Keep Reading

When I was five years old I became intensely interested in the art of storytelling. It started with my grandma and her gruesome impromptu horror stories that she'd tell me over family dinners.
I was fascinated with the idea of creating a world where the details are mine to tell, and the secrets are mine to keep. Throughout my childhood, I read everything I could get my hands on: I couldn't get enough of the detail, the voice, the cliffhanger endings. But I think what always kept me amazed the most was the incredible relationship I felt with characters. How could someone feel so much human connection to paper and words?
And that's where I figured out the meaning of it all. We want a story we can feel, we want something that understands our misery, our pain, and our happiness.
I will never forget reading the book Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata. It was the first piece of art that made me cry--I was in 4th grade. I learned that kira-kira is the Japanese word for glittering and shining. The book used it as a symbol, intertwining it into multiple situations. And by the ending I was convinced that no matter what darkness life throws your way, there will always be kira-kira to guide you through. I cried because I understood.
A book, a story, a piece of writing makes us experience life at its fullest. It drags us through ocean currents and pushes us over cliffs. It puts us in the back of an emergency truck and it throws our arms around the most beautiful person in the world. Writing is living and we can learn everything in fractions of a lifetime. If only we choose to read.

Ask Me Anything