I have a variety of “rules” I try to follow as a writer.  Many of them include things related to writing rituals and good habits that writers should stick with as often as possible. Sometimes, I do not adhere to these rules. I break them.

Do writers set themselves up for failure by creating a set of good habits that are not reasonable to follow? Do we set up rules that are too strict? Is is simply too hard to have any consistent writing habits or practices?

I don’t think so. These rules, or guidelines, or even commandments, are in place to keep us on track. To help us stay on the chosen path as a writer. They essentially keep us in check when we start to drift or become complacent.

Some writers have rituals in place that they follow each and every time they write. They may even be considered a bit pathological or compulsive.

Maya Angelou went to a hotel early in the morning with a bottle of sherry, cards, the Bible, a Thesaurus, and writing pads in hand.  The hotel staff removed all the art from the walls, and by the time she left, Maya had written 10-12 pages of work.

I recently cam across this article titled, Ten Brutally Brutal Writing Commandments, describing what the blogger considers important rules to live by.

I don’t know if these would be MY commandments, but there are some good points in there.  A couple that stand out to me relate to the importance of being a reader and a writer.

Writers MUST Read and Write

Just these two commandments sum it up nicely. Sure, there are more, and the others are also important, but these two are the greatest commandments. In my opinion. If you can only stick with two, I would go with these two: read and write.

Just as Jesus states the two most important commandments to follow are to love God and love thy neighbor, the two most important “writing rules” to follow are read often and write often.

The other commandments (whatever they are) will help you improve your writing skills, and become a better writer. But if you neglect these two, you can’t really be a writer.

Writers Must Write

Obviously, if you don’t write, you are not a writer. Nothing else to say about this. Except this: don’t get lazy or your creative mind will atrophy! Write as often as possible.

Writers Must Read

Many wonderful ideas and creative genius begins in the imagination of writers. Writers feed off of words. Ingesting words are part of thriving as a writer. Words build the creative strength that writing demands.

Take in words. Read. Get inspired by other people’s words.

As a matter of fact, this post was inspired by the “ten commandments” blog post I mentioned above. Just like that, I found an inspirational spark to get this post rolling. It works.

I don’t know what your rules of writing or rituals are and maybe you don’t have any. But I want to tell you that it would not hurt to find some that work for you, are reasonable to follow, and you can habitual stick to. No matter what though, regular reading and writing should be on all of your lists. Trust me. Everything else comes from those two habits, or commandments.

Now go. Be a writer.

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Editor’s Note: This is  guest post by Lindsey Harper Mac.  Please read more about Lindsey in the bio footer.

Writing is often a trial-and-error learning experience that not even the best among us can perfect the first time around. No matter how high you begin on the ladder of intellect and skill, there is always something more you could be doing to improve your writing, which is especially important when learning online.

Proper writing will help you communicate with your professors, and convey what you truly mean during your course-work.

Although you can certainly find inspiration by shunning the industrial world and heading over to Walden Pond, embracing technology may actually work in your favor. Apps can often be a writer’s best friend when you get stuck in writer’s block or need a little help in creating a grammatically-friendly piece.

To get the ball rolling on a ten page paper for your college course or for a creative work of your own, check out the following top five must-have writing apps. 

1. Swype

You never know when inspiration might strike, and hauling your laptop around everywhere “just in case” can become bothersome after a while. The Swype app features a user-friendly keyboard that closely resembles a basic laptop keyboard, which makes it a perfect solution for letting all of your inspiration out wherever you might be.

Swype is designed to perfect your spelling errors as well, since all you have to do is slide your fingers across the keyboard and the app will make suggestions about what word you were looking for. After a few weeks of use, Swype will begin to catch onto your writing style and guess the correct word more often.

2. Pages

Pages was the very first iPad app offered at the app store, and has since only gotten better with several updated versions. The app features a wide variety of creative templates for letters, flyers, resumes, invitations, reports, and more, so you can have the perfect framing for whatever document you’re working on.

