Writing in your voice is so crucial to your writing style. I know this as I had lost mine; if I am honest, this is not the original blog post I was going to post today. I had spent the last three hours writing a post and researching wearing a dressing gown outside the home. The reason for this was that I opened my curtains today and noticed a woman walking her dog. She was wearing a pink terry-towelling dressing gown and flip-flops. My entire article was about social norms and values, our individual freedoms and being judgemental. It was more like an essay or lecture. So my three hours have resulted in no blog post and me starting afresh.
Deciding if you should walk away from a task can be daunting. You need to evaluate several factors. How much time is this costing you? Should you spend your time on more cost-effective tasks? Is there someone cheaper and more experienced that can do the job instead of you? After careful consideration of the above philosophy. I am going to walk away from the previous three hours of research. The post will be marked down as an experience to stay focused in the future. It turned out to be a vanity blog post to say, look at me, don’t I know many long words.
I don’t want to write my memoirs using words that are not from my mouth. Words need to resonate with me, as they are so important. My style of writing is straightforward, to the point, and I think easy to read. Using a voice that is not mine is not part of me writing my memoirs or www.forgetmenot.publishmystoires.com.
Writing in your voice
Writing in your voice is so important; it will convey more to the reader about you than you will realise. You tell your reader your truth in your words, and it is you being genuine when writing your memoirs. It is very much the tone you use, the words, the way you describe something. When writing your memoirs, you have the control.
So, I stopped writing my last post. It was a good essay if I was at university, but I don’t want to write in that style. Writing my memoirs in this business blog is about me. I do not wish to lecture or get on my high horse and tell you how to think. I would prefer you get to know me and my style, know Publish My Stories, and writing memoirs is fun.
What I learnt about writing my memoirs
I need to stay focused on my primary goal and not go off on a tangent
Have the courage to walk away from a business deal or activity if it isn’t working
I have found my voice in my blog and my business.
Writing My Memoirs – 31 Day Challenge – Video and Blog Posts
Opportunity Knocks – Writing my Memoirs or previous skills?
Opportunities to promote yourself and your business can arise at any moment. If anyone tells me they are about to start “writing my memoirs” is a blatant chance. In that case, I know there is an opportunity for us to work together. If you can see that opportunity, grab it with both hands and don’t let go.
It may sound strange, but you could miss an opportunity if you don’t recognise it right away. Alternatively, if you don’t know about the possibility of the chance, then you will miss it. For example, I was at a networking meeting a few weeks ago when one delegate asked if anybody would like to become a trustee of a charity he ran. In the past, I have been a town councillor and deputy mayor and volunteered in my local community. I’m a firm believer that everybody should give something back to the community. I raised my hand and expressed an interest in more information.
As it transpires, I knew the person who set the charity up. I’d worked with him at a previous company. The charity helps people learn to swim, prevents drowning, and raises money for awareness. The first meeting was on 4 August, for all potential trustees to understand more about the charity. I stated that I’m still interested and am looking forward to finding out more about the organisation.
Back to my old job – Writing Minutes, not Writing my Memoirs
Five Five minutes into the meeting, the chair asked if I would mind taking the meeting minutes. I hadn’t been elected as a trustee yet, but I said yes as I knew the chair, and he knew my previous skills. I then introduce myself to the other trustees from all over the world. During my introduction, I explained what I did by helping people write memoirs and getting their stories into print. I expressed my passion for writing memoirs and listening to family history. In the meeting, there was someone from the British Space Agency and Canadian Charity Worker. If I hadn’t said yes to being interested in being a trustee, there is no way that I would have had the opportunity to meet these people.
I’m now looking forward to spending more time getting to know my fellow trustees. Finding out more about them and their business and hoping that they will promote me and my passion for publishing memoirs. Opportunity seems to knock in the strangest of places and at the strangest of times! We just need to make sure that our eyes are open, and our ears are listening. Then we can grab those opportunities with both hands. You never know what may happen or who you will meet.
The Charity – SwimTayka
SwimTayka, is a charity that promote water safety, swimming skills and clean water stewardship to children in developing nations.
What I learnt from this
Opportunities are out there. You need to recognise them when they arise and when they do grab it with both hands.
Any skills you had from a previous job will always come in useful.
Past contacts and work colleagues are a great referral and opportunity generator.
Writing My Memoirs – 31 Day Challenge – Video and Blog Posts
We all think we can listen; we believe we understand what the speaker in front of us, or on the telephone is asking us to do, but this is not always the case. How many times in your work have you heard the statement “Oh, sorry, I didn’t understand what you wanted me to do” or “you told me to do X”. It is more common than you would think. This is because we are not listening or understanding what the speaker is telling us. This could be because they are not describing it in a way that resonates with you. Maybe the terminology they are using is unfamiliar or that they are describing it in a way that is not congruent with your listening/learning modalities (Kinaesthetic, audio, or visual).
