Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 101

'Knocking loud enough and long enough to be heard'

 

“What a writer asks of his reader is not somuch to like as to listen.” -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Longfellow may bethe only poet to ever have a rock song written about him.  Neil Diamond's 1974hit "Longfellow Serenade," echoing thereverence people had for the man when he was living in the mid-19thCentury.
Born on this date in 1807, Longfellow wrote many lyric poemsnot just known for their musicality but also for presenting stories of mythologyand legend, including the renowned Song of Hiawatha and the favorite of schoolchildren almost from its first day, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.     He was the most popular American poetof his day and also had success overseas, so admired that his poems commanded huge fees and young people turned out to welcome him much like rock stars of today.   His 70th birthday took on the air of a national holiday, with parades, speeches, andthe reading of his poetry. 
Although a “rock star” at the end, thebeginning of his career started more slowly. “Overnight success” didn’t come until he’d been writing for more than 20years.  [image error]
“Perserverance is a great elementof success,” he said.  “If you only knocklong enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebodyeventually.”

Breathing life into pages from her Journals

 

“Itis the job of the novelist to touch the reader.”– Elizabeth George

 

Susan “Elizabeth” George, born in Ohio on this date in 1949, writes about “ordinary and extraordinary”days in the life of British Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley utilizing a technique called “journaling” as the foundation for her work. 

 

“I’ve always liked creating a journal.  It’s like the way I clear mythroat,” she said.  “I write a page everyday, maybe 500 words (that’s two pages double-spaced).  It could be about something I’m specificallyworried about in a new novel; it could be a question I want answered; it couldbe something that’s going on in my personal life.  I just use it as an exercise.”

 

George holds two degrees - one inteaching and one in counseling/psychology - as well as an honorary doctorate inhumane letters, presented to her after she became a worldwidecelebrity from her books about Detective Lynley. 

 

Twice named Teacher of the Year in California’s largest county,she started taking bits and pieces from her journals, including from travels toEngland, to begin her writing.   She's now published 28 books – 21 in the “Lynley” series, which also hasadapted for the BBC’s The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.

 

For George, each story itself becomes acharacter.  “If you don'tunderstand that story is character and not just idea,” she said,  “you will not be able to breathe life intoeven the most intriguing flash of inspiration.”

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A Writer's Moment: Breathing life into pages from her Journals

A Writer's Moment: Breathing life into pages from her Journals:   “It is the job of the novelist to touch the reader.” – Elizabeth George   Susan “Elizabeth” George, born in Ohio o...

A Writer's Moment: Flushing great works into the world

A Writer's Moment: Flushing great works into the world:   “One reason to write a poem is to flush from the deep thickets of the self some thought, feeling, comprehension, question, music, you d...

Flushing great works into the world

 

“Onereason to write a poem is to flush from the deep thickets of the self somethought, feeling, comprehension, question, music, you didn't know was in you,or in the world.” – Jane Hirshfield

 

Born in New York on this date in1953, Hirschfield has authored countless essays and numerous award-winning books of poetry –including 2001's Given Sugar, Given Salt; 2006's After; and 2023’s The Asking: New & Selected Poems.  Her works have been published worldwide in 15 languages.

 

For Saturday’s Poem, here is Hirshfield’s,

 

A PersonProtests to Fate

Aperson protests to fate:

"The things you have caused
me most to want
are those that furthest elude me."

Fate nods.
Fate is sympathetic.

To tie the shoes, button a shirt,
are triumphs
for only the very young,
the very old.

During the long middle:

conjugating a rivet
mastering tango
training the cat to stay off the table
preserving a single moment longer than this one
continuing to wake whatever has happened the day before

and the penmanships love practices inside the body.

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A Writer's Moment: 'You can't go wrong if it's real'

A Writer's Moment: 'You can't go wrong if it's real':   “If we judge others it is because we are judging something in ourselves of which we are unaware.” – John Camp   No...

'You can't go wrong if it's real'

 

“If we judge others it is because weare judging something in ourselves of which we are unaware.” – John Camp

 

Novelist and journalist Camp, whowrites as author John Sandford, was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on this date in1944.  I first met him in 1985 when hewas writing feature stories for the St.Paul Pioneer Press & Dispatch.   As a feature writer myself, I admired Camp’s craftsmanship and style.

 

At the time of our meeting in the Pioneer Press newsroom, Camp was writinga series about the life and struggles of a farm family in southwestern Minnesota – not far fromwhere I had lived as a child on a nearby South Dakota farm.  We had a pleasant talk and I asked him whathe might be doing next.  “I want to write books,” hesaid.  “I like newspapers, but I thinkI’ve got a book or two in me.”  That nextspring, he won the Pulitzer Prize for that farm series so I was positive hewould stay in journalism. 

 

ButCamp followed his dream and started writing thriller/suspense/crime novels abouta loner detective (Lucas Davenport) who goes against the grain to solve crimes,written with the same realism Camp put into his feature writing.   This year Camp/Sandford is releasing his 58th novel, Toxic Prey, and still going strong, althoughit’s sad the journalism world lost his gifted voice.  

 

“Writeit as you see it.   Just go outside and look at something andwrite it down and you’ll find it’s a very nice piece of writing.  You can’t go wrong if it’s real.”

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'Steadily and smoothly'

 

“Ithink I'm a writer, and it's my job. People in other professions are expectedto do their jobs all the time. Why shouldn't I?”– Richard Greenberg

Born in New York on this date in 1958, Greenbergis a playwright and television writer who has written more than three-dozenplays, including the multiple award-winning TakeMe Out and the highly acclaimed Three Days of Rain, both finalists for The Pulitzer Prize.
Greenberg studied at Princeton under Joyce Carol Oates, then in the YaleSchool of Drama’s playwriting program and said he sometimes questioned whether he was in the right field, even though he started his career with The Oppenheimer Award for  "Best New Playwright" for The Bloodletters. 
 
 “When you're writingplays, it's possible to believe you don't have any real world skill,” hesaid.  “When you're adapting, it isreally all about the mechanics, so you feel closer to, I don't know, anaccountant or someone who has a body of information. It's not all abouttemperament.”  "I want to be a playwright  the way people are bank tellers.  I want to keep doing it and have it go steadily and smoothly."
 
   

A Writer's Moment: 'Steadily and smoothly'

A Writer's Moment: 'Steadily and smoothly':   “I think I'm a writer, and it's my job. People in other professions are expected to do their jobs all the time. Why shouldn't...

A Writer's Moment: 'Finding stories in History's margins'

A Writer's Moment: 'Finding stories in History's margins':   “I always try to find a story in the margins of history, but I don't like to do too much that's improbable.” – Philip Kerr  ...