Vexing Vagrant Voice

Have you ever gone back and read one of your older articles and wonder, "Did I write this?" and think "Does that even sound like me?" I had one of those moments a few hours ago and was a bit startled (and irritated) by how every so often my writing voice seems to come from a different place.

All of these personalities shouldn't come through in one article.

Granted, one paper I read was a book report from junior high (remember Fahrenheit 451?), but most of the rest were written within the last six months. The majority sounded like 'me'. Then there were several that sounded more glib or verbose. Those I could attribute somewhat to subject matter and audience.

Then there were those few where it seemed like I checked in and out. That were just slightly erratic in delivery, suffering from multiple writer personalities. Fast-paced one paragraph, weighed down the next, only to pick back up again and finished with a grand blahness. Not pretty.

A consistent writing voice is not something I typically purposely check for. It is more intuitive than that--just knowing something sounds 'off' and fixing it. After being jarred by the ugliness of a wandering voice today, though, I will be more vigilant about consistency in the future.

How do you ensure your writing voice flows naturally?