How to Change or At Least Consider It
When is the last time you changed a habit, opinion, or a decision? Why is change so hard? Oddly, some people pride themselves on never changing. Recently I attended a middle-school reunion of many years and encountered four women dressed in white pants and black shirts who acted snobby. The mean girls of middle-school had morphed into the mean girls of middle-age. We relish change in the early part of our lives, growing taller, starting high school, learning to drive and other, less concrete stuff like the first time we disagreed with a parent or a teacher or a friend, not to be disagreeable but because you had your own ideas and opinions. Good writing is all about change, finding a way to describe and detail a before and after. “Once I didn’t care about race but now…”, “Once I thought they were exaggerating the effects of climate change, but…” “Once I thought old people were boring but now…”
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Finding Your Voice
Voice is the distinct personality, style or point of view created by a piece of writing. Writing faithfully to your voice is writing with emotion, with your feelings, passions and dislikes, beliefs, dreams, wishes, fears, and attitudes. The reader wants that connection: she wants to feel what the character feels, to see through his eyes. Only your voice will be able to give her that. Good writing is a conversation with your reader. You sneak into her mind because you want to answer her questions, help her want to continue this conversation. A strong voice uses the reader’s language, uses the phrases the reader recognizes and understands. No jargon. No complex words if a simpler one will suffice.
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Restrictions
When I lived and taught in the UAE for three months I dealt with being told what to wear, what to say, how to conduct myself in public and also to use insha Allah which literally translates as if god wills it but can be interpreted to mean I will do my best and in the case of the administrators in my school, don’t count on it. Deadlines were essentially a western idea. When we handed our passports over to Mubarek who spent his days not getting us things, there was no firm answer to the question, “When do you return my passport?”
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