So the task of getting voice into writing is revising to keep the spontaneity of a human being in it. And in doing that, how do you do that? How do you revise and keep it spontaneous? How do you go over and over and over it so you think it's perfect without bleaching out everything that's good in the first version? How do you put life into paper? That's the question of good writing. And it's a question of voice. And I think the only way I know to do it is not just to revise, but to read my revisions out loud. >> That's a great idea. >> To literally read my email out loud and see if it sounds good. And in doing that, what you do is you hear grammatical mistakes. I know Quintin's Grammar Blasts will train you in what good grammar is, but not so well as what your ear can tell you right off the bat. So, read it out loud and listen. Listen to how the words flow. Does it sound like something you'd say to the boys down at the bar? Or does it sound like something you'd say to your boss on a great day? >> Right. >> Right? So listen, listen to those words and revise. And work them around your mouth until you get your voice into your writing, enough to capture the spontaneity of who you are, but not so much as to weaken your own authority. >> One thing I really love about the idea of reading and writing out loud, and catching errors, and catching breaks in rhythms, or maybe a sentence that's just so convoluted, if you can't say the sentence, it's certainly difficult to read the sentence. But what I like about that is that it really measures with what we've been learning in this course. Because if you keep clarity in mind, and brevity in mind, and simplicity in mind, you don't have to know the grammar rules. >> Right. >> Right? >> Anything I ever write that is important to me, I have my computer read it back to me which sounds crazy. >> But there's a text tool that lets the computer. It's that horrible machine voice, >> [LAUGH] >> But it's reading the article back to me. And that helps so much to hear my own words. Because, again, as we've said before, you get so close to your own work sometimes you won't notice if there's a missing preposition or something. >> That's a very nice touch. However, I wouldn't forget how important it is to capture your own intonation in your writing. >> Mm-hm. >> Yeah, that goes out the window with the machine configuration >> With the machine voice [CROSSTALK]. >> [LAUGH] That does >> The machine voice is kind of like a logic check or a sentence length check. >> It's a logic check, absolutely. >> Yeah. >> So if you imagine the rhythm of how you want to sound, again, how you want to be in front of people, who you are, if you imagine the rhythm of that person, I think you can capture it or at least reflect on it in your prose by reading it out loud.