Discover Your Writing Voice: Lessons from The Big Bang Theory With Kim & Juanita

The dynamic duo of Kim Thompson-Pinder and Juanita Wootton-Radko are back with another episode of the Author to Authority podcast, discussing the crucial aspect of establishing oneself as an authority figure in writing and speaking. They use characters from the popular TV show "The Big Bang Theory" to analyze different writing styles and their impact on the message. Leonard's smart and funny personality is overshadowed by his insecurity in expressing himself, illustrating the importance of finding congruency between writing and speaking voice to establish credibility.

The hosts also discuss the significance of assertive and clear communication in the workplace, advising against the use of too much jargon and using crude humor that can be a turn-off for audiences. They emphasize the importance of understanding one's ideal reader, writing with professionalism and readability, and getting feedback from editors and others to improve writing skills. By following valuable tips and improving one's writing style over time, authors can establish themselves as an authority on a particular topic or niche.

Listeners will also learn how changing the font or size of a written piece can make it seem brand new, helping authors catch errors and mistakes that might have gone unnoticed. With so much valuable advice and insights, listeners can visit the podcast website and leave reviews after listening to this episode of "Author to Authority." Tune in now and start your journey towards becoming an authority in your field!

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[00:00:02] Finding Your Writing Voice: Matching it to Your Speaking

[00:05:10] Assertive Communication: Balancing Knowledge and Social Awareness

[00:10:30] Dangers of Overcomplicating Ideas in Writing

[00:15:38] RTI Publishing's Client Questionnaire for Writers

[00:19:43] Improving Writing Skills Through Feedback and Techniques

[00:24:18] Writing Tip and Sign-Off with Kim and Juanita

You are an entrepreneur, a professional, a speaker, or a coach, and although you've come a long way.

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This is the author to with authority podcast.

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00:48

Let's do it.

This is the author to author d podcast.

And now your host, the extraordinary word ninja.

Kim Thompson and Tinder.

Kim Thompson-Pinder 01:15

Welcome to the author to authority podcast.

I'm Kim Thompson Tinder.

And this is my wonderful co host, Juanita Wootenradco.

And today, we're going to be talking about finding your voice in the big bang theory.

And you know what, you guys are gonna really enjoy this.

Kim Thompson-Pinder 01:37

So I wanna welcome my cohost, Juanita, she is going to be leading the charge today as we talk about finding your voice in the big bang theory.

Hi, Kim.

Good morning.

Well, I was thinking about the Big Bang theory and how it related to writing, which is kind of a cuckoo idea, I suppose.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 01:58

But bear with me.

My thought was about how the different guys.

I'm just gonna focus on 4 guys this time.

Leonard, Sheldon, Raj, and Howard.

The forming characters and how they can relate to your writing voice.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 02:41

Now, everyone has a unique style or voice when they write.

And sometimes, their writing voice doesn't necessarily translate the same as their speaking voice.

And sometimes the message that people wanna give gets overshadowed by their writing voice.

So I wanted to explore what I meant by that by using some of the characters from Big Bang Theory to illustrate examples and talk with you about ways that we can fix some of those mistakes and avoid miscommunication.

Yeah.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 03:18

And I think that's really important, especially when you're not to manure when you're professional, you know, when you're trying to get yourself out there, position yourself as that go to person.

You know, how you speak is very important, but your writing has to match your speaking to give that congruent picture.

Because if you speak well and you write horribly, it's going to actually reflect on how people see you and whether they choose to work with you or not.

Yes.

And it can be very jarring.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 03:33

Like, it raises a question in the reader's mind.

Well, which 1 is the real you?

Which 1 is the authentic voice?

And that's very important to consider.

You don't want your clients, your readers thinking, oh, he's a phony.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 03:58

She's she's not really being honest with me.

So it's important to have that mirroring in both both your speaking and your writing.

Awesome.

So the first voice that I'm going to use is example, is based around Leonard.

Leonard, like all the guys in the show is very smart.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 04:21

And he can be funny, a little sarcastic.

And he's the portrayed as the typical nice guy, but he's often afraid and insecure in how he expresses himself.

It takes him, oh, so many months, so many episodes.

To express his affection to Penny the next door neighbor.

Mhmm.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 05:02

He lacks confidence.

