Blog 6

To read or not to read. That's often the question a reader goes into a book, essay, etc. with. But I think if nothing else, the readings this week have stressed that this should be the question writers go into writing a piece with. As Spandel points out, indifference that states "I'm sure I don't care" is something that leaves a piece with little voice, and leaves no motivation for readers to read it.
Developing a voice isn't always the easiest thing to do, and I often have trouble with this myself. Taking or borrowing another author's voice is something I often try to. Spandel does a nice job of explaining the need to think through exactly what students are reading, and the importance of the voice within and how this can influence a search for voice.
My favorite part of the readings this week were a combination of Bill Lane's excerpt and the inclusion of Bill Walsh's wit into Spandel's chapter. Lane's use of a foreign voice, even as connections eventually were made into his own life, show the ways that writers can get voice out...even if it is not inherently their "own."
And with Walsh, well, I've always hated the impersonal qualities of some writing assignments and truly wish that teachers would end the whole "No I or You" trend in writing. This writer believes that one should write in whatever way one deems best to accustom to you.