The Reader

It's funny, but the other day, I had someone insist that when you do write, you're always writing a little for someone else. That is how I began the blog, ostensibly to get some discipline into the writing effort, but turned into updates for family and friends in lieu of the copious letters I used to write. Now, it's just for me. Not a diary, and for doubters, let me assure you, NOTHING beats an unrestrained scream, the melodious splintering of a window, the disintegration of a phone against the wall any more than it can replace the desire to shake the life out of a sibling. Anyone who claims their life is an open book is fit to be embalmed as pathological liar. There's always something to hide ;-).
My favourite undercover agent (pun intended, o lord of chaos, in case you were wondering....) gentle admonishment of my illiterate association of the worlds best spy (a spy with out any digits is nothing but a tawdry impostor, Jason) with an errant government department found me doing a rather reflexive dimwitted bird head tilt, before giggling. How can you ever write for anyone else, when what people see when they read the same words is so confoundingly divergent?? Every 1500 words we discussed around a table of a dozen had about 14 interpretations and a minimum of 8 different things that grabbed them about the writing.
I know that reading is not just utterly personal thing, but ever evolving with your own experiences, yet, it still makes me do that bird thing. It's like finding an unexpected letter from an old friend on your mat; answering a phone to a gust of hysterical laughter as they pick themselves up the floor and remain incoherent; that first bite of a perfect crab risotto.... it just stops you in your tracks, makes you pause and jerk like a portly pigeon whose perfect dinner party has been invaded by a rakish crow, and then wonder at the magic of it....
I don't know why it is....that words take on the sensibility of the reader, or why it still surprises me... You never write for anyone else. You don't need to. They'll find what they're seeking, despite you.