[Tea] You have a lovely voice!

Hi Friend,

Ahhh. It's Saturday morning. Ready to steep, stir, and sip?

Glad you're here. This is your time for tea and a break from the breakneck pace of your important life.

The first series I want to share with you starts next Saturday. I'll talk about writing voice.

What is it?
How do you capture it?
How do you encourage your children to find and use theirs?

Writing voice is the sound and feel of the writing—the way you recognize one author over another, or the way one sort of writing connects with you while another type doesn't. Authors with strong writing voices are those who stand out in a crowd of writers, those you return to because you want to hear what they have to say.

You may not be able to identify the craft (how writers work their magic), but you know you love their writing because it feeds you, it informs you, it offers epiphanies or humor or entertainment or the fresh insight that leads you to a better self.

Honestly, your kids are naturals. If you support their self-expression by capturing it for them (jotting down their hot takes, their little narratives, their jokes), they come to trust their writing voices.

It's when you ask them to sound like someone else—Aesop, some adult writer, the format prescribed in the writing assignment—that we lose the heart of their message and their natural, rich vocabulary.

In this series, look forward to practical tips and an exploration of the magic of "voice." In our world of echoes, we need powerful voices. You're raising them! Thank you.

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See you next week!

Warmly,