Breanna Martin   
     One the second day of Lit Fest 2013 I found myself completely engaged in the lecture given by Robert Olen Butler, one of many great authors in attendance. Many things he spoke about sent gears turning in my head. From "Literature is not meant to be understood," to "Finding your thrum". His words made me see how people fail to feel because the "unknown is scary", and how writers potentially kill their minds by over thinking instead of feeling.  Knowing literature doesn't mean you understand how it works and what it means, knowing literature means feeling it with every sense.

     For example the word sunlight by literal definition means light emitted by the Sun. You understand the definition and you know what it means, however to use your senses you know that sunlight brings warmth to your body and brightens the day. You feel the word instead of understand it. Words written are simply words written when you understand there literal meaning. When words written are felt they become a story.

     "Thrum is what happens when you strum a guitar." This is how Bulter described what you need to become a true writer. For people that understand the word thrum they know what happens when the guitar is strummed. When a guitar is strummed and you feel the vibration and you hear the note and hear the story behind it, that is when you become the artist. Not when you learn how to play the guitar but when you allow the guitar to speak through you.

     His words and beliefs will stay with me. I was truly inspired by his lecture. I cannot wait to read his books.