A Multi-Touch design allows natural writing at top speed, while a Smart Zoom feature automatically zooms in on the portion of the text you’re working on at the moment. This unique and easily navigable app will help you knock out a few paragraphs for your term paper while you’re waiting around in between classes.

3. Vocabology

Nothing enhances your writing quite like a large vocabulary, and the vocabology app helps you establish a strong command of more than just the English language. The app features a word of the day from multiple sources, including Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com, Yahoo Education, TheFreeDictionary, Wordsmith.org and even Urban Dictionary, so you can impress professors and show off how well-read you are to all of your classmates.

You can even become better acquainted with foreign languages, since the app also features a word of the day in Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese as well.

4. Google Docs

Allowing others to proofread, edit and make comments on your work is a great way to recognize common mistakes and improve your writing for the future. Google Docs makes this possible by offering a user-friendly writing interface that allows you to grant access to other users for editing and note-making purposes.

You can review the edits and notes your friends make in real-time, so you can even proofread a document together and discuss strengths and weaknesses. This app is especially helpful for collaborating on group projects and assignments.

5. Evernote

A good piece of writing is born from a series of carefully written notes and ideas. Evernote provides students with a convenient outlet for jotting down and organizing these ideas as they come to you throughout the day. If you don’t have the time to type out your idea, you can use Evernote to save a picture or voice recording of the idea and add it to the proper area.

Users can tag notes with relevant subjects to find inspiration later with the app’s convenient search function. Evernote is a must-have for students who could use a little more organization and inspiration in their lives.

No matter what your major is, you will be required to contribute a great deal of writing throughout your time at college and most likely in your career as well. With these apps at your fingertips, you can count on getting through the most grueling writing assignments in one piece.

Blank mind

Stagnant. Stale. Dry. Empty. Dormant. Blank.

In other words: uninspired.

You may have noticed I have not shared much of my writing these last few months. I have published several guest posts, intermingled with some resourceful and curation posts. But I have published little of my own writing inspiration.

Maybe you have not noticed.

But I have.

For some reason, I have not been inspired to write lately. So I haven’t. Which leads to the neglect of my blog, The neglect of my readers. And I am sorry.

It seems my muse has left town on an extended vacation, without so much as a postcard. Just to assure me she will be coming back. I know she will, but until then, I am blank.

Does the busyness of life crush the creative spirit?

Life has been dynamic since the beginning of 2012. Maybe too dynamic. New job. New relationship. Lots of travel. The dissolving of friendships. The creation and kindling of new ones. New writing ventures. And more…

Maybe all the changes have shifted my focus, my energy. Thoughts absent in the right brain with full attention on the things present in the left side. Pushing out creativity with it. Can there be room for both?

Balance is lacking right now. And I need to bring that balance back. Doesn’t this seem like such a challenge in life – maintaining balance?

Most of the changes have been positive, but yet they have been distracting. On an emotional level, too. The lack of inspiration does not mean I have not been inspired. It just means I have not been able to translate that inspiration into relevant and meaningful words.

Why the lack of writing?

There could be many reasons I have been neglecting the time required to create any inspiring or even coherent writing piece. Too busy, lack of motivation, loss of routine, distractions, scattered thoughts.

The simple truth is I have been lazy. I got out of a routine to hyper-focus on the things in my personal and professional life. However, I have not taken the time to write.  Not only have I neglected my blog, I have not jotted down anything in a journal or for other publications.

Scattered brain thoughts pulled into dozens of directions without the quiet time to gather them together. To formulate the ideas and get them on paper or a word processor. These words have been like steam inside a pressure cooker, ready for escape.

The lack of expressing my thoughts in writing has also generated bottled up feelings, leading to random (and sometimes misconstrued) explosions. I believe feelings need to be leaked slowly and consistently. There are different ways to do this: meditation, exercise, counseling. Writing is a catharsis for people who write. Without the release of those jumbled words that smash around in your head, you lose the ability to scrutinize your thoughts.

