This is the perfect illustration on the importance of “voice” in a book.
The first version is the way it should be.
The second version is how so many books sound to an editor’s ear.
Beyond that, the video is simply a brilliant expression of what creativity sounds like!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLhJIFC8xkY
HT: Trissina Kear
Turn Envy Upside Down
Whoa. That’s fascinating–never thought about that. Good food for thought this morning.
Mr. Laube, this is an insightful analogy. I always appreciate a peak into that side of the publishing world. I also appreciate material I can use in class with my senior English kiddos. 🙂 This video will be perfect to show when we talk about the importance of writing college/scholarship application essays that stand out. Thanks!
Nicely done!
My specialization happens to be in human giftedness, which is basically about the reality that each of us is unique. That means each of us has a unique “voice,” and a unique part to play in God’s master symphony.
One reason so many of us end up sounding like everybody else is that we’ve never bothered to figure out what our unique voice, our unique part, our unique contribution is intended to be—intended, by the way, not by us, but by the One who made us.
As a result, we’re spending our lives, as Steve Jobs so pointedly put it, wasting our limited time living someone else’s life.
It takes courage, determination and insight
to follow the path illuminated by Our Father Jesus Christ
to be a leader among humanity, not one of countless followers
to take the heat and punishment for being “different”
to march to the beat of one’s own drum
to not let your single voice cave in to the overwhelming many
to be willing to pay the price for determined independence
it takes these things and much more…….
Then maybe, just maybe, you may be seen as “unique” in a positive light and then only by those who value uniqueness and don’t view it as something to be made to “conform”.
Rochellino, you hit it on the head. God wants us to have the courage to risk being seen as different to be what He calls us to be. We should never be afraid to throw our whole selves into achieving difficult things when God has given us the ability to do the extraordinary and not settle for the ordinary.
When I was starting college more than 40 years ago, several of my mother’s friends asked me what I planned to major in. When I said chemistry, almost every one said some variant of “you can always change your mind.” I would have missed out on an intellectually exciting and financially rewarding career if I had taken those ambition-squashing comments to heart and settled for something more “normal” that wasn’t my dream.
In one way, their negativity was a genuine gift to me. I learned young to go after big dreams even when people with little dreams try to tell me I will fail. How many of us never use God’s gifts to their fullest because we’re afraid to step out ahead of the crowd or because we listen to the ones who try to tell us we’ll never be able to do something special and maybe even extraordinary? He’s gifted us for the symphony, not the single note.
Beautifully said Carol!
Powerful message, Carol!
Bravo, Bill! Well said! My specialty is teaching and learning, and for years I taught college students how to identify their own thinking and learning preferences and maximize them, and to acknowledge their weak areas and work on strengthening them. An oft-repeated encouragement was to accept both, and not try to be the combination of them that represented someone else instead of yourself. I think the Apostle Paul might have paraphrased that something like, “In the Body of Christ, somebody has to be a foot so all the other parts can get where they’re going!” ;-D
What a great lesson for everyone. I show this clip next week when I substitute teach. Students as well as authors need to grasp the idea that God created us for “His good works”.
*will 🙂
Thank you, Steve. A great illustration of voice. I will share this video with my Teen Track writers. Coincidently, I am doing a school production with my 4th-6th graders titled, “Dance on All 88 Keys,” about not staying on middle-C in life. This will be a great visual for them also. Fun Fridays are the best part of my week!