The Page Turner

by Viola Shipman

It’s just sad that the world loves to destroy the unique when it’s the only thing we have going that makes it so special.”

“Tangible time stamps,” she called them, “to remind you of moments in your life when memories ultimately become cobwebs.”

Family is often defined by many of us as some ethereal power, God if you will, a sort of otherworldly super-being that has control over our lives no matter how much time has passed. But which God is it? The one who loves us unconditionally and protects us from the world, or the one who seeks revenge?

Whether or not it ever grows to see the light depends on how deep you bury it.

I think most people believe that creating art is either madness or salvation. One or the other. They’re wrong. Art is both. And on the best days—for both authors and readers—art is salvation from the madness.

“Old money doesn’t make a sound,” GiGi used to tell me. “New money screams.”

Publishing has changed greatly over the years, just not the judgment placed on what women generally prefer to read and write.

“Every book is important to someone,”

Ironic how our memories become so selective when we believe our tastes have become so discerning.

“What do you write?” I wink at his effort. “I write happy endings,” I say. “But you don’t seem happy,” he says. I smile. “That’s why I write.”

*Chef's kiss* just exquisite

“The book, Emma. The book is always better.”

I mean...he might be an asshole but he's not wrong!

I’m all history. I am who I am because of all those who came before me, of all that happened to get me to this place, right here, right now.

Whatever happened to owning our own stories? We’re now social media snippets and pretty pictures on Instagram that never tell the true tale.

“You have to be in control of your story,” she used to tell me. “No one else can write your happy ending.”

We’re taught to hide our dreams, polish the edges off our uniqueness until our square peg becomes round. We’re told to fit in, be like everyone else, but that just robs the world of our power. You must love yourself unconditionally and completely or you cannot truly love another in the same way. You will not ever be able to become who you were meant to be. But when you do, when you take your own hand in life, you can change the world.

“The greatest romance you will ever experience is a love of self, and the greatest love story takes place right here.”

What is time? What is its value? It must hold more for someone at eighty than it does at twenty-two?

But now it’s hard not to wonder if my perfect parents’ publishing house is really just a house of cards right now, and one strong gust is going to crush the King and Queen of Diamonds.

Great image

The magic of an author is to pick the right words at the right time.

The beauty of a book is not to hide from the world but rather our second chance to make it right. We can reimagine and reinvent, see the world in an entirely new way simply by turning a page.”