Member-only story
On Writing
Finding Your Written Voice
Begins With Determining What You Value
Why do I write? Because I personally feel that writing, at its best, is the most honest form of art. Creating a work of fiction lights me up and allows me to use every facet of my brain: creativity, critical thinking, imagination, empathy, and sleuthing skills, as well as memorization of grammar and spelling rules and other conventions of writing. It also forces me to simultaneously track details — small and large, critical and subtle, chronological and stylistic. It’s good for my brain, and when I get it right, writing is incredibly satisfying.
My goal or mission is to write stories that transport and uplift people, and most of all, take my readers on a journey. I sometimes write to work through my own issues — and if I feel a piece I’ve written contains wisdom for others, I’ll share it. I want to tell true-to-life stories that describe our complicated paths to reaching human connection; I write stories of personal resilience, stories of people who fight for their dreams with persistence; I write stories of forgiveness, and I try to give readers insight into what happens when we meet the special people who encourage us to open our hearts, once more.
“The answers [to these questions] are what we return to when a reviewer trashes your book…
