Voice Matters with Cathy C. Hall

Thanks to everyone who left comments the past few days on my post about "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.

One of Lee's biggest fans is Cathy C. Hall, a Southern humor writer with a great voice of her own. Let me clarify. I've never heard Cathy sing--although I've read on her blog that she sings in her church choir--but I'm a regular reader of Cathy C's Hall of Fame and have read articles, poems, and stories she has written in other media. Cathy's writer's voice has an uplifting touch of humor with an undercurrent of wisdom.

In the Fiction Writer's Toolkit feature in the July/August 2010 issue of WOW! Women on Writing, Cathy uses both humor and wisdom to craft her excellent article, "Voice: Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are." In her article, Cathy suggests one way to learn about voice is to read, read, read. She praises the voice of Scout in Harper Lee's timeless favorite, "To Kill a Mockingbird."

For her article, Cathy interviewed several writers and quotes them about their favorite writers'/characters' voices. One of the quoted writers--ahem, that would be me--mentions the unique and memorable voice of India Opal Buloni in "Because of Winn-Dixie" by Kate DiCamillo as being a favorite. Don't you just LOVE the first sentence of that book?

But wait, there's more! In her article, Cathy also suggests ways to help you, as a writer, find your own-- sometimes elusive but always unique--writer's voice. So, hop on over and read Cathy's article in the July/August WOW! to learn more.