[Insider 63] Cities and Illusions
a chapter from my next book, and plans to find a publisher.
Dear Insider,
NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. The official challenge is to write 2000 words a day for 30 days, towards the goal of completing a novel. But thousands of writers around the world participate every year with their own goals in mind.
In this week’s Insider Post, I share a passage from my next book, explain my NaNoWriMo challenge, and share the plans to make this amorphous book a reality.
Related: Earlier this year I did a 30-day drawing challenge in Vancouver. I also spoke with Marc Taro Holmes about ways, means, and reasons to do a daily art challenge in Ep 47 of the SneakyArt Podcast.
✍🏼 NaNoWriMo
I am writing a book, but it is not going to be a novel. It needs some words, not many. The words are merely illustrations. The book is in the drawings. Do you know what I mean?
Every morning of November, I write a new chapter over coffee. There is no word-count goal. I am not editing. The exercise is this - to start from inside a fog and find my way out. To stop once I have found something real. To get into the habit of finding something real every day with words.
Dear Insider, have you tried NaNoWriMo before? I would love to hear your experience.
🌆 Cities and Illusions
In the middle of the city, there is an Eden to make you forget that you are in a city.
What need do cities have for such illusions?
A few steps in, the roar of vehicles reduces to a buzzing. You walk down soft, worn paths, leaving behind civilization and other people. You are surrounded by trees. There are bees in the air. And strange birdcalls. The ground is strewn with leaves and pine seeds. Sunlight pokes through infinite, shifting filters of leaves and branches to touch upon grass still wet with morning dew. You may imagine that you have come upon an untouched world.
It is a nice illusion while it lasts…