The writing muscles are much like the body’s muscles. If you don’t use them, you develop atrophy. By neglecting my writing, those muscles have also degenerated and become weak.

The longer I put it off, the worse it becomes. Today, I decided to stimulate those muscles, get them back in shape. I don’t know if this will be the genesis of my writing groove, but it is a start. I need to do it.

I hope you have not lost interest in visiting my site. And if you are a brand new reader, I hope you can come back and share this writing journey with me.

Until then, here’s to bringing back inspiration. However, rocky and distracting the road may be.

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Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Mariana Ashley. Please read about Mariana in the bio footer.

For fulltime freelance writers, success is tied to marketability. A writer trying to make their name known on the web won’t be successful if they only write in one medium. The best writers on the web understand that you have to tackle all sorts of writing mediums in order to keep your workload steady and your coffers full (or full enough).

Freelancers can’t live on blogging alone—the more work you get, the better for your business. Most writers will take writing work no matter what the medium may be: a job writing tweets for a business’s Twitter account can be just as valuable as a regular guest posting gig on a popular blog.

The problem…

While most writers can handle this versatility in their writing portfolio, sometimes they need to be reminded to switch gears when they’re moving from one project to another. I’ve read too many “professional” articles that read like casual blog posts, unusually detail-oriented tweets, and dense blog posts to let this problem go on unaddressed.

Writers need to realize that certain stylistic guidelines govern each web writing medium, from posts on social media sites to simple blurbs on Tumblr. I want to address how to prevent from letting these styles spill into each other by offering a few helpful tips on the subject.

Identify the proper tone.

Before you lay a single finger on your keyboard, take the time to identify what tone works for your assignment. Your work could be a disaster if you don’t pay attention to the appropriate tone expected from your employer. If you’ve been contracted to do a journalistic piece for a health blog, then you might want to strike a professional, unbiased voice free of editorializing and wisecracks.

On the other side of things, you don’t want to be writing a dry factsheet for a free spirited humor blog. Once you’ve identified the voice of your assignment, give yourself a moment to work out any awkward wording that may have carried over from previous work. If the piece doesn’t sound quite right once you’ve finished a draft, ask yourself what a reader might expect to hear.

Compare your work to what you’ve written recently.

Freelancing is a strange business in many ways. I might spent a few hours writing bold and concise copy for an insurance website before I plunge into a guest post about seasonal fashion tips. It’s fine writing on a variety of subjects—in fact it does wonders for your versatility as a writer—but you can’t let your work on one job influence your work on the next one.

So when I finish a piece, I immediately go to the one I worked on before it and compare the styles for any similarities. If I notice that an entertainment piece sounds particularly dry, I go back in my recent documents to double check that I didn’t work on anything too boring beforehand. If I find that a previous work did in fact influence my writing, I do my best to locate and fix the problem.

Recognize why the stylistic differences matter.

Like I’ve said, the tone and style of a piece of writing shape the reader’s perception of the information within. People love tweets because they offer pithy info in 140 characters or less; they love blog posts for their breezy style and clever use of embedded video and images.

As a freelance writer, your job is to meet the expectations of your readers by adhering to the unspoken rules attached to each writing medium. Ignoring these rules would just isolate your chances of achieving real success on the web.

How do you keep your writing on track amid so many different writing styles?

Editor’s Note:  This is a guest post by Will Eifert. Please read more about Will in the footer bio.

Writing (Photo credit: jjpacres)

Almost every hopeful writer gets the same advice: “You just have to get your foot in the door.”  I used to wonder what that meant until I did it almost by accident.  I’d like to share it with you, along with some tips to getting your proverbial foot in the door of the writing business.

My first “assignment” wasn’t the result of the sweat of self-marketing brochures or cold calling.  I wanted to fly.  Unfortunately, trying to take flight lessons while earning an EMT salary was laughable.  But I wanted to fly so badly that I conjured up every possible angle on lessening the financial burden.  Then it hit me.  My local airport had no website.

