Describe Yourself In Five Words
I asked my friends to describe me in five words. I have great friends.
They are so kind. (So, so kind!)
One said: Encouraging, intelligent, engaging, funny and kind.
Another friend said: Beautiful, kind, friendly, authorly and smart.
(She assured me that authorly is a word.)
Yet another dear friend, who has been almost like a sister to me said: Positive, caring, truthful, enthusiastic and skilled. (Aw! That was so kind.)
Then I asked my husband.
After quite a bit of thinking, his list looked a little different. (I don’t know why?)
Hubby said: Creative, funny, illogical, absentminded and chocoholic.
Clearly, he knows me really, really, really well.
In one of the classes I teach, I ask my students to list five words that best describe themselves.
Frowns sprout on their foreheads all around the room, but then they list FIVE WORDS.
As they um and ah, and think and decide on their five chosen words I write them on the whiteboard next to their names.
When we have been around the whole class making each person’s lists, something interesting happens:
The 5 words each student has used to describe themselves also happens to be the same five words I would choose to describe their voice. This is confirmed by their fellow students who have been hearing their writing read out week after week. When I say that their words also describe their voice, I mean that those elements almost always comes through in their writing.
This was a light-bulb moment for me.
Who you are, shows up on the page.
Read that again:
WHO YOU ARE
SHOWS UP
ON THE PAGE
This is especially true for nonfiction, creative-nonfiction, and memoir.
One of the funniest writers I know is as funny in real life as her characters are on the page.
So, I’m wondering, can you describe yourself in five words? Do those things show up in your writing?
Melony Teague is a Freelance Writer and Author who lives in Richmond Hill, Ontario. The Biographer for Portraits of Giving (2014-2016), Aurora Sports Hall of Fame (2015 -2017) and teaches seniors in her community how to write their personal story.
Melony Teague is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com
Melony Teague writes contemporary romance with a dash of humor, she loves to inspire and motivate others through her written words, and she believes everyone has a story to tell. Melony is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and The Word Guild. She is the co-author of As the Ink Flows, a devotional for authors. Her fiction debut, A Promise to Keep released, Jan 21, 2020. Melony was born in South Africa and now lives in Toronto with her handsome husband, their two teenagers, and does the bidding of her two adorable cats.
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