Participating in NaNoWriMo? Pasha Malla says embrace the desperation
November is National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo. The annual event, which started in 1999, challenges people to write a novel that is 50,000 words in length in 30 days.
When answering Vincent Lam's question for his Magic 8 Q&A, Pasha Malla had these wise words:
"I only trust the low points. The low points push you forward. The high points are illusions and fantasies to be mistrusted and 'got out of' by pushing deeper until you feel low again. That's where the good stuff happens, I think: in that dark, bleak trough of self-doubt and fear."
Pasha Malla was born in St. John's, N.L., grew up in London, Ont., and now lives in Toronto. Pasha Malla's debut short story collection, The Withdrawal Method, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and his first novel, People Park, was a finalist for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award. His latest, the novel Fugue States, follows two men on a journey from Canada to Kashmir.