draft opening lines of my current book project
Lake: Nature and Culture
Contents Page
Dedication
Introduction: ways of thinking about lakes
Short definitions of lakes can be straightforward. Most dictionaries say something like: “A body of water surrounded by land.” But such simplicity and certainty are misleading. Lakes are hard to pin down, and live up to their reputation for having hidden depths. Their meaning in the literary language of landscape is ambiguous, their ecology and geography are complex, and the resources they provide are matched by the threats they pose. Consider Chalchiuhtlicue, the Aztec goddess of lakes. She symbolised the purity of the lake water used for irrigation, and she filled the canals with water for growing maize, but children were sacrificed to her each year by drowning in Lake Texcoco, to bring on the rainy season. The tears of the children were considered a good omen for the rains. Lakes, and their gods, are not straightforward.
My wife keeps telling me she doesn't think I'll ever finish my current book-writing project. I used to think it was reverse psychology on her part to help me get moving, but she's said it so often now that I think she really believes it. #amwriting #notwriting #WriterSky #Writing #writingcommunity