Chatty Lass

I was skimming through the Net this morning when I came across some of the best quotes that I have read on writing (no points for guessing - the quotes were the brainchild of fellow writers).

I compiled my favourites and are displaying them here for safekeeping...

• "I only achieve simplicity with enormous effort." (Clarice Lispector)

• "The first draft of anything is shit." (Ernest Hemingway)

• "If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write because our culture has no use for it." (Anais Nin)

• "Writers aren't people exactly. Or, if they're any good, they're a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person." (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

• "The true writer has nothing to say. What counts is the way he says it." (Alain Robbe-Grillet)

• "Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly." (Franz Kafka)

• "Reading is more important than writing." (Roberto Bolano)

• "We live not only in a world of thoughts, but also in a world of things. Words without experience are meaningless." (Vladimir Nabokov)

• "Describe your sorrow and desires, the thoughts that pass through your mind and your belief in some kind of beauty - describe all these with heartfelt, silent, humble sincerity and, when you express yourself, use the things around you, the images from your dreams, and the objects that you remember." (Rainer Maria Rilke)

The reasons are different this time around, but just like the last time, I've come to realise that I have to let go, for all I've been holding on to all this while is nothing but a pipe dream.

To all those who don't fit in with the contemporary checklist that society sets for us,
To the ones who have a mind of their own and are not afraid to speak it,
To you who wear your expressions on your face and heart on your sleeve,
To those with a voice and something to tell the world,

I'm reminded today that the world needs a rebel and an outlaw.

The world doesn't need another blaring horn with no conviction and reason. Our world needs someone who will not be afraid to speak the truth, even when it hurts and comes at the cost of our pride.

The world doesn't need another ignorant simpleton who mistakes silence for obedience. Our world needs someone who will know that courage requires us to make and take a stand.

The world doesn't need another settler. Our world needs change. 

If taking a stand, holding your own and being true to one's self would mean that one would be labeled (inexorably) as a rebel or an outlaw, then perhaps that is what is wrong with our world today.

My girls decided to come down to Penang to celebrate my 24th, along with spending some time (while visiting the island) with me after my hasty departure from KL to begin life in Penang as a young working adult.

After lunch, I walked back to the office with my colleagues, headed for my cubicle and was ready to finish up some work when I heard 'Happy Birthday' being sung. 

I have buried my nose into the pages of a book countless times, just to take it all in. I take pleasure in running my fingers down the spine of a borrowed book. A little part of me dies on the inside with knowledge of the lost art of literary articulation in our world today. What happened to the art of expressive writing?
Some of my favourites, if I may:
Do people feel less today, or has modernity consumed us so much that expression is reduced to sweet (easy to swallow, pleasant to taste but without a lasting impression) texts? What happened to lengthy penning-s? What triggered the stop of the beautiful poetry and honest confessions of love and emotions?
I am not (and will never be) accustomed to saying things '"just because". I could never live with saying something "just for the sake of it". I question and wonder of the authenticity of words that are told to me all. the. time.
Perhaps, I feel too much. Perhaps, I demand too much. Perhaps, I should lighten up and take words a little less personally. Or, just maybe... People have forgotten the value of words and how much it weighs.

My other writer (girl)friends and I - We are all on that same boat. And so, we sit in a circle, hug our knees to our chest and lament of this dire phenomenon. Our greatest fear? Being with someone who does not get that to us, words are love.

Yes, we know that love shown is more powerful than love told. But, we want to be told, over and again, a million times over, in every way possible, because that's what we would do. We try, we try every single day to capture the movements of our heart and express it with words.

But, what we'd like most for you (listen up, guys) to know is that beneath the need to have love reaffirmed and re-pledged constantly, lies not insecurity, but hope and faith - hope for a future and faith to see it through.



P/S: I thought it best to do a second post, following *this* entry.

Here are some of my favourite parts:

1. Streams of morning rays (+ tea + sandwiches) = The best way to start a day
2. Afternoon reads will never be the same again with streaks of sunbeam pouring in
3. Late evening musings and time alone with the last patches of the day hinting through the glass
4. Nightly snuggles with plush cushions and a throw rug, illuminated by the twinkling of stars

Following my four-day stay in Bangkok, I returned home feeling sluggish (probably an after-effect to ingesting antibiotics for three days continuously) and tired.

I have been away from Malaysia for the past four days for a business trip to Bangkok.