Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 111

'Being transported to another universe'

 

“Beinga novelist is the adult version of a kid creating a make-believe world. Butunlike a child, a writer of fiction has to come up with a structured story, onethat has as much meaning for others as it has for her.”– Susan Isaacs

Born in Brooklyn, NY, in December of1943, Isaacs grew up in New York City and started as a freelance politicalspeechwriter and editor for Seventeen.  In her mid-30s she decided to try her hand atfiction. Good idea. Her first novel, Compromising Positions, was a Bookof the Month Club main selection, a NewYork Times bestseller, and launched her long, successful creative writingcareer.

 

She’s now authored 17 bestselling books,the latest being this year’s Bad, BadSeymour Brown in her Corie Geller series. She’s also written numerous essays, screenplays, and a work of culturalcriticism, Brave Dames and Wimpettes: What Women are Really Doing on Pageand Screen.   In addition to books and screenplays, Isaacs oftendoes reviews for The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, TheWashington Post, and Newsday.

 

“There are days where I lose trackof time, of place, of everything else,” she said about being a writer.  “I've been transported to another universe.”

 

 

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A Writer's Moment: 'Being transported to another universe'

A Writer's Moment: 'Being transported to another universe':   “Being a novelist is the adult version of a kid creating a make-believe world. But unlike a child, a writer of fiction ...

'Slow down and consider things'

 

“Theprivilege of being a writer is that you have this opportunity to slow down andto consider things.”—Chris Abani 

 

Born in Nigeria on this date in1966, Abani is the award-winning author of half-dozen novels; numerous novellas,short stories and plays; and 8 books of poetry. He started writing young and was so good at skewering those in powerthat he was imprisoned 3 times by the Nigerian government.  The first time came after his first novel– Masters of the Board – came out at age19, when he was accused of attempting to overthrow the government.  

 

His second novel, Sirocco, published shortly after hisrelease, got him right back in jail where he continued writing and afterrelease the second time he produced a number of anti-government plays that wereconsidered so inflammatory they got him back in prison, this time sentenced todeath.  But he escaped to England wherehe continued his education and writing after being awarded a PEN/BarbaraGoldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the literary world’s response to thoseinjustices. 

 

Since emigrating to the U.S. andeventually earning dual citizenship, he has won some three dozen major awardsincluding a Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction, the Hemingway Foundation/PENAward, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, and a California Book Award.  His 2015 novel, The Secret History of Las Vegas, won the Edgar Allen Poe Award forBest Paperback Original.

 

An avid supporter of the World WideWeb as a writing and publishing resource, he noted, “Like most writers, I findthe Web is a wonderful distraction.   Whodoesn't need that last minute research before writing?”

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A Writer's Moment: 'Slow down and consider things'

A Writer's Moment: 'Slow down and consider things':   “The privilege of being a writer is that you have this opportunity to slow down and to consider things.” —Chris Abani  ...

'Joy should dominate a writer's life'

 

“As a writer, I need an enormousamount of time alone. Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines,eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials. It's a matter of doingeverything you can to avoid writing, until it is about four in the morning andyou reach the point where you have to write. Having anybody watching that orattempting to share it with me would be grisly.”– Paul Rudnick   Born in New Jersey on Dec. 29, 1957 Rudnick is an American playwright, novelist, screenwriter andessayist.  First catapulted to fame forhis work Addams Family Values, hisplays have been produced both on an off Broadway and around the world.   “Line by line, Mr. Rudnick may be the funniest writer for the stage in the UnitedStates today,” noted one New York Times reviewer.

An award-winner fornumerous stage and screen works, his humorous essays appear regularly in The New Yorker.         He's also authored half-dozen novels, the most recent being Playing The Palace and Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style.

Rudnick says joyshould be part of every writer’s life.  “Thereis only one blasphemy,” he said, “and that is the refusal to experience joy.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Joy should dominate a writer's life'

A Writer's Moment: 'Joy should dominate a writer's life':   “As a writer, I need an enormous amount of time alone. Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the...

'Your eyes know tomorrow'

“Allthings by immortal power. near or far, to each other linked are, that thoucanst not stir a flower, without the troubling of a star.”– Francis Thompson

Born in England in December of 1859,Thompson wrote three books of poetry, and a number of short stories and essays,including an award-winning one on the poet Percy Bysche Shelley.   Perhaps best known for writing phrases that became the theme for other writingsor actions, his term “With alldeliberate speed,” was used in the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Brown vs.Board of Education.  His phrase “Loveis a many-splendored thing” became the title of a novel by Han Suyin, a popular1955 movie, and hit song by The Four Aces. Authors J.R.R. Tolkien and Madeline L’Engle both cited him as a keyinfluence on their writing.  For Saturday’sPoem, here is Thompson’s,

 

Go,songs

               Go,songs, for ended is our brief, sweet play; 

               Go,children of swift joy and tardy sorrow: 

               Andsome are sung, and that was yesterday, 

               Andsome are unsung, and that may be tomorrow.

Go forth; and if it be o'er stony way, 

               Oldjoy can lend what newer grief must borrow: 

               Andit was sweet, and that was yesterday, 

               Andsweet is sweet, though purchased with sorrow.

 

               Go,songs, and come not back from your far way: 

               Andif men ask you why ye smile and sorrow, 

               Tellthem ye grieve, for your hearts know Today, 

               Tellthem ye smile, for your eyes know Tomorrow.

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A Writer's Moment: 'Touching the heart of the world'

A Writer's Moment: 'Touching the heart of the world':   “Don't forget - no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell.” – Charles de ...

'Touching the heart of the world'

 

“Don'tforget - no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell thestories that you have to tell.” – Charles de Lint
 Born in The Netherlands on this date in 1951, de Lint emigrated to Canada with his family that same year.    Multi-talented and multi-faceted, he has published many dozens of books plus numerous novellas, short stories, worksof poetry, and song lyrics.  Among his works are the best-selling The Newford Series (Dreams Underfoot,Widdershins, The Blue Girl, The Onion Girl, Moonlightand Vines, and Someplace to be Flying), and stand-alone novels like Moonheart,The Mystery of Grace, and A Circle of Cats.    Also a noted essayist, critic andfolklorist he frequently writes book reviews for The Magazine of Fantasy& Science Fiction and has served as a judge for the Nebula Award, theWorld Fantasy Award, and the Bram Stoker Award.  
A frequent lecturer and teacher at creative writingworkshops in both Canada and the U.S., he and his wife Mary AnnHarris have produced several musical albums (heplays several different instruments).  And, he maintains a wonderful exuberance abouthis writing.
“Life is like art. You have to workhard to keep it simple and still have meaning,” de Lint said.“I want to touch the heart of the world andmake it smile.”              

A Writer's Moment: 'Not just what, but how'

A Writer's Moment: 'Not just what, but how':   “My greatest joy comes from creativity: from feeling that I have been able to identify a certain aspect of human nature...