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Hey Reader,

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with creative writing. It was my favorite class in school.

Embarrassingly (or not, depending on where you stand on Titanic, the movie), when I was 10, I won best story in my 5th-grade class for “The Hat That Took Me Into History.”

It was a fictional masterpiece (sarcasm) about finding a hat in a park, putting it on, and getting transported back to the moment the ship breaks in half and lifeboats are few and far between.

I’ve been writing stories, poems, and songs for as long as I can remember.

But when I found the world of content marketing in 2018, I intentionally muzzled my natural voice. I had to. I was a ghostwriter and ghost editor. Brand guidelines, SEO best practices, and the general blandness that comes with the word B2B took over.

I was fine with it. I was making money from writing! It was a dream come true.

I carried on like this for four years until…

I got the itch.

I’d gotten quite good at writing for other people. But in the process, I’d forgotten how to write for myself.

The day I decided to start posting on social in 2022, I made myself two promises:

1. I wouldn’t let myself look like an asshole
2. I would write in MY voice

In hindsight, I’d say I accomplished both quite well. I mean, the bros take up most of the asshole space, and I’ve definitely let my sarcastic, funny (IMO), bold, empathetic voice shine through.

But I know, based on talking with you and reading your responses to my “what do you struggle the most with” question, you struggle to let your authentic voice shine in your writing.

You’re either posting on social and can’t shake the corporate speak. Or, you’re writing for a business and want to balance neutrality and personality.

I can’t lie—finding your voice again (or for the first time) isn’t easy. It takes a lot of practice and paying attention to how things feel in your body as you write and after you hit post or publish.

But I can help you get started. So let’s do that right now.

Step 1: Pay attention to how you talk and act when you’re comfortable

When I’m comfortable, I sing stupid songs all the damn time. They often start off rhyming, but when I can’t make any more rhymes, the song doesn’t stop. Oh no. It carries on in a very nonsensical way, which my wife absolutely loves (can you feel the sarcasm, cuz it’s there).

What do YOU do when you’re comfortable? How do you speak? How do you act? Are you goofy, serious, ponderous? Do you prefer to dance around a room or sit with a book? Does it change based on your mood?

I want you to literally write down these answers. It’s OK if there’s more than one “mood” because writing is an extension of us, which means our writing will have several moods.

If you follow me on social you know sometimes I’m extremely sassy and other days I’m quite serious. It depends on my mood, and I let them all show.

Step 2: Clock your tone of voice

Pick a number on this scale for each one:

Now, do it again for your other mood(s).

​Here, I made a template in Canva for you to make this easier.​

I went through this exercise and realized I have two primary tone of voice moods. Can you guess them? I bet you can…

​Check out my tone of voice scales here.​

Step 3: Choose your rhythm

I like to diversify my sentence length. It’s how I talk, so it’s how I write.

Look at my opening paragraph from Step 1:

When I’m comfortable, I sing stupid songs all the damn time. They often start off rhyming, but when I can’t make any more rhymes, the song doesn’t stop. Oh no. It carries on in a very nonsensical way, which my wife absolutely loves (can you feel the sarcasm, cuz it’s there).

Sentence 1 = 11 words

Sentence 2 = 17 words

Sentence 3 = 2 words

Sentence 4 = 23 words

You’ll find this rhythm in pretty much all of my writing. I don’t sit and count words, it just comes out naturally. Because my writing = me.

But let’s look at my friend George Ten. In a recent email, he wrote:

So I get you. You’re frustrated. You want the course. I hear you. I’m doing my best. Back to working on it today. Only last finishes left.

George notoriously NEVER uses commas. It’s his thing. So when you read his writing, you can always expect crisp, quick, short, snappy sentences.

It’s so him. And it’s so not me.

What is so you? Write it down.

Step 4: Figure out your bold-ness

Me? I love to curse. I don’t give a shit what you think about cursing. This is my goddamn newsletter, and I’ll curse if I want to.

(Lol.)

I’m also quite straightforward. I don’t mind controversy. I don’t love to offend people, but if I do, I’ll apologize and move on. I won’t agonize over it.

This, of course, is not how I showed up on social media on day 1. I danced around a bit like you do at a real-life networking event or party. It’d be weird to walk into a room of people I don’t know and shout “COLD SHOWERS SUCKKKK” at the top of my lungs.

You know?

So, write down how bold you feel comfortable being today. But realize that my change tomorrow.

Here’s where I’ve ended up:

Step 5: Choose your words (wisely)

I use words and phrases like “super” and “gahhh” and “you know?” and “ya feel me?” all the time.

Again, I speak like this, so I write like this.

I also use parentheticals to bring my audience into my world, my joke, my true meaning.

Go read this email again I’ve used them all over. It’s a writing choice. But it almost feels like I have to do it because, in real life, I’ll make a stupid joke and then look at you with a half smile waiting for you to get it.

I can’t do that in writing, so I use the tools I can.

What words do you use every day? How can you use writing tools to help you communicate what you mean? Think about it. Write it down.

This only scratches the surface, but it’s a good start. And it’s damn better than nothing.

I hope this helps. Let me know if it does. And if you want me to dig deeper, tell me. I can write more about it. I can make a short course. I can hold a live class. I’ll do what I can 🙂

Cheers,

Erica

PS: When I launch my new course with Rob, I'll also reopen access to my other two courses with him: Hooked on Writing Hooks and Content Editing 101. Lots of excitement coming in March! Stay tuned.

Erica Schneider

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