Did you know that Hold Me Now by The Thompson Twins has a middle bridge section that’s very like Wichita Lineman? Nor did I until this week, when I sat down at my piano keyboard on a whim to see how possible-slash-satisfying one of my absolute favourite songs from the 80s would be to sing and play. (Turns out: very possible, and very satisfying.)

The reason I’ve been sitting down at my keyboard on a whim quite a lot lately – normally prompted by a favourite song from the 70s or 80s popping up on shuffle (I can testify that How Long by Ace is also incredibly satisfying) – is because, for the very first time in my life, in my 50s, I am busking. And in fact this month I took it one stage further – literally, it was at the Man Cave Stage – and sang and played at Ilkley Live, a brilliant free music festival that happens in my new hometown every year:

I’ve sung with jazz musicians – ie vocals only – for many years now, although until recently I hadn’t actually done it for many years, if you see what I mean. But singing while also playing piano in public has been something I’ve only done occasionally – again, many years ago, and vitally: only ever as background music in a busy bar or restaurant. To sing and play while people are actually, erm, paying attention is a new, rather scary, step for me. And it’s got me thinking about the idea of being heard – about being public, and audible. About one’s voice.

The idea of your ‘voice’ is talked about a lot in the writing world. But how do you find it? And what even is it?

The latter question is, for me, the route into the former. One’s ‘voice’ is one’s personality on the page: your take on life and the world, your POV, your values and beliefs and tastes, all showing through how you write and what you write about. It’s your ‘brand’. All there, on a plate (or at least on a page). It’s you the writer being you the writer.

So how do you unearth it, develop it? For me, that process has been inextricably linked to finding my voice full stop. It’s been linked to me learning that a key route to happiness and fulfilment in all areas of life – in work, relationships, family – is trying, learning, to be the most YOU you can be. Learning to embrace who you are, how you feel, what you think – rather than denying it or hiding it. Learning to shed the layers that grow around all of us.