Immersion.

The picture above is from a queer pride parade in Thrissur, Keralam, India. One of my major characters is a transsexual hijra, so I had to research the scene, so to speak.

I’m deep into the novel-world now. I’ve commenced immersion.

I don’t know if it was the break or the advice from agents or what, but I’m so deep in it, and it’s flowing so beautifully, and it feels so good. When I’m not writing, I miss it. When I’m away, I think about it, like a lover.

Immersion means I listen to the music my characters hear, read only pertinent literature (see below), take virtual tours of the places they go, and so on. Sometimes it’s disconcerting to come back to the real world.

Speaking of which, I have to dive back in to #5. Joseph Campbell is like Annie Dillard. Half the time I have no idea what he’s saying, but he says it so prettily.

~

Reading Schedule, 8/8-11/6:

1. 8/8: Articles (Various)

2. 8/9-8/14: 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (284p remaining, 6 days)

3. 8/15-8/16: Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku (200p remaining, 2 days)

4. 8/17-8/18: Writing the Other by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward (122p, 1 day)

5. 8/19-8/23: The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell (250p, 5 days)

6. 8/24-8/28: Wild: From Lost to Found by Cheryl Strayed (338p, 4 days)

7. 8/29-9/3: India Calling: An Intimate Portrait by Anand Giridharadas (288p, 6 days)

8. 9/4-9/12: The Wave: In Pursuit of Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean by Susan Casey (434p, 9 days)

9. 9/13-9/18: A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul (290p, 6 days)

10. 9/19-9/19: Hinduism in a Nutshell by Swami Bhaskarananda (19p, 1 day)

11. 9/20-9/29: The Elephant, the Tiger, and the Cell Phone by Shashi Tharoor (498p, 10 days)  

12. 9/30-10/4: The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization’s Northern Future by Laurence E. Smith (236p remaining, 5 days) 

13. 10/5-10/11: Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy by Michael T. Klare (345p, 7 days)

14. 10/12-10/20: India Unbound by Gurcharan Das (430p, 9 days)

15. 10/21-10/26: To Follow the Water by Dallas Murphy (296p, 6 days)

16. 10/27-10/31: Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea by Steven Callahan (256p, 5 days)

17. 11/1-11/6: Rowboat in a Hurricane by Julie Angus (272p, 6 days)