I took a chance, figuring that a small local business would want a website but without spending big money.  The owner of the company was fond of the idea, and I “sold” my writing for the first time—for flight lessons.

As I’ve begun my search for other assignments, a few strategies have stood out:

 ________

 1. Don’t expect a big payout at first.

Face it, if you don’t have a lot of full-time experience in commercial writing, odds are you aren’t necessarily going to get much attention from large corporations right out of the gate.  That shouldn’t be your goal.  You need to generate samples and experience that will get you work from those companies in the future.  Your first few “jobs” may be for little or no monetary compensation, considering the sources that may be most promising.

2. Find small businesses and local organizations.

Starting local is a great route towards getting a few samples in different forms of writing under your belt.  For me, this was a small aircraft sales and maintenance company in small-town Oklahoma.  Seek out local businesses that may be in need of advertising and marketing.  Since more often than not you will be dealing with the business owner, marketing yourself can have a personal nature that will be to your advantage.

3. Blog

Find a topic that you are truly interested in and create a personal yet professional blog about it.  Make the effort to post a couple of paragraphs once or twice a week. A blog gets your voice out there so that people can get to know you and, more importantly, your style of writing.  Don’t underestimate the impact. I have been given staff position interviews simply because the employer was intrigued by my blog.

4. Under-promise and Over-Deliver

This piece of advice is fairly common in the writing world, but I have found that it applies even more important in the early stages.  You may set out writing web copy for a small business only to discover that the business is in need of some direct-mail advertising or ad brochures.  This is your chance to broaden your skills and have samples for potential jobs later on.

 ________

 Don’t get me wrong—your writing is valuable, and you shouldn’t make it a career habit to settle for chicken feed.  Commercial writing can earn you a tidy sum.  You may even make a living on it someday.  However, you have to start somewhere in order to make a name for yourself and have a strong portfolio to present to the clients that will shell out thousands of dollars for your work.

Lastly, don’t cave in to fear when this seems like a daunting task.  Your writing career can’t be built in a day.  Keep your nose to the grindstone and you will see results.

Timer (via Wikipedia)

When I am under a deadline, I don’t always have the time to spend hours creating the perfect article.  Although I would love to always have that luxury, there are occasions the clock is ticking faster than I can write.   The truth is that sometimes a deadline is the best cure for my lack of inspiration. Working under pressure can do wonders for the creative mind.

When you need to get content written in a hurry to meet that deadline, these tips will give you some suggestions without sacrificing quality.

Start with an Outline

When your mind is either drawing a blank or filled with scrambled thoughts, jot down an outline.  This can help break your ideas into manageable chunks.  An outline is also a great road map to guide you into a coherent writing piece, preventing far-reaching tangents.

How to write an effective outline:

• Write down about three to four subheadings
• Create quick thoughts or bullets under each subheading without pausing to edit
• Add links to helpful websites or other resources you want to refer to for your article
• Leave space for the introduction and conclusion to your article

Writing the Article

After you have an outline, fill in the blanks with content. The more focused your outline, the easier it will be to actually write the article. However, even with a good outline, there are a few more tricks to help you move he writing along quickly.

1. Just Write. An outline can trigger some great ideas that will want to come spewing out of your fingers. This is a good place to start. Don’t worry about the thoughts being perfect, you can edit later. First, just get the ideas from your mind onto paper. With practice, you will become more comfortable ignoring the inner editor and just keep writing.

2. Set A Timer. This may or may not work for some people. It is worth a try.  When you have a deadline, a timer forces you to focus and avoid distractions. Anyone can avoid distractions for 30 minutes. The pressure of the clock can do wonders for your creative psyche. A sold, focused thirty minutes of wiring is much more productive than two hours of squandering.

3. Use Voice Recognition Software.  Turn your voice into text with this software. If you’re not a fast typist, take a look at Dragon Naturally Speaking or similar software to help get the ball rolling. If you have thoughts organized in your head, you can turn those thoughts into words without lifting a finger to type.

