Quotability

[wispfox]

Huh. So, I don't tend to think of myself as being particularly quotable, so seeing quotes of things I've written is a really interesting experience. Kinda neat, really.

Hey, self, we're quotable! Imagine that! La!

Comments

Wow, how cool!

[unicyclesteve.livejournal.com]

that is so awesome... your worthy of it I must say. there have been a few times I thought about asking you to do something similar.... maybe ...... (BTW I don't borrow without permission first, its actually only happens a few times over the years from a select few sites in the distant past.)

Re: Quotability

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure why you would be surprised. What you're saying is both important and well-stated. It evidently hits synchronous points with other people.

Re: Quotability

[dglenn.livejournal.com]

I guess at this point it goes without saying that I find you quotable, but I wanted to amplify wolfieboy's comment.

My initial reaction to this entry was, "Huh? How could that be a surprise?" but then I thought about my own reactions to recognition and I guess I've got the same blind spot occasionally. The thing is, it comes down to exactly what he said: you said something well, about something important (whether it's important in global terms or an important part of private experience common to artists, it's still important), and happened to do so saying something that resonated with me and that I felt would resonate with others. What you wrote was important enough to you to take the trouble to try to figure out how to write it, so either you didn't realize how well you'd succeeded, or the thought that it might be as important to others didn't cross your mind, I guess.

It's that third part that's hardest to recognize in your own work even when you think to look for it, by the way. Resonance.

I also quote merely clever turns of phrase, of course, but when I've quoted you it's been because you wrote something that made me stop my quick reading and go "Huh! I want to read that again. I want to make sure others see and understand this."

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

either you didn't realize how well you'd succeeded, or the thought that it might be as important to others didn't cross your mind

How about both? Embrace the power of 'and'? :)

Things that are deeply important to me, I rarely feel like I've managed to successfully communicate. Partly, I'm sure, due to the fact that words simply cannot communicate the non-verbal things in my head as well as I would like, and partly because it's been too frequent that people have not understood what I was trying to say.

I also tend to have trouble knowing what it is that I struggle with might be common to many other people. So it comes as a surprise.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Because... I can feel what it is that I *want* to be saying, and never feel like words can do it justice.

... it's too easy for me to get distracted by other things while trying to get things down, so it's difficult for me to tell if I actually said what I wanted to say.

I'm sure there are other reasons.

[dglenn.livejournal.com]

Something missing from my previous comment: I just reread each of the three quotes, and sure enough, all three were, "damn, I wish I had said that" quotes.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

*smiles* Indeed. Something I am unlikely to notice in the things I have said. I don't have enough distance, I think.