As we continue the Blog Revolution Project, we come to day four of our focus on writing. Today’s article will focus on crafting your own personal style, develop your writing voice.

Newer bloggers may have a struggle with figuring out exactly what approach they want to take with their blog. Think of your writing voice as your brand name. Lea Schizas has written some on this topic at Writing with Passion and Developing Your Voice and Brand

Some common questions may include:

• How do I want to attack each post?
• What kind of a tone should I assume?
• What kind of audience should I expect?

These are all normal. Let’s look at these three questions a little bit and see if we can do something with them.

How do I want to attack each post?
For me, I like to approach every single article as if it is going to be the best article I have ever written on my site. That’s much easier said that done. I have to admit that I have written some real clunkers out there. There are days when I just don’t have as much energy as other days. I don’t spend as much time on a post, and I just sort of spit something out. But the ideal is that each article will be amazing!

What kind of a tone should I assume?
In the edublogosphere, I have seen all sorts of tones. Some come across as very scholarly, others come across as whiny, and still others come across as humorous. I try to maintain a balance. I pretty much write the way I would talk and try to keep things to a high school level or below. I want the stuff I write to be accessible and easily understood. This seems to be the way most of the blogs on blogging that I read approach things, but I see very few edubloggers who do this. It’d be great to find more down-to-earth people in this part of the world. Do you know of any?

What kind of audience should I expect?
I write for an audience of over 1,000 readers. I assume that everything I put on my blog will one day come in front of the eyes of my employer. I want to be sure I don’t say anything stupid that might get me fired somewhere down the road. Again, I try to keep things as accessible as possible and try to keep the boredom factor to a minimum.

The ultimate tip for developing your writing voice
Write. Write some more. Read your writing. Read other writers. Write some more. It will come with time. Just keep doing it.

TODAY’S MISSION
Write about how blogging has helped you to be better in your field

Or anything else you want to write about. Just write stuff and try different styles. See what happens!

The Blog Revolution: Day 5 – Stay On Target!
8 Ways Blogging Makes Me A Better Teacher
The Blog Revolution Begins

Joel Wagner

Joel Wagner (@sywtt) began teaching band in 2002. Though he had a lot of information, his classes were out of control. He found himself tired, frustrated, disrespected by students, lonely, and on the brink of quitting. He had had enough. He resigned from his school district right before spring break of his second year and made it his personal mission to learn to be a great teacher. So You Want To Teach? is the ongoing story of that quest for educational excellence.