These tips are just a few of many. Ultimately, it all comes down to practice. Just like anything, the more you do it, the more efficient you become.  Create good habits; the faster you can learn to type without editing, the easier it will be to write a quality article in a timely manner, meaning more jobs and more money.

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Writer's Block

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Lindsey Harper Mac.  Please read more about Lindsey in the author’s footer.

Writer’s block. The words are enough to make any writer cringe. When you have writer’s block, you don’t know what to write next. Your mind may be blank, or you can’t think of anything new to say. The pressure is even more intense when you have a looming deadline, such as a paper for a class, an article for a client or a news story that needs to break. These suggestions can help you re-focus your efforts and get over writer’s block faster.

1. Get your mind flowing. Hanging on the wall in front of you, you might have a poster with some sort of vague question that can act as your prompt. Or, you might do better by leaving the room and going to a special place. A forest is nice if you are near one, but city-dwellers like me may need to depend on urban scenery. My special spot is on my front steps. It’s not glamorous, but it serves the purpose of making me feel calm while I clear my head.

2. Write something. Anything. Take a few notes on paper or on the computer to get started, and then flesh out your ideas to create a cohesive piece. Or, start writing in the middle or end. Thinking and writing about the topic will help you organize your thoughts. Write anything that you can think of without worrying about the initial quality; revising your work later will be much easier than starting with a blank page.

3. Don’t miss opportunities. Writer’s block is frustrating any time, but it is downright infuriating when you have it because you can’t remember an idea that you had before. You can prevent this from happening by making sure that you are always ready to capture your thoughts. An old-fashioned paper notebook is a tried and true method for taking notes anywhere at any time.

4. Set up your writing space. You are the best judge of your own preferences. Are you at your best when you are sitting up straight in a traditional office chair at a neat desk, or are you in top writing form when you are sitting on a beanbag chair with a laptop computer? Do you concentrate best in silence or when you have music playing in the background? Some people work best at a small table in a coffee shop with the constant buzz of the crowd. Stick to whatever set-up works best for you, and mentally shut yourself into the world of writing for a certain amount of time or until you finish a certain amount of writing.

5. Do more research. If you are writing a research paper for your higher education class, an essay, historical non-fiction or any other piece that requires extensive and specialized knowledge, writer’s block can occur if you don’t know enough about the topic. Extra research can give you more confidence and direction for your writing. Even if you already know plenty about the topic, further delving into the topic can give you more ideas on how to proceed.

Writer’s block is nearly inevitable, but you can make it much less severe. Sometimes you need to focus a little harder, while other times, taking a break is a better solution. Make sure that you always have a good workspace available; figure out when to be disciplined with yourself and when to distract yourself.

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Princeton University

As a writer, I think it is important to continue your education in your craft, just like any career. The question is, is a formal degree necessary for writers or are other forms of education sufficient?

I will not debate this question here, since there are many schools of thought on this. But I do want to present writers with an opportunity to take some high quality writing courses without high costs or a rigorous application process.

I am always on the hunt for writing courses that can help me improve my skills.  Currently, I am signed up with Matador U for a travel writing course, my main writing passion and expertise. I also have taken some online webinars and seminars on writing.

In addition to these short courses, I have been contemplating getting a formal writing degree for several months now.  However, after finishing up my master’s degree over 2 years ago, the thought of going back to school does not particularly excite me. I have found a way to take courses from top professors without paying the high price of an ivy league degree.

The Great Courses

Designed to address the desire for lifelong learning, The Great Courses offers over 350 courses on DVD or CD is diverse fields such as literature, history, religion, philosophy, science, and the arts. These lectures are taught by stringently selected professors and experts who come from the Ivy League, Duke, Stanford, Purdue, and other leading colleges and universities.

While there are not a ton of courses specifically about writing, there are plenty of courses on English and literature. The course I am in the middle of is titled:  Analysis and Critique: How to Engage and Write about Anything taught by a professor from Purdue University.

