Tuesday, July 3, 2012

The Voice

I haven't been writing much this last week or so because I've been having trouble with my new project, and it's easier to stick my head in the sand and ignore it, than it is to try and find the solution...or, as other writer's will say, "I have writer's block."

Here's my dilemma:

I'm writing a non-fiction memoir (autobiographical account?) of the year I spent looking for love on the internet...pause for hysterical laughter to die down...still pausing...

However, I'm having trouble finding my voice.  Seems that while my therapist has said that I do no, in fact, have multiple personalities living in my head, I do, in fact, have multiple writing personalities in my voice.

Some of the accounts I've already written sound like I'm a whimsical, funny, kooky girl who waves off every practical joke karma throws at her with a chuckle and an eye roll, and some of them sound like I'm a bad-ass, sarcastic, take-no-shit kinda gal.  There are a few where I appear to be just your average 30+ year old who's afraid she's never going to find love, and a few where I'm the epitome of the confident, sexy, always-up-for-a-good-naked-time woman.  There's even one or two where I've earned my Puma badge (you aren't a Cougar until you hit 35).  And yes, I know that these are all side of myself, side to my personality, sides that my long-term family and friends will say totally recognize in me, but when you are writing, you need one clear, consistent voice.

Let me repeat that in case you missed it: When you write, you need one clear, consistent voice.

Which, for this project, I don't have, and so it sounds confusing and fake and like it's not the adventures of one woman, but several women, which is totally the opposite of what it's supposed to sound like.

So instead of working on this problem, I've just decided to ignore ALL the voices in my head for the holiday week, stick my head in the sand, and my body in the ocean.

Happy Fourth, all!

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