Search the Meaning of Silence

Postcard NL-1761372 from the Netherlands was a promotional postcard "Zoek de Stilte" for the book the Yogi's Clothes and Other Stories about Silence, an inspiring collection that contains 32 stories on the theme of silence from all over the world, collected and retold by Wim van der Zwan. The title story, of Indian origin, is about a poor yogi who meditates in silence all day. With a begging bowl and a loincloth accounting for all his possessions, his desire for a second piece of clothes leads to an untenable situation that involves a cat, a cow, a wife and a child.

Once again, Camp NaNoWriMo opens on April 1, 2015, kicking off a month-long writing event in a form of virtual camps. Coincidentally, April is also known as National Card and Letter Writing Month, an annual effort to promote literacy and celebrate the art of letter and postcard writing. To commemorate the occasion, USPS issued a colorful Forever stamps panel "From Me To You" with decorative stickers first time ever for personalizing envelopes, letters and greeting cards.

Camp NaNoWriMo Starts Today

Postcard PL-766352 from Poland shows a stack of books. Many aspiring and experienced writers are familiar with National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), if have not actually participated one themselves. Organized every year in November, the 30-day-deadline-imposed event attracted more than 500,000 authors in 2014 and had produced a number of best selling books both traditionally and self-published.

To accommodate the participants' requests of flexibility in timing and the word counts, Camp NaNoWriMo, offered in April and July, is a month-long virtual writer’s retreat with a camping theme. Writers can choose to join a virtual cabin that consists of 11 other cabin mates from around the world. Unlike the typical high pressured NaNoWriMo, camp participants can write other type of projects, including poetry, screenplays, short stories, in addition to novels. Rather than the NaNoWriMo's mandatory 50,000 word counts, camp writers can also set their own targets.

National Novel Writing Month

The Dream Merchant by Isabel Hoving

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is an annual novel writing project that, running its 15th year from November 1 to November 30, 2013, brings together professional and amateur writers from all over the world.

If you are not writing a book this month, please at least try to read one. Postcard NL-2096226 from the Netherlands shows an illustration for the book "De gevleugelde kat" by Isabel Hoving. The book is the winner of the Netherlands’ most prestigious children’s book award. Its English version "The Dream Merchant" was translated by Hester Velmans and published by Candlewick Press, Cambridge, MA in 2005. You can find a copy from Amazon.