Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 10

'The most lovely thing of all'

 

“I used to feel defensive whenpeople would say, 'Yes, but your books have happy endings', as if that madethem worthless, or unrealistic. Some people do get happy endings, even if it'sonly for a while. I would rather never be published again than write a downbeatending.” – Marian Keyes

  

Born in Limerick, Ireland on Sept.10, 1963 Keyes is winner of The Irish Book Awards for several of her works, both novels and non-fiction. And, she is an award-winning BBC radio personality on Now You'reAsking, co-hosted with Tara Flynn.   

Hernovels have sold over 35 million copies and been translated into 33 languages.  Among the best known are Watermelon, LucySullivan Is Getting Married and This Charming Man, while hermost recent are Again, Rachel and 2024’s My Favourite Mistake.

 

Keyes started as a short story writer and while suffering from alcoholism.  After successful treatment for the disease, she wrote her award-winning novel Watermelon.   She alsohas written frankly about clinical depression, which left her unable to sleep,read, write, or talk.  After a long hiatus due to severe depression,she wrote another bestseller Saved by Cake based on the experience. 

                                                      

“Writing about feeling disconnectedhas enabled me to connect,” she said, “and that has been the most lovely thingof all.”

A Writer's Moment: 'The most lovely thing of all'

A Writer's Moment: 'The most lovely thing of all':   “I used to feel defensive when people would say, 'Yes, but your books have happy endings', as if that made them worthless, or unre...

Mining 'the creative flow'

 

“People have talents that aredifferent. Where does the creative flow come from - inside us or from a higherpower? I don't ask any questions. I just write it down.” –Phyllis A. Whitney
 

Born in Japan on Sept. 9, 1903Whitney was one of America’s best-known writers of (as she coinedit) “Romantic Novels of Suspense.”  And she wrote them for 80years – almost right up until her death at age 104.  “I always wantto live long enough to finish the book I'm working on and see it published,”she said, explaining her longevity.  “But then I start another bookbefore the previous one is in the stores, so I always have a reason to go on.”

 

She wrote nearly 100 novels for boththe juvenile and adult markets – many in exotic locales – winninglegions of fans and writing accolades in the process.  Her book The Mystery of the Haunted Pool won an Edgar Award fromthe Mystery Writers of America for Best Juvenile novel, and she duplicated thehonor for The Mystery of the Hidden Hand.   In1988, the MWA gave her a Grand Master Award for lifetimeachievement.   She kept up those achievements another dozen yearsbefore her health finally slowed her down.      

 

Whitney credited her longevity to “an optimisticoutlook, both personally and as a writer.  I offer optimism.  All my books have happy endings. I don't seeany point in letting my readers down at the end. I'm an optimist - and I want people to feelthat in my books.”

A Writer's Moment: Mining 'the creative flow'

A Writer's Moment: Mining 'the creative flow':   “People have talents that are different. Where does the creative flow come from - inside us or from a higher power? I don't ask any qu...

A Writer's Moment: 'Atmosphere, Imagery and Adventure'

A Writer's Moment: 'Atmosphere, Imagery and Adventure':   “I think almost always that what gets me going with a story is the atmosphere, the visual imagery, and then I people it with characters, n...

'Atmosphere, Imagery and Adventure'

 

“I think almost always that whatgets me going with a story is the atmosphere, the visual imagery, and then Ipeople it with characters, not the other way around.” – AnnBeattie

 

Born in Washington, DC on this datein 1947, Beattie is a short story writer and novelist noted for her dry,matter-of-fact irony – particularly in writing about the members of the BabyBoom generation.  Distortions, her first collection of shortstories (she’s now authored 12 collections), won her several awards for excellence,as did her novel Chilly Scenes of Winter, also was made into a well-receivedfilm called “Head Over Heels.”

 

Beattie’s most recent book of shortstories, Onlookers: Stories was published in 2023, the same yearher nonfiction book More to Say: Essays and Appreciations was released.  The author of numerous essays, her papersare housed at the Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia, whereshe served as Chair of the English and Creative Writing Department for manyyears. 

 

“I don't write about things that Ihave the answers to or things that are very close to home,” she said.  “It just wouldn't be an adventure. Itwouldn't have any vitality.”

'In the silent garden'

 

“Be still when you have nothing tosay; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say and say ithot.” – D. H. Lawrence

 

David Herbert Lawrence, novelist,short-story writer, poet, and essayist, was born in England in September 1885.Though better known as a novelist, Lawrence's first-published works (in 1909)were poems, and his poetry, especially his evocations of the natural world,have since had a significant influence on many poets on both sides of theAtlantic.   For Saturday’s Poem, here is Lawrence’s,

                              Trees in the Garden     

                             Ah in the thunder air

                              the treesare! 

 

                              And thelime-tree, lovely and tall, every leaf

                              silent

                              hardlylooses even a last breath of perfume. 

 

                              And the ghostly,creamy coloured little tree of

                             leaves

                             white, ivorywhite among the rambling greens

                              evanescent,variegated elder, she hesitates

                              on the greengrass

                              as if, inanother moment, she would disappear

                              with all hergrace of foam! 

 

                              And the larchthat is only a column, it goes up

                              too tall to see:

                              and thebalsam-pines that are blue with the grey-

                              blue bluenessof     

                                          things from the sea,

                              and the youngcopper beech, its leaves red-rosy

                              at the ends

                              how still theyare together, they stand so still

                              in the thunderair, all strangers to one another

                              as the greengrass glows upwards, strangers in

                              the silentgarden.

A Writer's Moment: 'In the silent garden'

A Writer's Moment: 'In the silent garden':   “Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say and say it hot.”  – D. H. Lawrence   ...

'A book that writes itself'

 

“Our life is a book that writesitself and whose principal themes sometimes escape us. We are like charactersin a novel who do not always understand what the author wants of them.” –Julien Green

 

Green was born on Sept. 6, 1900 toAmerican parents living in France.  After spending time in America inhis late teens, he returned to France and in 1922 – after a false start asa painter – began a nearly 80-year career - mostly living in France - as a writer.

 

By 1927 he had established himselfin the world of French literature and probably would have remained there forthe rest of his long life (he died in 1998) except for the outbreak of WorldWar II.  Returning to the U.S., he joined the United States Office of WarInformation, becoming the “French” voice for Voice of America, crucial inkeeping up the French Resistance and ultimately leading to Germany’sdefeat. 

 

While he wrote numerous essays onfaith and religion, he is most noted for his 19-volumediary.  Spanning 80 years, the diary provided the world with a uniquewindow on the artistic and literary scene in Paris.  The popularityof his diary was, he said, based on his free form and spontaneous writingstyle, folksy and highly readable.

 

“The secret is to write justanything, to dare to write just anything,” he said, “because when youwrite just anything, you begin to say what is important.”

A Writer's Moment: 'A book that writes itself'

A Writer's Moment: 'A book that writes itself':   “Our life is a book that writes itself and whose principal themes sometimes escape us. We are like characters in a novel who do not always...