Sometimes I hear my voice and it’s been here, silent all these years. –Tori Amos, 1991
I know I have a voice. I hear it speaking to me, but I’m not sure I’ve captured it in my writing. I have all these writing rules stuffed in my brain and I fear they mute my voice. Also, within dwells Ms. Perfect who yammers away, not only reciting those rules, but harassing me for not following them to the letter. (She’s a comma addict, by the way.) I’m perfectly capable of detecting other writers’ voices. Some enthrall me, some I never want to hear again. My only hope is that by the time I’ve finished this novel, I will be sure of my own. Then, I can rewrite as necessary to let my voice sing loud and clear.
Does your voice reign free?
Linda Cassidy Lewis 
Tricia, how much time? The voice has been writing in my head for a long time now, seems like it should have found the way to my fingers by now. 🙂
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Have you ever read Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist? I found it helped me to cease wrestling and allow my voice fun to emerge in it’s own time and to run free.
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Mari, No I have not read it, but I’ll look for it. Thank you for the suggestion.
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I remember that album. I LOVED it. It was just what I needed at that age.
You will find it, just take time to sit quietly listening for it. I don’t think they are silent, our voices, I think we have learned over time to essentially cover our ears and sing “LALALALALALALA I can’t hear you!” whenever we’d get afraid of whatever we did want to say (but had been taught might not be so nice), that we simply tuned our voices out. It’s there, fiddle with the dial.
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At that age? I STILL listen to it! I don’t always know what she’s saying, but I understand what she’s saying, you know?
I doubt it’s possible to ever get back to the clear voice we had as a child. We are who we’ve become, don’t you think?
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I think we all need a re-fresher every now and then.
oh of course, how we grow up shapes us and our usage of our voices as it were.
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