This is my first post on this blog… I’m a novelist in training, and I want to use this website as a tool to communicate the progress of my work.
Since 2016, I have been exploring literature in books, taking classes, and learning about renowned works. I track my thoughts in a diary and have participated in writing workshops. I study humanities and social sciences and continue to learn foreign languages.
From autumn 2021 to spring 2022, I have built this website; I will gradually add content to it. It will be available in English, French, Dutch, and German, because I feel divided between these four cultures.
For the past two years, I have attended the London Book Fair, where I have discovered, alongside events for readers, also meetings for authors. I have attended training courses on copyright, business development, computer-assisted translation, and self-publishing. Until now, I couldn’t learn about the craft of writing, but only about the art of writing. I used to think of novelists as artists and intellectuals, but since I’ve been in London, I’ve also seen them as entrepreneurs. I want to achieve a balance between aesthetics and meaning, through sentences enjoyable to read. At the special event for writers, a speaker reminded us that the most important thing when constructing a novel is to identify the next step to take. In my case, that is to publish some texts on this site.
I have also experimented with several working environments, including coworking. I didn’t go to these places because I sought all that is exotic, but because of the quietness there. But as the children grow up, the house becomes quiet again. I’ve also realized that it’s easier to create out of sight.
I’m building my literary career against a restrictive physical disability (namely visual impairment), with the joint upbringing of three children, and a relatively tight financial situation. When you can’t see, writing is hard. The only way to do this is to have your text read by a computer voice and Braille. Since 2016, I have been acquiring the skills necessary to practice as a writer. These include the use of word processing, the ability to locate an excerpt in a novel, or the ability to materialize a thought or reorganize hundreds of them. This isn’t easy for a visually impaired person. I had to learn to use Microsoft Word exclusively with a computer narrator (without visual feedback), to learn Braille to detect mistakes that the voice doesn’t indicate, or to master the transition between two languages when consulting orally a translation dictionary. My family’s financial situation sometimes makes it impossible for us to delegate to other people tasks and work related to the house. But luckily, I can get some benefit from working with my hands (only the one that my eyes allow me) … These small jobs keep me connected to the surface of the Earth, being naturally drawn to reflection. I care about raising my children myself, because I’m fatherless, and because as a child I was often alone at home. But unexpectedly, during these detours that shorten my day, my mind remains in constant activity, busy digesting and improving my thoughts and writing projects.
I know that writing stories is alike playing a musical instrument: you have to work at it for years to achieve something beautiful. Since 2016, I have prioritized learning about the art of writing, rather than practising it. Despite this, I’m confident of my ability to produce a good novel. It’s true that I lack practice and that there is still much to do to identify the literary forms best suited to the themes I love.
I chose to become a writer because life confronted me with truths that I want to reveal. I have made literature my profession, also because doing anything else is almost impossible. Being visually impaired, my mobility is very limited, and I find it difficult to collaborate with others. My disability also excludes me from education. Fortunately, I sensed that textual contents held the promise of being accessible to the visually impaired. And I chose to step into the breach…