I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I've blogged. Twitter and Facebook seem to have taken over, in a most unseemly (and ADD) manner.
I am a supporter and participator in any art form I can get my hands on. I was in all-state choir in high school; I have a degree in Theatre. I like to paint, cook, dance, sing, and take photographs-- as well as view others' forays into the same fields. That being said, I have always had an intense, almost religious relationship with the written word. Of course I love good oratory as well-- the spoken word has timbre, pitch, resonance, and inflection-- but reading has always been my solace. I like the way books smell. I like the way a hardback feels in my lap. I like the way books line my home and feel their absence is why I can never fully relax in a hotel room unless I have a stack of them on my nightstand. I like waking up with my finger still tucked into the last sentence I read.
I got a rare chance to read this week. When I stay at Casa Lewelling there is always much opportunity for cat naps and poolside solitude. I love that about staying there. I was re-reading The Time Traveler's Wife, because a friend who had borrowed it over a year ago had returned it the night before I left town and I found it in my bag mid-trip. I haven't read it since it came out several years ago, but I remembered being mesmerized. (As a side note, I adore re-reading old favourites. Sometimes I feel that with so much amazing literature in the world, I should always be reading something new, but if reading To Kill a Mockingbird for the 13th time gives me joy, who am I to question that?)
The Time Traveler's Wife is probably the only "love story" I have ever read. To be perfectly truthful, the fact that I'm a sci-fi nerd with a special obsession with time travel is probably the only reason I even picked it up. I could not be less interested in romance novels in general, but this one is different-- not only for the intricate, detailed plot, but for the absolutely gorgeous way that she writes. The story is presented in first-person flashes from both characters and her words are somewhat jumbled and yet still dreamy-- intricate, fine-lined pieces and sharp points in a somewhat blurry big picture.
All this to say, I need to reignite my affair with words. I want to read more, write more. I even started playing iPhone scrabble with Bill and Nate and Uncle Al... just that momentary break to think about what word I can make out of 7 arbitrary letters focuses my brain back into how much I love them.
So that's my current right-now resolution- to reconnect with literature, both as a viewer and a creator. I urge you to hold me accountable, to ask me what I'm reading and what I'm writing. This blog will be an outlet I'm sure, but I hope to broaden that into other droplets and rivers of words; they trickle out of me now but hopefully will flood out of me someday.
