The Reader, The Writer And The Clock

In my early ages of reading books I seemed to always skip over the Introduction. Was it necessary, I would think? Why do I need to be introduced? I had already read the back cover and so I knew what to expect. As I got older I found myself not only skipping the Introduction but also skimming through pages, picking out what I felt to be boring verses interesting. I must admit, I felt so ashamed the day I became an Author. How could I have treated so many books and their writers with such disrespect. What if I missed something so important and even more shocking, now what if someone misses something from me. I tried my best to keep my published work short and sweet but when you have things you want to express it isn't always short and in my first book it wasn't quiet sweet either. I delivered untold truth and I accepted painful acknowledgements. As I continue to focus on the world of writing I try my best to deliver the same respect I hope to receive from my readers. The skip of a page gives me this uneasy feeling as I peak over my shoulder as if the writer him/herself is watching me read. Two weeks ago I came across a book titled "On Writing Well" By: William Zinsser. He expressed that a writer only has 30 seconds to grasp the readers attention and even from there it is still hard to keep that attention. Now I'm sure you can imagine the smile I had on my face, feeling relieved of all the "page skipping" guilt. Finally I had found the 30 second logic and it spoke truth. I must say I'm glad William Zinsser held my attention past 30 seconds. (c) 2011 Ebony Larijani