When we talk about your “writing voice,” we usually mean the unique way you communicate. It involves tone, language, turns of phrase, attitude, and more. But for a moment, let’s talk about your actual voice and how you can use it to improve your writing.

When you are editing your work, you will go through the usual process of proofreading it yourself, probably using some beta readers, and having it professionally edited at least once.

But another way to edit your book is to read it out loud. When you hear yourself speak the words, you will catch errors you will not catch otherwise. Your eyes play tricks on you. Once you have seen the same sentence or paragraph many times, the errors can be almost invisible.

However, when you read it out loud, you’re using your ears, instead of your eyes to catch errors. It is amazing how many errors and needed improvements you will catch this way.

So yes, use your author voice in your writing, but use your actual voice in editing. Read your work out loud to make edits and improvements that will help your writing flow. If it sounds better to the ear, it will read better on the page.

Daily Question: How do you think reading your writing out loud before publishing could improve it?