Finding the groove

Cercis canadensis and Rudbeckia in Edwards Gardens, Toronto


Assigning myself to work on the novel every day was the best thing I could have done. Yesterday I read several chapters from the old manuscript, started writing the backstory, then researched ideas on Wikipedia. Obsession kicked in. One concept led me to another: cyberspace, transhumanism, the noosphere, cyberpunk, William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Philip K. Dick. I even bumped into palaeontologist and mystic theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, whose ideas inspired For the Time Being (1999) by Annie Dillard, one of my favourite writers.

After my two-hour commitment, I went to the library and signed out two books by Gibson, one by Stephenson. Gibson's Neuromancer was the original cyberpunk novel. While Tendril's story will not fit the genre precisely, I need to explore it. "Gibson's near-total ignorance of computers and the present-day hacker culture"¹ did not prevent him from creating such an influential work of fiction. That's reassuring.

Outside the library at 7 pm, the big church on the hill stood pastel gold like a palace of the sun against evening blue and the rising moon. The world was beautiful, and my mission had begun its enchantment, overcoming me with enthusiasm. I have found the energy I need.