Comments on: Where Am I?

By: Mama

Mama — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 02:52:10 +0000

That's such an interesting question, MPJ. I think it has to affect your writing. I'm sure my voice is different coming from suburbia now than it would be if I still lived in a huge city with a sprawling urban landscape. And that is also an interesting point about attractiveness and voice. I think it probably holds some validity.

By: marta

marta — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:36:05 +0000

I admit to not connecting the way a person writes with how they look (now I have something else to angst about!), but I do believe I can tell how a person feels about their looks by the way they carry themselves and look at the world. Can't you usually spot those people who know they are attractive? Or at least think they are? Maybe I should say there are certain mannerisms of people who knowing use their looks to get through life. They seem to give off an aura of having no clue what it is like to be less attractive, like they can't fathom people not thinking of them as good-looking.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they're just as insecure as the rest of us.

By: Ingrid

Ingrid — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:47:22 +0000

Does the story change if I walk Janie to school or a bus stop past graffiti tagged buildings or down a dirt road past a cow? Does it matter if Austen’s school has 20 students or 200 or 2000? Is my husband different if he’s a small town businessman or a big city executive? Would I be thinking differently if I were writing this snuggled under a fleece blanket in front of a fire or listening to a sea breeze fan palm trees?

Absolutely, categorically YES!

Our surroundings, the time we grow up in, and more than anything, the socioeconomic level we grow up shape who we are, and where we are going in life. Even those who break free from the direction most of their peers take, carry their background with them.

By: Cate Subrosa

Cate Subrosa — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:26:24 +0000

I have really been wondering so much if my voice has changed for my readers since I put my face out there. What do you think?

By: mamampj

mamampj — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:27:02 +0000

Ha! Margaux! It's true; we sex addict codies do tend to have to trumpet our hotness.

By: Margaux

Margaux — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:12:00 +0000

Wow, what your friend Ellie said is really interesting and I'd have to agree, except that I'd add the condition "except if you're anonymously writing about sex addiction." There's just something about that subject--because it's so misunderstood--that spurs a person to write "and I really am attractive--I swear!"

By: Cat

Cat — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:18:12 +0000

Interesting ideas. I often wondered if I would be the same person had I grown up in a different country. Seriusly If I were born into a country that mandated I cover from head to toe or have my genetalia mutilated - I probobly would have been killed by my male family members because I was too outspoken and hard to control as a child.

I do think our outsides affect our insides - I know I grew up feeling ugly and every so often I slip back into that ugly mind frame. Life is so dark in that mindset.
I really do think that the power of our mind is so great - sometimes it is as simple as changing your mind - to make change happen in our lives.