"Sometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I'm not living."
- Jonathon Safran Foer
You know that feeling when there's a glimpse of an image, scene, character, vibe etc... that just pops into your head at random? You could be at work or sitting at the table with your family and it just happens? Then just as quickly as it came, it disappeared, but the feelings it evoked left behind a smidgen of something. And you can't just leave that something alone. It festers inside you, haunting you, making its way into your sleepless nights, dreams, nightmares even. It's as if the characters themselves are begging to be released, put on paper, to be seen by everyone and not just you. It's almost as if they are their own people and not just a figment of your imagination.
And when the stress of life comes or when you just feel like you can't go on it's like they're the ones who listen when no one else does, who understands when no one else cares.
And it's in those moments that it feels like they are just asking for you to reciprocate the same care.
Like our Creator probably felt when He breathed us into existence, I must breathe existence to the ones who swirl through my mind.
They are why I write.
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