by Sunil Bali, 03-05-15

Having been subjected to a steady stream of soporific facts and fibs in the run up to Thursday’s General Election, I was reminded of the words of the writer Christopher Hitchens who said, "Everybody has a book in them and in most cases that’s where it should stay."

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

Most people seem to be 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

The comedian Peter Kay with his hilarious misheard song lyrics (6 min video)

A guy texts his neighbour:

"I’m sorry Keith. I’ve been riddled with guilt and I have to confess. I’ve been helping myself to your wife when you’re not around. I know it’s no excuse, but I don’t get it at home. I can’t live with the guilt any longer. I hope you’ll accept my sincerest apology. It won’t happen again."

The neighbour, feeling angry and betrayed, grabs his gun, goes into the bedroom, and without saying a word shoots his wife.

Moments later the neighbour receives a second text:

"Damn, I really should use spell check! That should be "wifi" … Sorry!"

(Thanks to Don for the joke)

 

Have a great week.

Sunil

www.sunilbali.com