For today's post you will need to click on the following link:
http://www.thenext45years.com/2008/02/five-healing-lessons-learned-from-pain.html
This will take to you the article Five Healing Lessons Learned From Pain that I guest authored for Alex Blackwell at his blog "The Next 45 Years." I thank Alex for asking and giving me this opportunity to expose new readers to my writings. It has been a learning experience for me to write this article, as all articles are. This one was different because as a blog owner, we all have certain expectations for what we want our blog to say. That is as it should be.
I always write my blog articles just like I have written my journal entries in the past. One reason that I write from the "I" position in my articles is because I am speaking mostly from my own personal experience and my own point of view. I feel that it is less threatening for the reader that way.
In writing this article for Alex, my first copy was mostly from the "I" position. Alex prefers and does his writing from the "you" position to get his readers more involved in his writing. Both points are very valid. Both points have their pluses and minuses for the author and the reader.
When Alex asked me to do a revision of my article and use more of "you" rather than "I", I wasn't sure that I could do it. Once I started writing, as most of my articles do, the words started to flow. The finished product also had more information. Each time that I rewrite an article, new information comes in to be included so in that way the finished article is much better than what I first presented to Alex to post.
What I want you, my regular readers to do is to tell me which style you prefer, the way I usually write or this slightly different style. Please come back here to share those ideas about my writing style. Thanks for your input. Don't be afraid of hurting my feelings. I have a thick skin. I wouldn't have asked, if I didn't want to know. I am curious. Growth, even in writing, is about change. Writing this article was a growing experience for me. Again, thanks, Alex, for the experience.
Patricia
6 comments:
Patricia
I like both the "you" and the "I". I think which you use depends on the article and what feels right. As a copy writer I know "You" is considered important for connecting the audience to the article/brochure/ad etc, but sometimes if you're writing about something really personal to you, then I think "I" seems right.
Use your intuition, is my advice. It's worked well for you so far.
Kelly
Kelly, thanks for your input. You are right. My intuition has worked pretty good for me so far.
Ah, learning from pain. Always important. :-)
My health is definitely not improving - I think what I have is a Arnold-Chiari Malformation. Which is good to get a name, but I need an MRI and possibly an operation depending on what the neurologist says. In the meantime there's not much I can do!
Matthew, you are in my prayers. Thanks for the update.
Patricia,
The more I thought about the difference of the writing styles, I decided it really wasn't about my opinion. Even though you asked.
I think Alex was trying to tell you (maybe directly, maybe not) that you are teaching others. Therefore, by taking the you position in writing, it grounds you in that role.
Finally my opinion. I don't think it matters. I think when you are comfortable writing your readers are comfortable reading and will accept it as story or teaching or whatever other way they may interpret it.
Barbara, thanks. The whole experience has made me more aware of what I want to say and how I want to say it. When I first write an article, it usually comes from "I" because that is what is most comfortable for me and usually it is written from my experiences. Then in the re-write which happens 2 or 3 times before the final article appears, I may change the wording to "You" depending upon what I want to say. So for me, right now, both are working well.
The Universe is definitely putting me more and more into the teacher position lately.
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