Julian Smith video on YouTube, sometimes it is discussing papal encyclicals or the problems with the UN. Sometimes I might cry over how much I love cooking and food (yes, that has happened), rant about social justice, and occasionally I might expound on the itchy nature of my scalp.... see what I did there? My voice can be (usually is) loud, but it has tempered over time - thank the Lord - although it can still sometimes be muffled by my foot. I might talk about my babe, my daily life, my indignation, my passion, my feelings, current events, the world at large, and I might use my everyday words, or I might pull out the thesaurus and exercise my writing muscle, but rest assured, the voice is mine.
The beautiful thing is that I am so many things at once, and so are you! So consider this a disclaimer to any future post you may read and think, "Wow, what a load..." I'm not usually trying to sound like someone I'm not, and if my sound isn't ringing true, feel free to question; but also consider I am not static and will not always sound the same.
I do what I want. ;) --Peace
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