So, does all this voice stuff really make a difference?

Yes.

Actually, Katrina said she’d know the answer to this in a few weeks now that she’s diving back into the WIP. I understand that.

Perhaps, the correct answer to the above question is “I hope so.”

If that’s the case, what exactly is it that I hope?

First, I hope I’m brave enough to write THE book, the one book that I’d write if I could only write one. I can’t imagine this. One book? Only one? Ever? However, this is a difficult question: What is that one book?

I think maybe my answer has changed from the very specific book I wrote about in voice class to a more general description. I might not write that book yet for many reasons. However, the ONE book I’d write would tell a similar story. It would be a journey about losing yourself to find someone else and then realizing you don’t have a clue who you are. It would be about redemption and second chances and discovering who you are. It would be about a world where people do the wrong things for all the right reasons. It would be about learning to listen to your heart and trust it as much as you do your head.

So, when asked if voice class and the revelations from it have changed my writing, I really have to say I hope so. Before I wrote stories; now I weave an intricate tale of muted souls, wrong turns, and figuring out how to fix it all.

I could write pages about how I hope my writing changes, but I think this one thing is really important, and maybe I’ll just leave it with this one thing: My writing is changing because I know my themes. I know what my ONE book and the one after that and the one after that are supposed to say about the world -- Hope is important. Redemption comes in the strangest places. And you're only lost if you don’t know where you are now.

Go write.

Macy