If you're writing with an insecure voice like Leonard, your writing examples tend to have things like I have often noticed that it seems this way.

People don't realize that these many things can happen.

They've had their whatever they're going to say with an explanation.

And 1 of the things that I find is very helpful is to remove qualifiers when you say, I think that -- Yes.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 05:09

-- people should take out their recycling.

Just write, people should take out the recycling.

Kim Thompson-Pinder 05:10

You

Juanita Wootton-Radko 05:49

you think it, then write it like a command rather than a politely worded request.

That's 1 thing that helps.

And do you think that people do that because they are insecure, so they're they're trying to soften it, so maybe people won't be offended by it.

That can be part of it.

I know that this is something that women sometimes do when writing emails to work colleagues, for example, they tend to couch things and would you please do this?

Juanita Wootton-Radko 06:11

Could you?

So you're softening it as a to a request rather than you need to do this, rather than the direct instruction because you don't wanna be perceived as aggressive?

Oh, yes.

When really, you just wanna be assertive and clear in your communication.

Mhmm.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 06:53

You know, email writing is another animal altogether and if you want to be perceived as an authority, you need to write assertively and without the qualifiers, and you can support your ideas with facts from external for Part of me, external sources, not forces.

He really think about being aggressive and powerful.

And I I think too, like, 1 of the things that we talk a lot about with our clients is When you use phrases like that, they're not grammatically wrong, but it's considered weak writing.

Kim Thompson-Pinder 06:54

Yes.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 07:25

Awesome.

Sheldon.

Oh, did you wanna I was gonna say, who's next on our list?

Sheldon.

He's the really, I kinda feel like although Leonard is the lead man and ostensibly the the 1 that shows focused on, Sheldon stands out because in a show full of highly educated people, he's that much further along.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 07:49

He's probably genius.

He's often very socially unaware and obtuse.

And he's possibly neuroatypical.

They never really get into that, but socializing is very difficult.

So where his where Sheldon falls down is not in his ability to express his ideas.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 08:16

Clearly and assertively, but rather he's confident to the point of arrogance.

Mhmm.

He often comes across that he thinks everybody else is dumb because on 1 level, yeah, compared to him, they they are a little bit they're just on on descending.

Absolutely.

And it's almost like all their brain power goes into being academic that they have no brain power left for anything else.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 08:37

It's a yeah.

It's missing he's missing emotional, the EQ.

The emotional quotient rather than the intelligence quotient.

The I feel like there's 2 halves to this.

There's overly specialized -- Mhmm.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 09:04

-- which can happen.

I know when I'm excited about a topic where I've done a lot of study in myself, I can fall into the trap.

Of using so much jargon and expecting people to know what I'm talking about when they I'm already on chapter 7 when they haven't they don't even know what textbook I'm referring to.

I've gone that deep into the into the topic.

Because all this seems interesting.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 09:43

It's not that they wouldn't understand, but that I'm in a different place.

Mhmm.

So I often find that that's 1 thing is to make sure that my audience is on the same page as me.

In both a metaphorical and literal sense.

And the other thing I like to make sure is that I'm talking to my audience like they are a companion, a friend.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 10:20

I'm not talking down to a child who is particularly dull.

Mhmm.

I feel that 1 thing that helps is using jargon.

If you're going to use specialized words, then you need to explain the terms clearly in a few sentences so that your audience can go, okay, yeah, I know that you know, backstitch is means something different when your hand sewing compared to machine sewing.

So they have the context.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 11:08

And then you can explain why you would wish to do 1 thing differently in 1 situation than in the other.

I always think when we talk about things like this of Anna Green Gables where Gilbert says to Anne after reading her book that it was highfalutin mumbo jumbo.

And she was furious.

Yeah.

In the movie, she she decked them with the And I get the feeling I I sympathize with Anne that, you know, why do I have to come like, bring my ideas down when, you know, they're they look so beautiful.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 11:27

You tend to fall in love with your own ideas.

Which is another danger.

But but sometimes, I feel the best way to describe it would be what Einstein said.

Simplify as much as is necessary, but no further.

Yes.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 11:41

You know, you don't need to make everything into problem.

Yes.

Alright.

So who's next on our list here?

Howard Wallowitz.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 11:57

Whoa.

If oh my goodness.

