Finding Your Writing Voice

I found this article today called 3 Steps to Finding Your True Writing Voice. I thought it was very funny, well written, and relatable. In the two months since I have launched my blog, I have heard several folks talking about the "voice" I have developed in my posts. Honestly, until I read this article, I had no idea what they were really talking about. After reading this, I am confident that I have found my voice and that feels pretty damn good.

Cori's 3 Steps are easy to understand. Speak your reader's language. Know why you are writing. Brand it. Well, maybe "brand it" could be confusing to the casual reader. But, she explains it beautifully. I've been pouring over my 101 posts since reading this article, trying to pinpoint and confirm for myself that I have indeed found my voice. You know, just to be sure. This is what I have found out so far.

This is very long. Grab a cup of coffee before you settle in.

Friday Five: Languages I Want to Learn

Today's Friday Five is about Language. I have an average to above average understanding of the English language, even if it doesn't seem like it sometimes. I took two years of French in high school. That resulted in me being able to say "My name is Dee" and that is pretty much it. I took 2 years of American Sign Language in college. I have done a lot better retaining ASL. I am decent with finger spelling and can remember some vocabulary.  This list is the top 5 languages I'd like to learn (or relearn).

Irish/Gaelic: I have always loved Ireland. I want to go there for a summer. First on my list is Irish. Yeah, I know only a small number of people speak this language but I think it is really pretty. Plus, any dog in my future would be better off trained in Irish, considering there is less than a million native speakers world-wide (per Wikipedia, which may be sketchy).

Spanish: Here in the States, we have a growing Hispanic population. Spanish is a very diverse language and I would genuinely like to learn it for my own personal benefit. Also, I like to eaves drop on people and it is difficult to do when I have no idea what they are saying.

French: Another diverse language, French varies from France, Creole Louisiana, to parts of Canada. I really enjoyed taking French in high school, even though I retained almost nil. It is very pretty and with practice, I think I could pick it up again. Conversationally, it shouldn't be hard given I am alright with ASL (which is based on the French language).

Portuguese: This is a recent interest given that my favorite contender in The Glee Project is from Brazil and half his communications to/from fans is in Portuguese. I have abused Google translate so much being nosy. The "hear" function has made it so I really want to learn the language. It is very melodic.

German: German has been on my to-do list for a long time. My heritage is incredibly mixed and I ask very little about my family, but I am almost positive my great-great grandfather came here from Germany. Or maybe I mistook it for German when it was Polish. I don't know. I just know that I was really young when I told my mom that I wanted to learn German one day. It is still on the list twenty years later. One of these days.