Based on a poll of my potential readers, I decided to change the tense of my upcoming book from past to present. It took a little more than two weeks to edit the first eight chapters. In the process, I found my voice.
As a technical writer for more that 25 years, I never developed writing with my voice, remaining impersonal, aloof. This is a strange territory for me. This rewrite to the present tense released the strangle-hold of the past. For the first time, I am starting to reveal more about myself and my feelings. I feel that I now have a better connection with the reader, one that I hope to enhance as I write the last several chapters.