He's the guy who's, like, was your mother a thief?

Was your father a thief?

Well, then who stole the stars from the sky and put them in your eyes?

Juanita Wootton-Radko 12:08

He had more sleazy and you and those.

Than I have ever heard.

It's that is how he starts off as in the early seasons.

Kim Thompson-Pinder 12:08

Juanita Wootton-Radko 12:41

eventually grows into a better character.

He's not completely reformed, but he improves.

And where the crash voice comes in is when people write they wanna seem hip and relatable, and so they will use swearing, sexual innuendo, rooted and crude?

Yeah.

Just being crude and, you know, toilet humor.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 13:03

And it's like, while at times the there's a place for that.

Sure.

It's, you know, it's not live at the Apollo.

Your book is representing you.

And in that instance, I feel like it's really important that you put on a professional persona -- Mhmm.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 13:37

-- and leave your weekend self for the weekends and not in the pages of your book because you don't know who in your audience you're going to alienate.

Mhmm.

And you risk losing connection on something that's really very easy to control.

And I think that includes all of your content, especially your social media.

People don't realize that, you know, you can't be 1 person 1 way and then another person on social media because people check you out.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 13:57

You know, they check out your website.

They check you out on social media.

They see what you're doing.

And, you know, if you come across you know, as this very professional person and then they come across you on Facebook and you've got all this crude crude stuff on there.

You know, and pictures of you pouring good, you know.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 14:13

You know, they're not necessarily gonna wanna work with you.

Yes.

Because you're you're judged by the company you keep.

Mhmm.

And social media really magnifies that.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 15:04

Finally, I'm gonna talk about Raj, and I call him the lost voice because for in the early seasons, if there was a female character in the room, he could not speak.

He would whisper to Howard, and Howard would act as his translator.

And then once a female character exited the scene, then he was like, oh, and he had plenty to say.

And I feel that's, like, this is gonna sound like I'm contradicting myself with what I may have said earlier that you need to write you can write to too small an audience.

Mhmm.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 15:52

If you're when you're talking about using your jargon, if you're if you're not inclusive of the people that you're aiming your book towards you're going to lose them.

If you're too vague about your ideas and too general, both cases, you're missing your intended audience.

So it really is important to understand who you're writing your book to and to speak with them in a way that connects you both.

And this is the point, Kim, where I thought maybe you could talk a little bit about how the RTI publishing questionnaire, client questionnaire really helps people find who their ideal reader is.

Yeah.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 16:40

So when we bring a client into RTI Publishing, the first thing we have them do is fill out this questionnaire.

And the point of the questionnaire is to help them determine the 2 big questions that we actually discussed in the last podcast together, which is, you know, who are you writing this book too?

And, you know, what are you writing this book about?

I always teach that, you know, if you write everybody, your book will be ineffectual and wish you washy.

So, you know, our first when we first bring on a client, you know, those first couple of sessions are a lot about, you know, who you're writing to you know, what are their wants, needs, problems, desires?

Juanita Wootton-Radko 17:19

Like, we take a really in-depth look at that person before we even start the book writing process because it's important to know who we're writing this book too.

So when you are writing a book, creating content, you know, sending out mass emails, you know, all of those kinds of things.

You wanna make sure that you are writing to the right person and that you're not trying to write to everybody about everything.

You know, you want your communication to be clear and you're okay with the fact that it's not for everybody.

You're not trying to reach everybody.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 17:41

You're trying to reach a group of specific people.

Mhmm.

Yeah.

I mean, when we were in school and you had a writing assignment, your teacher would give you an idea of I wanted to cover these certain points.

And if you didn't cover those points, then you weren't going to get as high.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 18:00

Mark, it's kind of the same idea is that you're wanting to check off that list.

Mhmm.

So in contrast to the characters in the big bang theory, when you're working on your own writing voice, You want to aim for writing that sounds confident?

Yes.

Kim Thompson-Pinder 18:02

Professional,

Juanita Wootton-Radko 18:23

informed, and natural.

Yeah.

When you keep these points in mind, you can be confident that your audience is understanding you.

And your message.

Now, I just wanna go back for a second because you do want it to sound natural, but it still has to be readable.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 19:02

So there there's a balance between the 2 because sometimes your natural voice does not translate well into writing.

