New Landscapes

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. (Proust)

A friend of mine is reading "How Proust Can Change Your Life," and he posted the above quote with a comment about how he needs to remember this since he tends to crave new landscapes. And so it is with me. When I'm traveling, a steady stream of words flows from my head to my hand, but finding inspiration in the quotidian, that is a challenge.

In What I Talk About... (previously mentioned here), Murakami writes about the characteristics one needs to become a novelist. The most basic requirement is a certain amount of native talent. After that, one should possess a strong power of concentration, and the discipline to sit down at a desk for hours at a time to write. Fortunately, the latter can be developed. (I need to work on that.)

Two weeks ago, I pledged to blog daily for the month of November. Now it turns out that I will not be able to fulfill that commitment. Tomorrow afternoon I'm flying to Istanbul (not Constantinople), Turkey. If all goes well, I will soon regale you with curious tales of new landscapes.