I was talking to a friend recently about writing, and I shared how I’m struggling with finding a writing voice. When I re-read my posts, the tone, tense and vocabulary feels a little foreign. Some of this may be because of the topics I’ve chosen to explore or write about, but something just feels off.

The words don’t reflect me just yet, something that feels like a creative gap.

He told me about the Welsh poet named Dylan Thomas and how he would write the same sentence fifty different ways until he found a style that worked for him. I wasn’t able to find any evidence of that but still feels like a worthwhile technique to try.

I decided to pick one sentence from my earlier posts and rewrite it until I became comfortable with it. I chose this sentence at random, from an earlier post entitled Self Curiosity:

Original: I’ve approached many self improvement challenges recently by starting with a practice of self curiosity before taking action or making a major decision on what to improve.

Rewrites:

• I’m approaching new self improvement challenges by becoming curious about how I’m doing things today, before taking action or making a major decision on how to improve.
• Before I try any self improvement, I want to learn how I’m doing things today, so I can better understand what and how much I need to improve.
• Starting with curiosity helps to set a baseline for my current behavior, so I know exactly what and how much I need to improve.
• Getting better at something requires an understanding of what is happening today.
• The first step to self improvement is understanding. Trying to change a habit without knowing how much change is needed is a futile exercise.
• The first step to any self improvement is understanding yourself. Trying to make a change in your life without fully understanding how much change is needed leads to wasted effort.
• The first step to self improvement is understanding yourself. It reveals the extent of change needed, and helps you increase your chance of success.
• Self improvement often focuses on the new behavior that need to be adopted. But the most useful thing I’ve done before trying to create new behaviors is first understanding myself.
• Step 1 of any self improvement practice has to be establishing a baseline of current behavior. It’s an easy first step that helps you understand the scope of change needed.
• Self improvement starts with introspection - understanding what you’re doing today, so you know what (and how much) you need to improve.
• I used to approach self improvement by immediately trying to change my behavior. Now, I start with introspection - understanding what I’m doing today. It requires almost no effort, and helps me understand where and how I need to improve.
• I now start any self improvement with introspection - an understanding of what I’m doing today. It takes little effort, and helps me understand how much I really need to improve.