So you do want it to be natural, but you still have to I I think 1 other point that we'd have to add is, you know, check your grammar, check your spelling, you know, have if it's something really important, have somebody else read it first so that they can give you feedback.

Are they understanding what you're trying to say?

Are they clear, you know, in what you're trying to say.

Do do they feel do they feel like you did it in concise, confident manner.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 19:19

Right?

So that's always a, you know, a very important thing.

So, you know, I've written personally over a hundred books and have worked on more than that.

And when I write my own books and I am in the process of writing author to authority.

It will be out in 20 20.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 19:43

In fact, I'm hoping to release 3 books in the alphabet of the 30 series in 20 20.

But you need to understand that when I write, it goes to my team.

You know, when Edith is the head of my team goes to her first, and then it goes to the other team members.

And they scrutinized that thing with a fine tooth comb.

And so It doesn't matter how long you've been writing for.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 19:56

Like I said, I've written over a hundred books.

Each book has been a hundred to 200 pages.

You know, there's 300 to 500 words per page.

I can tell you I have written a lot of words.

And that's not bragging.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 20:18

It's just the truth of the matter.

But even at this point, I still anything important that I need to send out even including sometimes emails goes to when need a first and I get her feedback.

So, you know, and she always gives me such lovely feedback.

It's like, Kim, I really don't think that's going to work.

Let's try it this way.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 20:47

Kim, your tone is not confident.

Kim, you're being a little rude.

So Yes.

Sometimes we step on the other side of company.

So, you know, If you want to improve your rating and your rating voice, 1 of the main ways that that you can do that is through feedback.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 21:32

And that's in a very important aspect of learning how to write.

1 of the things that I've done for several of my clients is while we were writing their book, they were writing blog posts.

And so for some of them, they would send me their blog posts, and I do quick feedback on it, you know, little rewrites and quick feedback to help them improve their writing styles so that it's matching the book.

So when the book aired out their writing style has improved to that point so that there's consistency throughout So I'm gonna let you have some closing thoughts there, and then I I have a closing thought to share as well.

Okay, great.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 22:01

Well, I just wanted to say that this is not something that you can flip a switch overnight.

Yes.

It's something that you work on.

And as Kim said, getting feedback from someone else is important, reading what you've written out loud can often help and help you massage to your words even more to discover whether or not It sounds natural actually coming out of your mouth.

Yes.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 22:31

And if it sounds maybe a little too close to what's coming out of your mouth.

Maybe you might need to raise the bar just a little bit.

1 of the big tools that I love I use it all the time in office is using the synonyms or going to dictionary dot com, fisource dot com, my 2 best friends, besides you.

And changing the word.

Mhmm.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 23:19

When I first wrote out my notes for the podcast, I was talking about how your message can be obscured.

And then I was like, that isn't quite what I wanted to say.

I am close, but and then other suggestion was eclipsed.

And I thought yes, but we're not quite there, and then I found overshadowed which gives you the idea that while you can still see what the message is, it's like there's a little dark covering you're being shaded by other parts of your message.

So that was a a valuable thing and that was something simple.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 24:04

If you tend to repeat the same words Like -- Yeah.

-- I know we talked about this, like, interesting, important, incredible.

Those are 3 words that people tend to use often often and you have so many options out there and my pet peeve would be things.

If you can find another word instead of things, you will be a better writer.

If you can when you're talking about it, if you need to drill down and specifically say, when I'm talking about things, what I actually mean is apples or fruit That will be beneficial and clearer for your readers.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 24:37

You have many great books inside of your friends and this is where you start getting them out.

So let's start working on your voice together.

Thanks, Wendy.

And I remember 1 time you gave me the hint that if you have to reread something that you've done in, like, word or something like that, change the font or change the size when you're reading it because then it makes it seem like it's brand new so you catch things.

So Well, good stuff, Anita.

Juanita Wootton-Radko 24:53

I am happy that we got to do this episode.

So this has been the author to authority podcast.

I'm Kim Thompson.

Pinder, I've been with Waneta Wood and Radco, and we will see you on the very next episode.

Bye bye.

If you love the podcast, don't forget to check out Kim's book Author to Authority Volume 1. In it, she gives you a step by step guide on how to implement Authority Marketing in your business and gain the visibility you need to become the go-to person in your niche.

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