I doubt anyone will ever read this. And yet, still, I write.

My friend tells me I'm wasting my time, that this is an archaic craft: useless. Why take eons to assemble my own words when the algorithm can generate something vastly superior in the blink of an eye?

Humanity praises the algorithm for freeing our time of futile endeavours. We no longer wait for stories that take a lifetime to craft. There are no paintings that take hours to compose or films that take thousands of people and millions of dollars to produce. Many suppose, why waste the time and resources?

But I've been asking what we've done with this time we made. They say automation rids us of menial tasks so we have more time for what matters. But what matters anymore? We only consume the same content the algorithm endlessly rewrites, earning money for the sponsors and advertisers as our minds waste away.

Yesterday, I turned off all my devices for a few moments. I let myself think, staring at the artful and magnificent plastered ceiling. Why could a simple roof produce more meaning in my life than the same artificially generated content I always watch? I lay alone, attention wandering without any stimuli to anchor me. For the first time since childhood, I had an idea: a truly inspired wave of motivation. I wanted to write something with no chatbots to filter my thoughts through.

So here I sit, pen to the ancient page, trying to create. I reread the words I've written so far again and again, but they never feel right. It's hard to rid myself of the motivation to write to entertain others. Yet, despite my reservations, I know there must have been people like me who were afraid to create. Some were artists who hid their masterpieces from the world. So if creating culminated in the sole purpose of others' entertainment, those creators wouldn't exist

Maybe that's why I'm trying this. I suspect that the point of art is to feed something greater than people's attention spans. Maybe there's more to creating than the creation. Maybe it's enough to write for the simple sake of it.

So I suppose I'll find out, whether people read this or not.

CBC Books asked students to give us a glimpse of the great Canadian novel of the year 2174. They wrote the first page of a book set 150 years in the future, with the protagonist facing an issue that's topical today and set the scene for how it's all playing out in a century and a half.

Two winning entries — one from the Grades 7 to 9 category and one from the Grades 10 to 12 category — will be chosen by middle-grade author Basil Sylvester.

They are the co-author of the middle-grade novel The Fabulous Zed Watson and the recently published second book in the series, Night of the Living Zed.

Both winners will receive a one-year subscription to OwlCrate, which sends fresh boxes of books to young readers across Canada on a monthly basis. In addition, each winners' school libraries will receive 50 free YA books.

Last year's winners were Christian A. Yiouroukis for his story Where the Maple Leaf Grows and Bee Lang for their story One Question.

The winner will be announced on CBC Books on June 12, 2024.