Lion's Tooth Editing

I’ve got to say, the world of writing is one full of advice, guidelines, and rules. There is so much out there, it has been rather difficult for me to wrap my head around the idea of putting even more out there. It’s overwhelming. Worse, it’s largely contradictory. Everything that I could possibly want to say has already been said, so why would anyone waste any time with yet another blog about the craft?

What I finally came to realize is that the overwhelming sea of ‘how to’ is precisely why there is a place for my thoughts on the subject. It’s no different than the endless variety of existing fiction being precisely why there is room for more. There may be an endless well of voices, but there is also an endless audience. There may be a finite amount of matter, but each voice is different, each perspective is unique.

I don’t have to be the preeminent expert in the field to be worth listening to. If I can present a matter of discourse in a way that is just different enough that it helps one person finally make sense of their own position, it has been worthwhile. If my turn of phrase is more comfortable for someone than others they’ve tried to read, that is the point of my sharing. Maybe my blog just becomes the first, or the magic ‘final’, search result on a subject, the one that answers the specific question, the one that satisfies the desire to keep looking, the one that allows a searcher to feel comfortable with their conclusion regarding ‘industry consensus.’ Maybe I’m in the middle, an opinion that gets added to the amalgamation. It’s all valid.

Adding your voice to the endless sea of material is never meaningless. If we all keep silent because it has been said, the sea goes dry. None of it has been said in your voice until you say it. So I’m going to dive in.

I know I’m not the only one who has questioned the point of making a statement, of joining the conversation. “Will I only muddy the waters further?” (No. That’s what conversation is.) “Isn’t everyone tired of this topic by now?” (No. There are always going to be people who are new to the conversation. Those who are getting tired can just keep scrolling.) “Who am I to…” (Sorry, that’s a question for a post on Imposter Syndrome. We’ll come back to that.)

The point is: I’m not talking to everyone. No one is talking to everyone, even the people who wish they were. So if you have an idea for a blog but feel the market is flooded, maybe it is. Go for it anyway. If you have an idea for a story but feel it’s been told before, I’m certain it has. Tell it anyway. As long as you speak with integrity, rather than imitation, your voice is what makes it new.

This is, of course, not to say that an audience will always find you. This is, of course, not to say that just because you have a unique voice you are guaranteed success. Success depends on many factors. This is ONLY to say that you cannot find an audience if you remain silent. You cannot succeed if you do not try. Carving out a space is hard work. There is a reason we use the word ‘carve,’ BUT (excepting the literal villains who use their voices to do harm) there is a place in the world for your voice. You just have to find it. There are people who will love you for your words. They just have to hear them.

That said:

Once a week, to the best of my ability, I’m going to share my thoughts on a particular aspect of writing or writing discourse. Maybe I’ll just be writing for myself, but I doubt it.