I Wasn't Always Like This

- Impromptu -

'Write like you talk.'

This is the single piece of advice that I've heard too many times, one that I don't agree with. If you heard me talk you’d agree with me too.

Yet you wouldn’t hear me talk because I’m usually alone when I do. Around people I’d rather listen, since I prefer collecting stories.

But mostly it’s to avoid saying things I don’t mean, saying things that only I find interesting.

What’s weird is I wasn’t always like this.

I used to love talking to people. The feeling seemed mutual. I think we spoke the same language back then.

It all changed when I started reading—to be more precise, when I started reading fiction.

I've always read avidly, but mostly nonfiction. Stuff like self-improvement, business, psychology. Broad categories, broad knowledge.

Books that said things most people already knew.

Literature, however, was completely different.

I found that these writers wrote about what they didn't know. Eventually, I wrote this way too.

For the first time, writing was exciting. It was surprising.

Something else happened. Most realizations would occur when I wasn't writing, but now they happen while I am.

I read differently too, I read the way I write. I don’t absorb sentences at the intellectual level as much as I used to.

Now, I feel the rhythm.

Now, I hear the music.

I guess this has to do with my background as a pianist.

I guess this is why my wife’s voice is what attracted me to her in the first place.

Now that I think about it, that’s when it all really started.