Words have always ruled my life.
 While growing up I would spend hours at my desk next to a window looking out on the wintery Italian countryside memorising pages and pages of words in German and English…
During my years in journalism, it felt like my whole life was centered around the search for the right word.
But … this morning something happened which made me realise that I can no longer rely on words…
A friend called to tell me about a member of her family who is seriously ill and was about to be taken to the hospital.
While she was crying and talking to me, I felt I did not want to use words. I thought of all those hours spent at my desk in my old bedroom in Italy…. All the words that came to my mind sounded inadequate and empty.
I decided to focus on the images I had in my mind. I tried to communicate these to her instead of using standard sentences… I thought of the time my mum was ill and of what had given me comfort… I concentrated on that feeling while I was listening to her. I chose the few words I spoke carefully and tried to wrap them in images of hope.
Did I succeed? I don’t really know… but she sounded better when we ended our conversation.
May be there is a lesson here for my work.
May be we should stop relying so much on words. Are powerful speeches the ones written while holding powerful images in your mind?
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Silvia! You’ve already said it, albeit without using so many words ; ) With imagery in mind, writers can surpass the use of cliches.
Thank you, Judith. That’s what it is about… surpassing the use of common places.