I called to book a room for the HAWK Writing Workshop . The lady taking my hotel reservation asked, "Where are you from? You have a slight East Coast accent."

Me. An East Coast accent.

Over the years people have often stopped me to ask if I was from southern California. Does that mean I sound like a Valley Girl? Personally, I don't think I have much of any accent except when I am super relaxed or emotional.

I'm gonna have to sprinkle in an occasional "fixin' to" and "ya'll" if I want to maintain my Okie girl sound. 'Cuz if youse guys think I'm going to sound Joisey... fuggedaboudit.

Click here to learn more about America's dialects.

Journal: Write a conversation between two people. Give each character jargon , dialect, or other distincive style to make it clear who is speaking. If done properly, a reader won't require tags to tell the two characters apart.