I find it anazing that I was published for 40 years before I started hearing about a gazillion writing ters, including 'voice.'

I also recall, shortly after arriving in the USA, sitting in a cafe writing. Some guy asked me if I was a writer,and I said yes.

He wanted to read what I wrote. I was loathe to give him anything because I was on a tight schedule. He kept on, and so the following day I gave him a short story.

The day after that, he came into the coffee shop and presented me with a one inch stack of pages."

He told me he had read my story so now it was my turnto read his. I was gobsmacked.I exolained to him that I had no desire to read his story and he had insisted on reading mine.

He would not budge, eventually saying to take it, even if I threw it is the bin. On the way home, I threw it in the bun.

I do not understand what all the fuss is about. We learn to write in the first few years of our schooling. I was published by the time I was 10.