Words arranged in the right order produce an afterglow. (When you read something beautiful, or something poignant, a powerful but fleeting emotion ensues. Then comes a need to possess that beautiful thing, and to hold on to that emotion. You reread, underline, and maybe copy down the line that produced that sudden rapture. And then it’s all gone.) Retracing my steps as a reader when I write is a way recovering and extending the afterglow.
Valeria Luisell, from ‘Valeria Luiselli: “A Writer is a Social Climber.”,’ Literary Hub (April 29, 2015)
i really want to sit in a cafe with someone and have coffee while we both write or look at different things but touch each others hands every so often and then go back to sitting quietly but happy and comfortable because the other person is there
