Joy in Print
Three Elements of My Writing Styles
Today’s post is titles Joy in Print: Three Elements of my Writing Style for a reason. Ever since I can remember, I have enjoyed writing – and in more forms than one. I loved writing heart-felt cards to loved ones for special occasions and recording fascinating or odd dreams I’d wake from in the middle of the night.
But it wasn’t until life came to a halt due to the pandemic in 2020 that I decided to take the time to explore this passion and take it more seriously than ever before. The research and exploration quickly became my joy – my joy in print, if you will.
Eventually, the exploration led me to find my writing style, and I discovered that my craft of writing is accomplished through conversational style color, positive words, and order.
Interested in my story? Continue reading to know where I started this wild and fulfilling, creative writing career!
How My Writing Style Discovery Began
I am going to take you back a bit for a moment. Walking through my neighborhood during this once-in-a-hundred-year pandemic “stay home” quarantine, I was reminded of joy. Yes, I said joy.
The days’ news, full of increasing statistics and panic-stricken press releases, can cause one to go a bit dark. I went there momentarily until I needed to take my 5lb papillon, Sophie, out for a walk.
Thank goodness for our pets!
My husband and I are blessed to live in an area where folks love to walk and ride bikes in their everyday life. In those weeks, the outside crowd multiplied due to the order to stay at home. Getting outside was the best way to redirect the monotony of being stuck inside four walls and helped me change my point of view.
Like many others, I have always wanted to be surrounded by beauty– The beauty of objects around me and the uplifting attitudes of others. If you were to ask anyone who knows me well, one of the goals I am most passionate about and personally driven by is to create beauty everywhere I go. In fact, my oldest daughter had the necklace in the photograph made for me one Christmas– She knew me well!
What is Joy?
This led me to a reflective journey. What makes me want to be enveloped in beauty and joy?
We’ll start with the general definition of ‘Joy,’ according to Dictionary.com:
The emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying, keen pleasure, elation.
That seems about right. How about the definition of beauty?
What is Beauty?
According to Dictionary.com, beauty is:
The quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).
And this is precisely how I feel when walking around the neighborhood. Getting out of the house, I take in the beauty of the trees and the birds chirping in the spring skies. The joy on the faces of the people walking with their pets and strollers, the laughter of young children, and the sun’s warmth on my skin generate an all-over feeling of contentment.
Finding My Joy in Print
One thought connecting to another, I began to consider my writing career. Always struggling to define my style and voice in writing, I settled on a thought to research and hone in on my “type-type” (now that was funny!) This is where the title “Joy in Print” began to take form. The next logical step was to figure out what about writing brings me joy.
Would writing first person, short stories about real life bring me joy?
Would writing about God’s purpose bring me joy?
What about writing about our human experience during this trying time in the world?
After much thought and reflection, I realized there are three elements to my writing style based on my values, interests, and other elements of who I am:
- Color
- Positive Words
- Order
1 | Color Throughout my Writing Styles
Writing is a form of creation filled with literal and figurative colors. A single color can produce a multitude of emotions and moods, depending on the reader’s perspective and the choice of words used.
However, it also holds significant meaning in day-to-day life, the clothes we wear, the room in our house we feel most relaxed in, and even the products we purchase are all building blocks to good writing.
Some days, my colors are simple and neutral, with white, brown, gold, and silver combinations. On other days, my mindset and mood reflect primary colors, mainly red, white, and blue. But most of the time, I relate to the primary color, yellow. After all, my name is Sunni!
Color science proves my thoughts on my choices of hue through the ups and downs of life:
- Red: Excitement and power
- Blue: Intelligence and trustworthy
- Pink: Femininity and softness
- Yellow: Optimism and confidence
- Green: Harmony, goodwill, wealth, and health
- Purple: Originality, royalty, and prestige
- Orange: Friendliness, fun, cutting edge
- Gold: Elegance with power
- Brown: Comfort and earth
- Black: Drama and versatility
The rainbow provides us with a full palette of emotions and tools to create a mood in the atmosphere we surround our lives with. By creating a print with researched colors customized to a client’s vision, I can offer that joy through the shade I splash on the page which is one of the unique ways I like to help my clients.
2 | Positive Words
There have been large amounts of research done on the power of words. Authors Andrew Newberg, M.D. and Mark Robert Waldman explain the impact of positive words in their book, Words Can Change Your Brain:
“Positive words, such as ‘peace’ and ‘love,’ can alter the expression of genes, that I strive to use in my own work that strengthen areas in our frontal lobes and promoting the brain’s cognitive functioning. They propel the motivational centers of the brain into action, according to the authors, and build resiliency.”
They claim words propel us into action when we are having a hard time, and I believe it. How often have you been watching your favorite show or scrolling through social media, and a pizza commercial comes on? The color red makes us hungry, and the descriptive words and images of pizza beckon us to go and get it now! It’s funny the different ways colors effect our life experience.
As if that is not enough, even ancient documents such as the Bible reference the power of the positive word many times.
Like several verses from the book of Proverbs in the New International Version:
“The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.” – Proverbs 15:4
“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” – Proverbs 16:24
“The words of the mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a rushing stream.” – Proverbs 18:4
I adore the words used to describe words in these verses– Soothing, tree of life, gracious, honeycomb, sweet, healing, deep waters, fountain, and rushing stream!
3 | Order to My Writing Styles
Come into my home on any given day, and you will clearly see the order. Smooth and defined lines, colors that are easy on your eyes, different elements of style, coordinating wall art, and a crisply clean environment– That’s how we like it. In fact, it’s how we thrive and continue living our best lives, my husband and I.
I also order my months, weeks, and days with a proper bit of excitement and contentment, bringing together work and play.
Similarly, my profession is ordered by line, color, and words in purposeful and strategic order, kind of like sentence structure. Each detail of the products I create, whether a landing page, about us tab, or social media caption, is skillfully laid out to evoke a certain feeling, matching the client’s vision and goals.
Joy in Print: Connecting My Writing Styles and Life Style
Before I took the time to dig deeper into my own ideas, style guide and realize what was behind my passion for writing, I felt lost in my voice, direction, and niche. The pandemic was a devastating time, there’s no doubt. However, there is always a silver lining, and, for me, this was the exploration of who I am as a writer and the start of a new chapter of life where I finally put my passion and skill to proper use.
The good news is, it was easy to decode when I realized my general life goals, like how I have raised my now-adult children and what I surround myself with. Just about everything I do is done in different forms, but through color, positive words, and order, bringing me joy. They are all different things that bring me joy.
I can only cross my fingers and hope my readers feel this from reading my carefully curated words and feel like my other blogs are worth reading. If you look at my work, let me know how it affects you. And, if you want to work with an experienced and passionate writer for your small business’s copywriting, social media marketing, and web page needs, never hesitate to reach out!
For now, I need to take my papillon for another walk.
Until next time.
Simply Sunni
