In the Beginning...

...was the word. And the word was with Jolee, and the word was Jolee.
Okay, okay, so I got that from the Bible(God forgive me for the most awful sin of plagiarism). But it fits what I want to share, or really ask.
Are you and your story, or stories, one?
No, I'm not high, or channeling my inner hippy(I don't have one, so impossible to do). I'm perfectly coherent, thank you very much. I simply want to know if you and your story are connected. What do I mean by that? Well, is your story relatable to you in some way, or rather, are you relatable to your story? Do you see yourself in it, in one of the characters, or in the invisible, yet ever present subtext? Is your mark on it in one form or the other? Can someone read it and say, "Yes, Jolee wrote that. It's undeniable."
So why do I ask this, you might wonder? That's simple too. In my opinion, as an author, especially one who wants to be well known, your work must be recognizable, or characterized, as you. For example, if I were to read Cujo or Carrie or Misery, would I know these works were by Stephen King(of course you would have had to read a previous novel by him to know, but that's not my point)? Oh, you bet your bobo I would. How? In the subtle way King manages to scare the pee out of you with stories that are not so far fetched, stories that he seemed to pull out of our nightmares when we were children( read It lately?). Or let's take another author, my favorite for the past several years, Stephenie Meyer (Yes, I am a twihard, but that's beside the point as well). Does she not write one heck of a story riddled with angst and longing? Not only did the Twilight series portray her gift of putting into words the sufferings of the young, dramatic heart, but so did The Host. The woman, just like King and so many other well-known, successful authors, has her own undeniable, recognizable voice.
And I believe, as newbies, we should strive to develop the same, persevere to make ourselves stand out with a style of writing that oozes of us. Connect your story to yourself, and yourself to your story. I truly believe it can only help in our future careers as published authors. I have written two books so far, one which I should hear back very soon whether it will be published or not, and I can see a style that is forming. It definitely needs to be polished, but I believe it's there, waiting and yearning to be honed and formed into my likeness. So, I ask again, are you and your story, or stories, one?