Adam Haworth interviewed Jim Dalrymple of The Loop fame. Jim is one of the most prominent independent writers in the blogging world and I respect his views highly.

I enjoyed this interview more than most because Adam let Jim talk in an unrestricted and relaxed manner: the whole piece feels candid and off the record, in a good way. I feel I'm getting a secret, behind the scenes glimpse into Jim's mind.

As an independent writer myself, this interview gave me not only hope, but guidance: it's important to have your own voice. Jim explains:

“What I find really comes to the top are the people that have that voice. Like Gruber’s voice. When he says something, people will listen to him and when he makes a joke about a link, people will listen to that and laugh along with him. It’s not because he has a link blog, it’s because he’s John Gruber.”

This type of voice needs to grow over time and be carefully trained. It must be nurtured. I feel I'm still learning and understanding my own voice, but I can see how it's changed in the relatively short time I've been writing. I wonder where it'll take me next.