Like you, I have two voices — this one and the one that imparts something to a corporate or publication audience. Slightly different voices, but they both have me in them.

Anne, that's a nice compliment! Not sure what that means either, but it sounds pretty neat.

Paula, what the hell is Goldilocking? That's insane. Do you remember the Dot Com boom? There were press releases coming across my desk that had so many buzz words in them, I was convinced the marketing person had no idea what they were selling. I didn't know, and if I'm the audience, how smart is it really to use such strings of buzz words?

I agree with how people speak — that's never a good thing to put on paper! 🙂 But I think if we start listening to how we reason or convey some idea, we can get to the heart of where our voice is.

John, isn't it interesting to think about having so many voices? Like you, I'm most myself on Facebook — I'm connected to maybe three clients there, and they all know me very well. On my blog, it's still kind of loose, but I know there are things I won't/can't express and ideas I'm never going to share. Work is exactly that — a reflection of the client's voice and needs. My voice is still in there, but I'm there to create something that resonates with who they are.

I'm loosest on Facebook, and that's often where it's the most fun. I can also relax and write how I want on my blog, but it is a bit more constrained there.

For my work projects I write in the way that's best for the client.

I used to advise people to write the way they speak. Then I started listening to how some people speak.

The abuse of the word "like" was made clear when listening to a then-teenage cousin describe why she and her brother were laughing, "I was like [odd facial expression] and he was like, well, d'uh." WHAT? Or listening to one friend drone on about nothing (trust me, when every story starts with "The funniest thing happened at work today…" nothing funny or even remotely interesting occurred).

Your point about not trying to impress is important. How many business people write e-mails including useless phrases they think sound important? One annoying term I've heard a lot lately: Goldilocking. Using invented terms like that is even worse than using big words you don't know.

I also loved your comment about the editor trying to find different ways to say "said." I had an editor like that, and it quickly became clear that "said" is virtually invisible. It's far more distracting to see an article crammed with substitutes like "advised," "expressed," or – shoot me now – "opined."

I have more than one voice. My professional writing voice and my own voice. I discovered I was missing my own voice on my business blog so I started my personal blog in 2009. I love the freedom it gives me to be myself.

But, the underlying theme on all my blogs is keeping it simple. Sometimes that's a challenge because I ramble when I talk. Despite recommendations to write like you talk, trust me, you wouldn't want me doing that. 🙂