African American Language (AAL), an American English dialect, is an oral language system with no established written form. This makes it difficult to consistently convey ideas using AAL. As such, authors and editors may struggle to find a consistent means of expressing Black or African American voices in writing. Likewise, some authors from African American backgrounds may present with unique written discourse patterns that may differ from expectations in mainstream American settings. This presentation will provide an exploration into the linguistic system used by many African Americans as well as a rich dicussion about improving outcomes involved in the writing/editing/publishing process with authors who speak (and write in) AAL.