iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ 20,000 Days Into Me ~ |
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If I started this chronicle "If you piled up all the books that have been written about the Paris metro, you could probably reach to the moon and back; or the centre of the earth, at the very least..." you'd be fair in criticising my vapid clichés and hackneyed prose. And yet this phenomenon, this other-worldly labyrinth exists right below our feet and continues to intrigue us little sewer rats in our thousands.
Sometimes I wonder if I have a book in me - they say everyone has, you know, but I'm not sure. I think it takes a certain type of person to harness such discipline. And then to have something worth writing about, no small feat in itself!
Perhaps those I admire most are those who wrote timeless epics and sagas without the help of fancy word processors or on-line dictionaries or even anyone comparable to compare their work to. The likes of Dickens or Zola or Jules Verne. Now there are some masters worthy of admiration I'd say.
A book on the metro; should I even contemplate writing one or just be satisfied with someone else's as I ride the rails through Paris' subterranean reflection?
'A Journey To The Centre Of The Subway'? Nahh. 'Around The Network In Eighty Hours'? Hmm. 'Twenty Thousand Steps Under The City'? I dunno. They all sound so familiar somehow...
If I ended this chronicle telling you that I'm not quite 20,000 days into me yet, would you sneer at my vanity and pity my pride? Or simply smile at my youthful ingenuousness and hold back a tear?
STOP PRESS: "My Voyage 20,000 Layers Under My Skin At Maximum Warp Speed Around The Centre Of My Restless Mind" by Sab Will ~ Publication date: On-going.
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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.
7 comments:
A grand idea; a photobook of all the metro stations in Paris would make for an interesting picture book. minimal writing needed.
Where is this metro stop or are we aboard the Nautilus?
I agree with Rob about a complete picture book... I have yet to see one that would show you the interior, the exterior (some are quite unusual), interesting facts about each... I have recently bought a book that is the detailed history of the Métro but light on the photos.
Rob, BTW, I believe that is Arts et Métiers Métro station.
Genie
Yes Genie, you're right about the station - the most amazing interior in Paris probably, but I'd love to see some more kitted out like this!
Sab: My book, 1000 Steps, An EsL Teaching Adventure in Taiwan, was taking right off my blog (with some self-editing, and elimination of exclamation points. My newest, "Angels in Forever" was a hand-written journal for many years, and then, this past two, on my computer. Even my novel, Code of the Running Cross has a "bits and pieces" approach; didn't think I could cope with a novel-length book, so wrote it in short scenes like a film script; even has a cast of characters (with 52 characters - THAT became a necessity).
So...YOU can just transfer all your mumblings and grumblings, discoveries and wonderment to your word-processor, and voila! a book! (Photos included!) Check out the on-line publishing I use, re "photo-books." www.lulu.com (smile icon here)...claudia
Hi Claudia! You know, in me is this book, but as you'll see if you read my new book review on 'Parisians - An Adventure History of Paris' which I'm going to publish on 'Paris If You Please' in a minute, there are lots of doubts in my mind about it.
I'd love to produce something worth of even being 'published', but I don't want to cover just the same old things. And then the question of 'being published' has become very fuzzy - am I not 'being published' right now when I hit the 'send' button? And yet it's not quite the same..! Thanks for your support and ideas :-D
Actually, there's nothing new about this. Everything has been done before. You have to be completely dilusional and totally vain to want your picture plastered all over the internet with comments like ones you make. What makes you think you're so special? Just get on with producing your book and prove it. Blablabla...
Oh happy day - I've got a hater! Not one that's brave enough to leave their name and a link to what they produce of course. Shame. Nice to have stimulated a reaction anyway, one of my main aims.
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