I’ve always heard voices. I’m sorry for those who don’t.

Remember those lazy years when you didn’t have to clean house or pay taxes?  I mean those years way back when you woke up knowing the neighborhood kids were already outside.  You’d rush barefoot outside to–to do nothing.  Maybe you’d sit in the apple tree and chuck apples at everything or loll around in the new growth grass to contemplate that ever pressing problem, “What should we do?”

That’s when I discovered the stray cur wandering down the street had a story to tell.  But no one bothered to listen.  So I’d tell his story.

My parents said, “She’ll out grow it.”  They were wrong. I live in a forest now where all the animals tell me their stories, and my tolerant husband knows I’ll never out grow this.

Writers need to hear voices, a variety of voices that suit the occasion. If you’re a technical writer, you don’t want to have a Phyllis Dillard or Andy Rooney voice.  If you’re a romance writer, you don’t want Arnold Schwarzenegger in your head.  If your sewer is backed up for the third time this week, you don’t want your letter of complaint to sound like you’re thanking your grandmother for the tin of chocolate chip cookies.

We each use a variety of voices when we talk: our parental voice, our professional voice, our playful voice, our social voice.

No matter what you write, the first lesson is to write with a voice that’s appropriate to the situation.

Have you ever been taken back by some unexpected sounding voice that didn’t match your preconceive idea of the situation? This can be a great source for humor.