SCENARIO ONE—You're visiting this blog because you have some version of fear of writing and “recognizing your style” is a mystery you haven't cracked yet.
SCENARIO TWO—Perhaps you've been writing for some time now and you're very aware of your own style. But what about changing genres or platforms? Will you need to get a new style?
Two recent experiences taught me that style is about more than just the way we say things. Or, as Wikipedia defines it:
“Writing style is the manner in which a writer addresses a matter in prose, a manner which reveals the writer's personality, or 'voice.' It is particularly evident in the choices the writer makes in syntactical structures, diction, and figures of thought.”
I believe style is also about knowing what’s right for you.
In this three-part article, I’ll be exploring my claim from the perspective of both Scenario One and Two.
What I Learned from My Own “Fear of Blog Writing”
Partly because I had inner conflict and confusion about my style as a blogger, I'd let my blog entries lapse for over a year. I had even decided to get rid of this blog. I’d copied all the articles onto my hard drive so I could delete it. The thing was rife with cobwebs.
Then, on October 24 of last year, I decided to post an entry exploring my subconscious fears (Fear of Blog Writing).
Understandably, I found this to be a liberating exercise. There's something about admitting to our fears—however silly—that demystifies them.
My “fear of blog writing” post tackled three main fears. Two of them were just plain silly and so the mere act of examining them (especially in public!) was enough to replace them with better mental habits.
After my Ah-ha! moment in a screenwriting tele-class (coming up in Part II), I was able to look back and see that my third fear actually indicated something important about my own personal style.
Something that should not be tossed out with the garbage.
A Fear That Can Be Worked With
My third fear was “It Takes Too Long”—meaning, it takes too long to write and otherwise prep and post each blog entry and (you guessed it) “I don't have time for all that.”
Despite this, and even though I now blog on a more regular basis, my blog style—the very things I dissed myself for—has not changed at all. I still write long blog entries. I still love to painstakingly match the right image with my blog posts whenever I can.
I still lavish copious amounts of proofreading time on each post . . . as if it were a work of art.
MY work of art.
Each creative person needs to define for herself what constitutes a work of art. And sometimes it takes retrospect to do that.
I’ll show you how at the end of Part III.
NEXT: Write There (Part II): Changing Gears as a Writer
