Owning Your Voice

I don't spend hours pouring over every word I post.  I might spend an insanely long time going through old photos sometimes but I tend to type whatever is in my head.  Then Husband and Mum email me to point out my typos and such (which is incredibly useful because I really don't like editing!).  While it generally isn't brilliant it definitely sounds like me. I also freelance for a local magazine that is an offshoot of the local paper. I write an article for the most weeks, generally running them past Husband for a quick look over. 

This week I wound up in the local paper (it's less exciting than it sounds) because of something to do with my job. It was very odd to wind up on the other side of the interview- short as it was.  When the article came out it was perfectly fine... but it didn't sound like me.  I asked Husband and he said the same thing.  I was correctly quoted (as far as I can remember) but it wasn't punctuated the way I would have done.  The article just wasn't the way I'd have written it. 

The experience made me realise that I have a sense of self in my writing.  I have a written voice.  I don't think I've ever thought of it in that way before.  I'm not a "real" writer. I don't blog intending to create a career for myself.  I'm not that kind of blogger.  I began writing freelance articles for a bit of money when Husband became a student.  It seemed like something very different from my "real" job and a way to get more involved in my community.  The other week I was frustrated with an article and now it's occurred to me that I was frustrated because it didn't sound like my voice. 

I can only imagine what it must be like for proper writers to be written about by others.  When you're used to choosing your words and how they are presented and crafting them into something personal, it must be so very frustrating to be quoted in someone else's piece, in a way you didn't intend. 

I'm a firm believer that posts should have photos if possible.  It turns out that there hasn't been a single photo of me taken yet in 2013 other than the one that accompanied that newspaper article and I don't even have a copy of that.  Must get back to proper outfit photo taking starting this weekend! Anyway, here is the last photo taken of me in 2012 (In Montreal in temperatures below -20 Celsius with my friends Dani and Karen)

Also very odd?  I spend half of my life at my laptop and have no photos of me with my laptop that I can find.