There’s one connecting piece of advice that runs through every writing class I’ve ever taken. Before you can have a celebrated voice. Hone the voice.
These days, my voice, and if I may, our voices, are more difficult to refine than ever. In the early 20th century when freehand was still the popular outlet, we could focus less on the vehicle and work on our literary voices all the livelong day. Here is my brutish attempt to summarize a writer’s journey in, I don’t know, 1903:
write pages, edit said pages, re-edit pages, re-edit pages again, show pages to publisher, publish pages, read work, cycle complete. Bravo ol’ chap! (Yes you are obviously a man.)
Now, in 2021 a writer may endeavor as follows:
have a loose thought, post it on Twitter/Instagram right away, stare at it, re-edit three times, re-post, feel insecure, read comments and feel more insecure, move to a blog, write a longer loose thought, publish immediately, edit it once again after your aunt calls pointing out a spelling mistake, start fifty different chapters in documents you’ll never find on your laptop again because of your metaphor-ridden titles, “take a break” by listening to podcast about other writers more successful than you, feel insecure, consider a TikTok account, quit writing.
Or something like that.
With our voices spread so thin across so many outlets, rules of engagement (sometimes literally) steer attention from the task at hand. Character counts on Twitter, one line attention spans on Instagram, abandoned blogs that almost always start with “It’s been awhile guys!” Figuring out the formula of a social media presence takes up more time than writing, and therein lies my problem.
(Note to self: Not really feeling “therein,” so it shall forever be banned from my future work. This exercise already proving useful.)
So, welcome to Coco's Echo.
I’m a Canadian-American writer ISO a refined voice. In these letters, dear reader, I plan on sharing my writing practices and any useful techniques I gather along the way. In return I hope that you stick around to see (hear?) my voice mature into the grown-up I know it has the potential to be.
Included with the aforementioned, I invite a rowdy cast of characters I’m hoping will also entertain you: one of us holds a weary relationship with our cross-border life, another is an oft self-deprecating girl coming to terms with her “mixedness,” and the newest woman to stroll onto set is trying to find her way as a new mother, after ten years of being estranged from hers.
We’re all very pleased to meet you.
Sign up now so you don’t miss the first letter.
Oh, and I would be honored if you, told your friends.
love it.