Verb Tense vs. Voice

Sometimes writers get confused by the difference between tense and voice. Hopefully this simplistic description will help: Tense is about time (past, present, or future), while voice is about action (active or passive). Our readers need context in order to understand when something is happening and who is doing something or whom something is happening to.

Now to go past the simplistic. Within each verb tense there are four more aspects to look at.

	PAST	PRESENT	FUTURE
SIMPLE—action at a particular point of time or happens repeatedly	I wrote yesterday.	I write every other day.	I will write tomorrow.
CONTINUOUS—action takes place over a period of time	I was writing when my agent called.	I am writing now.	I will be writing tomorrow.
PERFECT—action has already occurred, or will occur before another action takes place	I had written two short stories.	I have written several short stories.	I will have written a novel by the end of the year.
PERFECT CONTINUOUS—action is present has been occurring over time	I had been writing for years before being published.	I have been writing for one hour straight.	I will have been writing all day.

 

Voice depends upon the subject of the sentence. If the subject is acting, then the verb is active. If the subject isn’t acting, the verb is passive. To find passive verbs, look for 1) the “to be” verbs and a past particle of another verb (a past participle verb ends in “d”, “ed”, “n”, “en”, or “t”), or 2) a combination of two verbs.

ACTIVE	John wrote
TO BE + PAST PARTICIPLE	The story is being written by John
TWO VERB COMBINATION	The writing was done by John

Tense and voice need to match up so our story makes sense to our audience. Thinking about when something occurred and what the subject had to do with it will make our story clear. After all, we don’t want to confuse our readers, otherwise we’ll lose them.

Time budget

I told my husband that we need to quit spending so much money. After reviewing our budget, I realized that we spend unnecessarily. By my calculations, we could save a lot of money if we quit impulse buying. We pay off our credit cards each month and never carry a balance forward, but we are accumulating “stuff”. Stuff might bring instant gratification, but in the long run doesn't move us forward.

I also looked at my time budget. I waste a lot of time. I allow myself to DVR one show each night, and watch them on Saturdays and Saturdays. DVR does save time since I fast forward through commercials, and I usually feel like I've earned the right to watch my shows because of all the other things I do.

This wouldn't be a bad system, except for the fact that I find myself watching the shows that my husband watches. He loves television and movies, so even if I'm trying to work with headphones on, I am distracted. If I go into another room and hear my husband laugh or react to what he’s watching, I want to know what's going on.

It’s hard not to waste money and time. However, I find it much easier to control my monetary budget than my time budget. I have self-discipline when it comes to money because I use direct deposit to send money into a savings account, instead of relying on myself to move the money from checking to savings. With my time budget, I can make to-do lists and think that I am going to do everything for the gratification of checking things off, but it's not automatic like direct deposit. I have to work at keeping on task.

Even when I tell myself I'm wasting time, it's hard to get back on track. But I'm going to try to manage my time budget better because once it's gone, it's gone.

I have a long commute. It's approximately fifty-seven miles to work, and fifty-seven miles back home. That takes almost two hours out of my day. However, I am lucky because there is no traffic, and the speed limit is 75 mph.

Sometimes when I drive, I sit in silence and think. It is a nice time for reflection and for brainstorming. I have also found that I can be productive during that time, by dictating story scenes and blog posts.

I often think about how much time I have wasted in my life. Time that I cannot get back. I am incredibly busy, cramming as much as I can into every moment that I am awake. I want to be able to say that I lived my life well, and I didn't squander it away.

I am proud to finally be a published author, and am thrilled to know that I have a novel, short stories, and legal articles out there that show that I do exist. I may never be a well-known author, but what I have produced leaves behind a footprint showcasing one of my talents.

This would never have happened if I hadn't finally taken a chance on myself. I remember the day my first story was accepted for publication. It was a nonpaying magazine, but I was thrilled to know that an editor thought my writing was good enough to print.

After I got that first acceptance, I knew I had to continue putting myself out there, so I did. Yes, there have been several rejections, but they don't hurt as much as I thought they would. I don't take rejection personally, and I don’t have time to dwell on why I was rejected. I just send it out again, and hope that I find the right match.

I have enough confidence in my own abilities to know that I can write, and sometimes I get lucky enough to share it with others. Every submission is nerve-racking, but if you don't continually take a chance on yourself, you will never know what success feels like.