Preface

Every reader worth her salt knows the first sentence of anything printed (pixelated) on the page is of utmost importance: the gateway to the soul of the text. No pressure! In fact, by starting with that, I completely dodged it. I was thinking this while ambling through Central Park the other day, marveling at the various body types "running" the periphery of the reservoir. I thought that perhaps my foray into the world of writing should be a collection of dazzling opening statements/sentences. But really, who am I? And why would anyone purchase a novella (novelette? more of a list really...) by someone previously unpublished?

I'm an avid reader, especially in comparison with my nearest and dearest, and an abrupt change in living situation has, of late, given me more hours to lounge about on Central Park benches and masonry contemplating (judging) writing structure, the future of the printed page and our propensity these days to eschew modern grammar and boldly proclaim ANYTHING WE WANT, in all caps, ON THE INTERNET.

Sooo, because I've been looking for the perfect writing assignment that wouldn't subject those I love to examination and effacement ON THE INTERNET, I thought a marriage of reading and writing seemed predictably perfect; with my witty 'take,' of course!

I found it odd (embarrassing) that the same week I read three days of the New York Times cover to cover and finished Middlemarch, I happened to miss the death of Steve Jobs. Yeup. Missed it. I discovered this by walking past the Apple store on 67th and Broadway and wondering aloud, as I am apt to do, "What's with all the flowers, apples and post-it notes all up on the Mac store?" My walking companion was shocked, appalled and bemused (I'm hoping).

The moral of the story is: I missed it. By about five days. I must not be as well read as I thought. Hence, my exploration into what we read, how we read and why we read in this social media age by a 31-year-old first generation American of slightly-above-average intelligence m'Lady. Yeah, I typed it: m'Lady. I just finished Middlemarch (!) and the word 'woman' makes me sound old. 'Girl' is creepy at my age and 'lady' oddly makes it seem that I'm putting myself in the third, unfeminine person. Word choice is key, but we'll get to that another day.