finding my voice...

When I first started writing nearly six years ago, people in my writing group and at Fiona MacIntosh’s masterclass spoke about their ‘voice’. I nodded slowly, trying to appear as if I knew just what they were talking about.

And then, the wise souls in my book club (where I could be my true self and not a pretender) reminded me that as avid readers, we are listening to authors’ voices all the time. In fact, I have come to realise that the storyteller’s voice is what keeps me turning pages, or … putting the book aside.

This information from book club friends was a game changer for me. By the time I started really trying to pin down my writer’s voice, I was 2/3 of the way through my first novel. I hadn’t been happy with the way it was going, in spite of having what I thought was a cracking good story - based on bits of my life. Not quite a memoir, but there’s a kernel of an idea to revisit the idea of baring my soul in a story.

I struggled for some time trying to find my voice; words on a page that rang true to me and who I am. A friend had told me years ago that I was an authentic leader. This approach is what I’ve been working on to weave into my writing. Being authentic.

And … editor Samantha Sainsbury and Queensland Writers Centre CEO Lori-Jay Ellis, both told me my voice resembles Jane Harper. Huge - HUGE shoes to fill. While I was flattered by their comments, I’m still striving for my way of telling stories for women who want a bit of grunt to the plots they read.

I believe that writing a story for a reader is a very personal and intimate thing to do. I want readers to really hear what I’m saying and feel like they want to sit down with me to chat about my characters as if they are real people.