Analyzing and critiquing your writing is an essential part of improving your craft. Dr. Armstrong gets into all areas of writing from the essay to poetry. She uses plenty of examples to support her points. In addition to the knowledge you will gain from watching, exercises at the end of each 30 minute lecture bring the points home.

This is an alternative to getting a degree. Although you will not get credit for attending Yale or Princeton University, at least you can get a glimpse of what a high quality education looks like for less than $100. Hint:  A couple of times a year, The Great Courses will offer a 70% or 80% sale!  This is the best time to buy.

Consider adding this tool to your writing arsenal as your progress in your career.

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Kindle (via Amazon)

Becoming a better writer involves becoming a better reader. Reading inspires, implanting ideas that will soon transform into a writer’s own words.

Reading offers fresh perspective and provokes many of our own opinions and values that we can turn into an essay, poem, short story, or memoir.

A writer’s own life experiences and perspectives are often merged with the ideas that have already been written down by others. I always think much of writing as just telling the same story in a different way, through different eyes. We have all experienced a fantastic sunset or tasted a savory meal, but writers can recreate and make each one of those experiences completely different. Words are magical in that way.

Reading also helps writers recognize good writing from bad. Weak writing from strong. Some of the best writers read with a critical mind and revise the piece in their own minds in order to make it better. Or improve their own writing.

You may read a particular passage that creates an impact, making you pause and contemplate the meaning before reading further. Often times, a meaningful sentence can instigate a whole flood of thoughts.

Best selling author, Stephen King tells us that to be good writers, we have to do two things: read a lot and write a lot. King also states, “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”  With the Amazon Kindle, books are even MORE portable!

The Amazon Kindle holds a place on the Amazon.com bestseller list, and sales are not slowing down. With each generation, Amazon improves Kindle’s features and interface. (When I am talking about the Kindle, I am not referring to the Kindle Fire, since that is more of a tablet.) If you are still contemplating buying the Kindle or another eBook reader/ tablet computer, here are five reasons why the Kindle is a winner.

1. Only Used for Reading

There are so many gadgets out there for reading ebooks, but many of them provide more opportunities for distractions with games and Internet browsing than for productive reading. Many people ask, why buy a Kindle when you could buy something like an iPad? An iPad is more of a large smart phone without the ability to make a phone call.

For one thing, the Kindle costs significantly less. The main difference is that the Kindle focuses on one thing: reading. Yes, you can read eBooks on the iPad, but you don’t get the benefit of the e-Ink screen, and instead get the glare that can tire out the eyes quicker.  In addition, the battery life of a Kindle is significantly longer than a tablet, and you can read the screen in bright sunlight.

2. Easy On The Eyes

As I mentioned above, the e-Ink technology for the Kindle screen means that it’s extremely easy on the eyes. When you are typing all day long on a computer screen, staring at one while enjoying the simple pleasure of reading can be irritating. The downside is that the Kindle doesn’t display color, or have a backlight for night-time reading. However, this is how Kindle maintains its feeling of a “real” book.

If you love reading and want a device that won’t ruin the experience of reading physical books then the Kindle is definitely the option for you.

3. Can Annotate and Highlight the Good Stuff

This is probably one of my favorite features of the Kindle. When I read something that sparks my creativity, I can instantly highlight it or take notes. To bring the good-readers-make-good-writers theory back around, this is called active reading. As an active reader, I feel the need to jot down some of my own ideas that can spur writing of my own. The Kindle makes this super easy.

4. Multiple Books in One Lightweight Gadget

If you are a writer, most likely you carry around a laptop for long trips to stay on top of your writing. With the Kindle, you can also bring along multiple books, without any significant additional weight. It gives you the opportunity to not only carry around your favorite novel, but writing reference books, or other resources, all at less than one pound.

The Kindle also gives you the best eBook store at your fingertips, in case you get the urge for something new. When you do decide to buy an eBook, it takes mere seconds to pay, and in just a few moments, you’ll have the book ready to read on your device.

