Embrace the Voice

I asked a student the other day, “What are going to study in college?” Without a moment’s thought, he turned and replied, “The voices in my head are telling me to go into psychology.”

If you hear voices in your head you might have problems – possibly serious problems.

But if you hear a single voice, constantly explaining, talking, but not to you, talking as though someone else were listening….

Not all writers have the voice in the head, but if you’ve got the voice, you’re probably a writer. That voice is not doing writing; it is writing, looking for the page. The voice in my head is named Ted. He wouldn’t shut up so I went ahead and named him. He gabs when I’m under stress. If I’ve got something that I really need to do but don’t want to I can always count on Ted to show up and blab about something unrelated to anything. He also talks when I’m doing something mundane like mowing the yard or exercising. I trained for four marathons and actually ran three, and Ted talked through nearly every mile. He talked, in fact, about this topic today, interrupting my attempt to count laps in the pool.

Before I was a writer, I tried to ignore Ted. I just figured I was bored; my mind was filling empty space, using language as light exercise; words were dumb bells. Now that I know I’m a writer, I give Ted a little more respect. I realize he’s writing, and I need to listen and get it down.

Woah. Does that mean he’s really the writer and I’m a just a scribe?

Hmm…maybe Ted will write about that tomorrow.