6/3/2025 - Newsletter 1
Dear Reader,
The purpose of this letter, like others going forward, is to report updates about Nicholas the Poodle Books and share stories with loved ones. I will also reflect on ideas I toy with as time goes on and I get older. These letters will soon amount to international correspondence (more on that later).
The plan is to share a letter every two weeks.
For Newsletter 1, I’d like to draw attention to my upcoming art exhibition and book release called ’Ment, which is short for “apartment” but also a use of the suffix which means “The action or process of doing something.” ’Ment will be on display from June 11th to June 22nd at the Jean McDonough Arts Center at 20 Franklin Street in Worcester. In particular, I invite you to attend the opening reception and lecture at 6:30PM. The eleventh is a Wednesday.
As ’Ment is both an art exhibition and book release, this occasion will mark the formal release of my fifth book, 2023. In its entirety, 2023 has taken me two and a half years to write. That is not a long time in comparison to other books, but the concept of 2023 is relevant to recording time. As a product, the book tiptoes on the line between an everyday book and the way an artist sees much in their own work and process that may seem irrelevant. What’s important is how the artist’s life is enriched by the product; if it gives them a quality of confidence, people are interested in that confidence and the explanation second, though the intellect likes the explanation.
2023 being a compilation of 365 articles is confident in its transparency about life. The articles contain many genres as sometimes what is felt is best expressed in fiction. While meaning to write a book, it’s possible to consider, reconsider, then plan and reconsider again, while 2023 is an organic effort measured by writing every single day in a new year; I truly felt I was writing an illustration of eternal happenings, and the reason why the articles range from abstract stories to essays and memoirs is that an author who feels this kind of divine inspiration plays a role; they put words to the matter but cannot be all the matter.
In our time, I think there is a metaphysical revolution involving communication technologies and the cosmopolitan nature of American cities that has yet to be formalized with a definitive text; though we live in it; simultaneously, I wrote while my neighbors lived, and I found a place for the basic research I do, reading, as I wrote with a vocabulary that allowed me to name phenomena. Reading helps one to identify, and if one is good at identifying they then have good judgement, perhaps.
Of course, I could write forever, but timing is everything. For an example of the metaphysics I mean, click here for a good essay, a long one.
Going forward, I am aiming at simplicity and young adult / children’s books, and updates about life should be in a journalistic style.
The publication of 2023 marks an important point for my body of work. Hope to see you June 11th, at some point between 5PM - 8PM, at the Jean McDonough Arts Center at 20 Franklin Street. The lecture at 6:30PM will convey the content of a different essay in 2023 called “November Essay on Ringlish.” The artworks on display were made while drafting and should help us all feel cool.
Best,
Nick