Today as we passed houses I thought about how they might have looked long ago before they were subdivided into multi-family units or expanded into condominiums. I bemoaned the current trend of builders to squeeze as many units as possible into a lot obliterating any hint of greenery.
A few blocks up the hill from our street is Highwood Avenue. A block down the hill is a large rectangular stone column inscribed "Highwood." A while ago I decided that Highwood Heights will be the name of one of my novels.
Titles are one of the hardest things for me to write; I consider it a good omen to have a title before I have any semblance of a story. In the context of my real neighborhood, I imagine Highwood Heights as the original enclave of the well-to-do doctors who worked in the new hospital. What kind of wood? A former neighbor once told me that the only remaining Chinese chestnut trees in Norwalk are located on the hospital grounds. Perhaps the neighborhood changed as the elite moved to a new area. I haven't figured that out yet--my best bet is to create a new neighborhood on the water.
Could this be my next nanowrimo?
No comments:
Post a Comment