Monday, January 23, 2012

Nothing to Hide Behind: The Active Voice

To actively express ourselves, we need to voice the rhythms and poetry inherent in each of us. Yet in the many restrictions on writing woven into our childhoods, workplaces and through ongoing critical assessments, both internal and external, we often hide behind words.

Consider the way we pad our writing so that others will accept it as intelligent, original or academic. Instead of using the raw voice of experience and want that shouts our unique vision of the world, we take on a persona of passive assent that we believe others expect from us. 

The active voice is more than a writing exercise. It's a way to expose ourselves through the rawness of words carefully or freely chosen that don't hide behind the past (tense) or passive need to please.

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