Once again, I’m pleased to pass along a blog written by my co-leader for a Highlights Foundation workshop. Kim Griswell is both an author (most recently of the picture book Rufus Goes to School<\/em>, which my son Ashton loves!) and an editor (Portable Press), and she’s a fabulous teacher. I’ve been privileged to co-lead workshops on The Hero’s Journey<\/em> and Mastering Settin<\/em>g with Kim, and now we’re combining forces to offer Finding Your Voice<\/em>. Check out Kim’s blog, posted this week on the Highlights Foundation<\/a> website. And please, if you know of someone who might benefit from this workshop (October 12-15, 2014) spread the word!<\/p>\n

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Editor and writer Kim T. Griswell is leading our Finding Your Voice<\/a> workshop this fall, along with author K.L. Going. Here Kim gives some suggestions on how to find your voice:<\/p>\n

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Much of what passes across an editor\u2019s desk has a dull sameness. There may be nothing really \u201cwrong\u201d with the writing. It\u2019s competent, but it falls under the category of NNUTS (Nothing New Under the Sun). Nothing new in the ideas, nothing new in the characters or plot, and nothing new in the writing. Beginning\u2014and sometimes experienced\u2014writers often submit manuscripts that do not have unique voices.<\/p>\n

Our greatest writers write from their guts, from their truths. They dig deep until they reach a vein within themselves that is pure gold. They tell stories that only they can tell, as only they can tell them. That, in a nutshell, is voice<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It often takes years for a writer to find his or her authentic voice. Voice is not simply the way a writer says things; voice reflects a writer\u2019s unique way of viewing the world. Every editor is hoping to pick up a manuscript and find an original voice. That\u2019s why finding your voice should be on the top of your writer\u2019s to-do list.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are six ways to begin to understand voice<\/em> and find your own:<\/p>\n

\n
1. Get a journal with a key\u2014one of those kid ones. Write things in there that are so honest you have to keep them under lock and key for fear anyone will read them.<\/li>\n
2. Write a page a day. Come on\u2014you can do it! If you can\u2019t stop yourself after one page, keep writing.<\/li>\n
3. Read, and learn to write, poetry. Even if you don\u2019t consider yourself a poet or have any desire to write poetry, you will develop your voice. (I\u2019m not talking rhyming doggerel here. I\u2019m talking Billy Collins, Rita Dove, and Langston Hughes; Eileen Spinelli, Karla Kushin, and Myra Cohn Livingston.)<\/li>\n
4. Use photos from your childhood as writing prompts. Write from the voice of who you were in (or at the time of) the photos.<\/li>\n
5. Blog. Much like a vocalist\u2019s morning scales, this kind of \u201cconversational\u201d writing will help to loosen your writing voice.<\/li>\n
6. Read the first pages of these books: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane<\/em> by Kate DiCamillo, Love That Dog<\/em> by Sharon Creech, The Highest Tide<\/em> by Jim Lynch, every Newbery winner you can get your hands on. (I dare you to stop reading after page 1.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

   Finding your voice will help your work rise to the top of the same-old-same-old manuscripts piled on editors\u2019 desks. And that\u2019s a goal worth pursuing!<\/p>\n

   If you\u2019d like a jumpstart on finding your voice or want to expand on these practices, I hope you\u2019ll join K.L. Going and me for Finding Your Voice<\/a>, October 12-15, 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

   Once again, I’m pleased to pass along a blog written by my co-leader for a Highlights Foundation workshop. Kim Griswell is both an author (most recently of the picture book Rufus Goes to School, which my son Ashton loves!) and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":940,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,6,10,11],"tags":[29,26,17,18,27,28,15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klgoing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klgoing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klgoing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klgoing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klgoing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/klgoing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":942,"href":"https:\/\/klgoing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939\/revisions\/942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klgoing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klgoing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klgoing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klgoing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}