Hypercubed Blog

One reason that I have a blog (in addition to the desire to share technical information) is that I want to practice writing.  One of the most difficult things about writing is finding voice.  Before I start writing my posts I first plan the post in my mind.  I structure the paragraphs, sentences, and words and plan out the tone, rhythm, and flow of each sentence in my head.  Unfortunately when I start to put the words on paper, or should I say on screen, that voice is mysteriously lost.  The tone and rhythm are dulled.  It is almost like being tone deaf.  I hear the song correctly in my head but when it comes out it is off tone.

So how can I find my voice?   The answer is simple, in theory, but difficult to implement: practice, practice, practice.  I have tried to keep a private journal but that has always failed.  When I try to write privately the quality is extremely poor.  What I write tends to be stream of consciousness type of writing with disconnected and incoherent thoughts.  It ends up like a personal note with no voice at all.  So I blog.  I blog because it keeps me honest.  If I think that people are reading what I write then I strive for more.  I’m actually talking to a person rather then taking notes for myself.  Now the problem with this is that now that my blog has some readership (70 poor souls stumble in here each day) I have developed a sort of performance anxiety.  I want to post something, anything, everyday if I could but I also want to make sure that I write something worth reading.  I decided long ago that I do not want to write about my personal life.  So instated I blog about technical issues.  But their are just not enough technical issues to keep me going.  So I end up doing what I’m doing today.   Blogging about blogging.

Further reading on finding voice:

• Ten Steps to Finding Your Writing Voice
• Finding your voice – making your writing sound like YOU
• Finding a Writing Voice
  

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 18th, 2006 at 9:49 pm and is filed under Blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.