by Sunil Bali, 06-10-13

"Everybody has a book in them and in most cases that’s where it should stay," said the writer Christopher Hitchens.

Rather than belittle people’s literary ambitions, Hitchens was simply berating the quality of our everyday communication.

Take my mother-in-law for example; when she begins to tell the tale of her uneventful trip to the newsagent around the corner, it’s time to check whether we have enough provisions to last the weekend, as she could be a while.

My dear mother-in-law is unfamiliar with the advice of bestselling author Elmore Leonard who said,
"Try and skip the parts that people leave out."

We write to communicate to the hearts of others what’s burning inside of us, and editing lets the fire be seen through the smoke.

Edit everything, but don’t remove your soul from what you say because then it will sound like writing. And if it sounds like writing, then it needs to be rewritten.

Hemingway put it best when he said, "There is nothing to great writing. You just sit down at a computer and bleed."

Humour

  1. Dyslexics of the world: Untie!
  2. 2. Boss: Who said that just because I tried to kiss you at last month’s office party, you could neglect to do your work around here?

    3. Secretary: My lawyer.

  3. What’s brown and black and looks good on a Parking Attendant? A Rottweiler.
  4. Whenever you fall, I’ll always be there for you – Floor.
  5. Atheism: a non-prophet organisation.

Given that phone booths are becoming redundant, the city of Osaka has converted them into aquariums:

 

Sunil

www.sunilbali.com