On Fridays (when I can find 5 minutes lol), I like to join Lisa Jo Baker's blog for something called 5 Minute Friday. Basically, you write for 5 minutes, don't edit, and then post it. So, ignore the spelling issues or grammar... just go with the flow ;)
VOICE
GO
As a writer, the first thing I think of with 'voice' has to do with how a story is written. Not the grammar or verb usage (though that does play a part in it), but in the flow the author uses. Voice is how you can tell a Colleen Coble book (my favorite author! Who happens to write Christian books. They are awesome.) from a Stephen King book (who believes less adverbs the better).
In some ways, you can tell a young adult story from an adult romance, though the lines are really starting to blur now (I like reading YA... that's why I'm glad God wants me to write them :) He knows what we like... and sometimes He lets us do it.)
Voice also reminds me that I have one. Believe it or not, I'm a shy person. As much as I talk on here, I don't talk much at church. My heart beats a mile a minute when I have to say something. I'm much more comfortable behind a keyboard... and I'm much more at home writing books about faith than I am talking to people about it. It takes all kinds...
But, I can't let that be an excuse for me. I have a voice: both in writing and vocally.
I was thinking the other night about how much more money I could 'possibly' make if I wrote mainstream novels (daydreaming as it were lol... not content... sigh.). Clean young adult fiction isn't the 'big' seller... and you add 'Christian' to that and you pigeon hole yourself. I've gotten great reviews for my 'voice' and story so I knew if I wrote something everyone would like, I'd be more successful... (I know!)
The Lord decided to have a smackdown in my head. Ever so gently, I heard, "Would you rather have lots of money and readers, but tell no one about Me? Or would you rather have a smaller number, but possibly change just one life?"
Well... heck! lol. To be honest, I'd rather have lots of money/readers/ and bring lots of people to God lol... but that's not where I am right now. And that's okay. Maybe someday... but that's not why I write.
I write because I'm supposed to use my 'VOICE' to tell others about God. Not for me--- for Him.
What is your 'voice'? Are you more of a vocal person or do you tend to write more? What has God called you to do with it? And are you doing it (Kelly, asking the hard questions today. Don't worry, I'm asking them of myself too... )
STOP
~Kelly