One of my clients called and asked if I would do a task for them. I told them I would in about 10 minutes, as I had to finish something else. They appeared happy with that outcome. 6 minutes later, they called back to see if I had done the task. I repeated back to them I had a task to finish and that their task would be next on my list. Again, they were happy with that outcome. On the third call I changed my tactic and told them it would be done by ‘close of play that day’. On this occasion they replied they were happy with that and apologised for calling me so many times. They were in the middle of cooking and their mind was elsewhere.
There are in fact three main types of listening skills we all use daily.
Passive Listening – half listening to a conversation and not understating what is being said and in what context
Reflective Listening – listening to the speaker and repeating back what you have heard in your own words to demonstrate you understand the speaker. (Fantastic for entrepreneurs when dealing with clients to ensure you get the right information to provide a quote and continued services)
Active Listening – When you are paying attention to the speaker and giving them your undivided attention.
Think about your role at work. How much of your day are you communicating (listening, speaking, reading, or writing)? Each job is different, and the time we spend communicating can also vary from day to day.
The ability to listen is an important skill. Listening allows you to understand what the speaker is asking of you. It shows that you’re interested in what the speaker has to say.
We all experience common listening problems.
Our attention wanders
We miss the point
Our emotions interfere
We interrupt before the speaker has stopped speaking
The content (the words spoken) is one thing, but how people feel gives full value to the message. Responding to the speaker’s feelings adds an extra dimension of listening. Are they disgusted and angry or in love and excited? Perhaps they are ambivalent! These are all feelings that you can reply to in your part of the conversation.
Welcome to-Day One of my self-imposed blog / memoir challenge to record the daily activities of a business owner and entrepreneur. The trials and tribulations that I go through. I will be honest, frank and to the point. Running a business is fun, annoying, stressful and the best job I have ever had.
I thought I would put some personality into my first blog post of this challenge and record a video of me speaking to camera, to introduce myself. Thinking it would only take a few minutes as I didn’t want the video to be over 3 minutes long. It took forever, OK not that long but to get the video recorded took an hour and a half, to do a minor edit to two hours and then posting and writing this blog post took an hour. So four and a half hours for a few words and a three-minute video.
I thought I would put some personality into my first blog post of this challenge and record a video of me speaking to camera, to introduce myself. Thinking it would only take a few minutes as I didn’t want the video to be over 3 minutes long. It took forever, OK not that long but to get the video recorded took an hour and a half, to do a minor edit to two hours and then posting and writing this blog post took an hour. So four and a half hours for a few words and a three-minute video.
Why does a video recording take so long?
First, I needed to put some colour in my cheeks. I had just woken up and looked as if I was at death’s door. So on with the slap (or make up if you prefer). You would think this would be a straightforward task. Being a woman, we should all know how to apply makeup and look a million dollars in 60 seconds. I rarely wear make-up so had to turn the bathroom upside down to find the little makeup I had. My bathroom is now a complete and utter tip. My make up is so old I had to put it in hot water to loosen it so I can use the foundation and mascara. Before anybody tells me, yes I know you should change your make up every three months. But the reality is we don’t.
Looking good on camera?
After experimenting with how to apply the said makeup, I haven’t done it for many years. I finally settled on brown eyeshadow a bit of lipstick and foundation. I forgot to put blusher, which was why I started the entire process. Claudia Schiffer: I am not, but looking human and able to face a camera, yes.
Location, Location, Location
I then had to find a location to record my video. I tried my spare room, the kitchen, the living room, even the bathroom, all to no avail. In the end I went into my office and spent half an hour moving furniture around trying to find a backdrop that would look suitable for a video.
I know the video to the side of this narrative doesn’t look like a superb background. But it was the best I could do with the location I have. I will not go out and buy a green screen and it took long enough. As you can see from the photographs, my office is now a complete and utter tip. Once the video was recorded, or I should say during the recording of the video, my dog was barking, so this version is version two.
If you could see my stance while recording the video you think I was going to cause physical damage to myself. I was half bending and doing a sideward squat to get in shot. How these bloggers do it daily I just don’t know. It must take them hours to set up before they can actually publish a video. I’m not sure I’m going to spend over an hour every time I record one. I need to get on and actually do some billable work.
The reason behind writing this memoir
The idea behind this blog is that I want to show people everybody has a story to tell, no matter what you do and how you do it. There are different reasons people want to write memoirs.
My learnings from this exercise
Don’t reference something from a different video and assume it has been watched.
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