5. Free Network Access

With all the smart phones, home Internet access, and tablets making a dent in your monthly bills, the last thing you want is another data plan. If you buy the 3G version of the Kindle you will benefit from 3G connectivity around the world without signing up for a monthly plan and no data limits. The 3G connectivity is included in the one time price of the Kindle and allows you to buy from the Kindle store or even use Amazon’s web browser.

Although the Kindle is not just beneficial to writers, I wanted to point out some of the benefits I find useful as a writer. I think a Kindle is the closest thing to curling up with a book. But be careful, buying books can get addictive.

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As a writer who has only begun to openly share my thoughts outside of a private journal entry for a few years, I am still discovering my own voice. We all have a writing voice, whether it is exposed in non-fiction, fiction, or poetry, it is there.

A writing voice comes through in most advanced writers. You can recognize it without even knowing the author. In the early stages of a writer’s career, the voice may be suppressed, afraid to come out, or not quite matured.

How Do You Discover Your Writing Voice?

When you are formulating your voice, there will be many trials and errors. Think of it like trying on shoes. Sometimes, you will know instantly if they are not comfortable to walk in. Other times, the aches and blisters do not show up until miles later.  Over time, you start to know what works for you – wide width, short heels, real leather, or other various styles. Just as shoes, you will have a different writing voice for different occasions, but you will still have your own style that you prefer. (I love that I was able to use a shoe analogy for writing!)

There are a few things that will help you develop that writing voice.

1. Read and find voices you can relate to.

Reading is an important part of being a writer. By reading, you can find inspiration and other ideas. When you find a voice that you can relate to, figure out why you identify with that voice. Is is similar to your voice? Is the writing style close to yours? If you can recognize a hint of your voice in others, you have a foundation to further develop and grow. Continue to read, but also continue to write.

2. Write Freely.

Practice your writing voice by putting your thoughts on paper, no editing, no thesaurus. Just write. Take the words that are floating in your mind and reveal them on paper or a word processor. Remove them from your head and keep writing. Don’t stop until the tank is empty. You will be surprised at how much information has been dying to get out and jump onto a page. You can edit when you are finished.

3. Write about your passions.

When you write about things you are passionate about, your voice will rise to the surface quick. When you are trying to find words to describe something you don’t care much about, it can be a battle to squeeze out words. Like a dry sponge. Topics you carry a lot of passion for are going to be closer to your true voice. Most likely, you have read about these topics or have brought them up in conversations. You are intimately familiar with them, so there is more to be said without being contrived.

4. Use your imagination.

When you are writing, imagine yourself there. Picture yourself visually in the story. Use all of your senses. What does the scene look like, smell like, sound like? Pay attention to the details and the emotions the place brings to the surface. Write this stuff down. Freely, openly.

5.  Read Aloud

This is something I probably don’t do enough of. It feels funny. But I notice that when I do read words aloud, I can sense my voice either coming through or being surpressed. When you are finished writing a blog post, a chapter, or an article, read it aloud. See how it sounds. Make adjustments if necessary.

6. Work outside your comfort zone.

You may not discover your authentic voice until you are forced to write in a style you are not used to. It is like working a different muscle. As a writer, you should exercise all different creative muscles. Soon, you will be able to focus on the muscle that is required for your voice. Much like athletes who play one particular sport, they will work thier whole body, but pay particular attention to the motions required for the sport.

We all have a voice, but it may not be formulated yet. The voice is inside, but will only develop with time and practice. Often times, as we are trying to find our voice, we try on other voices to see if it is a fit. We may write things as we think they should be written. We fake it. Maybe out of fear, lack of confidence, or even to impress.

Although it is important to remember your audience and the character’s role in your writing, you also need to be true to yourself. Don’t try to be someone you are not. The truth is if you are faking it, you will eventually get bored or burnt out. There is only one Mark Twain and one Jane Austen. Be yourself.

Related articles

• What the voices in your head sound like (boingboing.net)
• Finding my Voice (mikefazio.wordpress.com)
• You Are a Writer (anniecardi.wordpress.com)