As I walked to the school with the kids yesterday to pick up my daughter from school, we passed a young woman lying on the grass beside a bus stop. She had her legs stretched out comfortably in front of her, feet crossed at the ankles, head propped up against her backpack, and a book pressed lovingly against her heart with both hands.
The book - Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, was not what caught my attention (though it did remind me that it's on my to read list). It was the expression on her face, and the soft sigh that escaped her lips.
In the midst of a busy neighborhood, with the schoolyard shrieks of children and the honking of impatient drivers, this girl was lost in the world of story.
As writers, it's not really about the money (which would be nice), or the fame (which might not really be that nice), or the fandom (which would be nice).
It's about capturing the reader, in that moment, with our story.
The moment where they lay back in the warm spring sunshine and sigh, the graceful exhale of euphoria.
The moment where they become so immersed in our book that they forget the world moving all around them...
...hush, hush...
...just for a moment.
So true, Mandi. You said it so perfectly!
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