My last blog was about Voice. This week, I want to talk about Voice’s alter ego, Style. Can you have one without the other? Not really. Yin/Yang. Light/Dark. You see where I’m going.

As writers, we create our art with words. Which words we choose and how we string them together in phrases is our style. We might try to be as concise as possible and write: The girl sits in the chair.

Thinking of self-publishing on a digital format? What writers aren’t these days? I’ve been listening to other writers tell their self-publishing stories for a couple of months and the number one thing I take away from these lectures is “Formatting.”

The river Styx is said to wind around Hell nine times before merging with the other four rivers. In Greek mythology the Styx separates the world of the living from the underworld. Its name comes from the Greek word for hate and therefore, the Styx is called the river of hate.

From the racial killings in France last week to the shooting of Trayvon in Florida last month, from the endless suicides of bullied children in our schools to the sexist remarks by Rush Limbaugh and others, it feels like the whole world is bathing in the murky waters of the river Styx.