Outsider Art

I thought I will share my husband, chai's exchange with Joy Tanksley because of her 
excellent article on her post "Four Steps to Finding Your Ideal
Writing Voice". 

http://www.copyblogger.com/writing-voice/

Author: Joy Tanksley
 

chai June 18, 2010 at 10:45 pm                                     85
I wrote my father?s story in Malaysian Chinese Voice and I failed my 
English, but the teacher said the ideas got A+. I am not English, please 
look at my pa?s war memoir on http://chaifamilyhistory.publishpath.com/  and tell 
me what you tell. Do I have voice? thanks

Joy June 19, 2010 at 9:08 am

    @Chai ? It has been my experience with students who are leaning a 
new language that voice and style are some of the last things to 
develop. I read a bit of your writing, and you really have some 
beautiful and powerful phrases in the piece about your pa. I think you 
are well on your way! My guess is that your voice is quite strong when 
you write in your native language, and that it will naturally become a 
part of your English writing in time. Good luck with the process!


June 19, 2010 at 12:37 pm

    Dear Joy, its too late for me, I am in my golden years, never 
written in my native language or spoken it for 40 years. Had only 
English all my life and I think I will never improve because I have not 
mastered English yet. My wife is English and she has also told me she 
has worried about my writing and has seen me write the same way for ever 
it seems. She has tried to help and proof read my English but to no 
avail! So What to do?

June 19, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    @Chai ? Sorry I misunderstood your situation! Honestly, I don?t even 
know what ?mastering English? would mean. You are writing about things 
that matter to you, clearly expressing your ideas, and (hopefully) 
enjoying doing it. I say, keep it up and let go of the concept of 
mastery. I think it gets in the way. Best wishes to you!

 June 19, 2010 at 2:05 pm

    Thanks Joy, Just love your article, I am very passionate about 
family matters, and have a lot of time because we have no children. We 
are semi-retired and I read a lot and blog a great deal and in addition 
to family history, I delved into the art world with my wife who is an 
outsider artist. I like writing best without proof reading, the ideas 
just flow. I have just started to write in my website and have just got 
it running in just a few days. I code in html, and into computers and 
anything internet. I do seo and content management as a biz, but suffers 
from my defiency in my English. I am an old computer nerd, who started 
with a slide rule to log tables and pcs in 1981, and now still keen on 
pcs. Genealogy is my passion, biggest success is finding 42000 
descendants of my wife in Victoria, Australia.
    Thank you.

See the comment here: 
chaifamilyhistory.publishpath.com/i-dont-write-in-english