Red Light

"Our stories are the tellers of us"

I cornered page 131 while reading Little Bee by Chris Cleave and I had to pause. I had to chew on this line for a while. Obviously as a writer, I was drawn to this line, but as a reader I was also drawn to it.

As writers, what we choose to write and how we write it and where it goes and ends, is so telling of the author. As a reader, what we choose to read, who we spend our time with, and what ways we react to the material that is printed before us, is so telling of you as a person. That's why I believe that one can't be a good writer without being a good reader, and vice versa. It's a super-connection that should hardly ever be broken. If you broke it, stop reading now. And go write.

But back to the quote-I find it to be a special thing when something breaks out of the page like so when you're reading. You're really not looking for it, but it finds you nonetheless. It's the subtle beauty of literature. Maybe it's my hobby to read quotes that makes me more prone to find such one-liners, but then I highly recommend reading quotes as an easy and rewarding pass time. Quotes have personalities all their own. Not knowing the context is half the fun. Half the great mystique of them. Without context, interpretation is open, endless.

The universe of quotes is vast and ever expanding (so much like our own). Author or no author, something is written down that can deeply affect you or at least make you sit for a bit longer in thought. Some are funny as hell while others make you cry. They hit close to home and remind of us of certain memories, certain times of our lives.

That's what I love about them: their ability to make us think. Provoke us to "smell the roses" in our thoughts. Constantly our brain is bombarded with thoughts, and lists, and memories, and doubts, that I imagine they all sorta rush around like L.A. traffic-sometimes polluting our souls with more thoughts than necessary. Reading quotes, to me, is like putting a large red light in the middle of all the chaos and putting the brakes-on everything. I read and mull over one thought and green light the next. I take my time when I read and I let myself go completely cliche by sitting and pondering.

Yes, I ponder. And yes this blog is advocating to ponder.

Our stories are the tellers of us; they can never hide us despite any bending of the truth because even the truths we bend reveal the lies we wish to be true.

And the lies are the biggest tellers.

Go ponder.