Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 113
December 13, 2023
Starting with 'one good sentence'
“Journalism taught me how to write asentence that would make someone want to read the next one. I do feel that if you can write one goodsentence and then another good sentence and then another, you end up with a goodstory.” – Amy Hempel
Bornin Chicago on Dec. 14, 1951 Hempel spent her formative years in California, thesetting for much of her fiction. She haswritten for numerous magazines and newspapers while also teaching – currentlyas Professor of Creative Writing at the Michener Center for Writers at theUniversity of Texas.
Oneof only a handful of U.S. writers to build a reputation solely on shortfiction, she jump-started her career by producing what has arguably been one ofthe most anthologized short stories ever written, "In the Cemetery WhereAl Jolson Is Buried.” That 1985 storyand nearly every other one of her first 20 years’ efforts are in heraward-winning The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel. It’s truly a primer on how short storiesshould be written. Hempel’s most recentbook is 2019’s Sing to It.
“I'm not first and foremost interested in story and the ‘What-happens?’, butI'm interested in who's telling it and how they're telling it and the effectsof whatever happened on the characters and the people,” she said about her writingstyle.
“I’ve always knownwhen I start a story what the last line is. It’s always been the case . . . I don’t knowhow it’s going to get there, but I seem to need that destination.”
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December 12, 2023
A Writer's Moment: 'Switching on the writing light'
'Switching on the writing light'
“Myearliest, most impactful encounter with a book was when I was seven and awokeearly on Christmas morning to find Roald Dahl's Charlie and the ChocolateFactory in my stocking. I had never been so excited by the sight of a book -and have possibly never been since!” – Sophie Kinsella Born in England onthis date in 1969, Madeleine "Sophie" Wickham writes under the loosely termed style “Chick Lit” through her 10-book Shopaholic series,translated into more than 30 languages. Her newest in the series is 2019's The Christmas Shopaholic.
“When I had the idea for Shopaholic, it was as though a lightswitched on,” she said. “I realized Iactually wanted to write comedy. No apologies, no trying to be serious, justfull-on entertainment. The minute I went with that and threw myself into it, itfelt just like writing my first book again - it was really liberating.”
Kinsella's roots are in financial journalism but she branched into creative writing at age 24 with the best-seller The Tennis Party (re-released in 2012 as40 Love). Since then, she has written nearly three dozen novels, the latest being this year's The Burnout. Glad she started as ajournalist, she said journalism
is a good foundation. “Being a journalist is good if you want towrite books: it teaches you to get beyond the blank screen. My books have beendescribed as froth, but there's scope to be witty and ironic about everythingin life.”
December 11, 2023
A Writer's Moment: 'Embodying the human spirit'
'Embodying the human spirit'
“Istrongly believe that literature can do something that nothing else can do, andthat is embody the human spirit.” – Thomas McGuane
McGuane may be the only member ofthe American Academy of Arts and Letters who’s also a member of both theNational Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame and the Flyfishing Hall of Fame– both subjects for his writing. Hiswork includes 10 novels, lots of short fiction, many screenplays, and three collections of essays devoted to his life in the outdoors.
Born in Michigan on this date in1939, McGuane envisioned himself as a writer from a very young age, admiringwhat he perceived as the adventurous life of a writer as much as the prospectof writing. He studied writing at Michigan Stateand Yale and had his first novel, The Sporting Club, published in 1969.
McGuane said he never wanted to be acelebrity but always wanted to be a good writer. “I'm still trying to be a goodwriter. That's what gets me out of bed in the morning.” His best-known works are the screenplay forthe Jack Nicholson movie The MissouriBreaks and the novel 92 in the Shade,also made into a movie.
“I like to write about thesolitary things people do,” he said. “Humans seem to function best when they're alone.”
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December 9, 2023
A Writer's Moment: 'The world would be a better place'
'The world would be a better place'
“I like the idea that you can jar amoment, capture it like a photograph," he said. "Overworking poetry can have terribleresults. If we all just scribbled down a poem whilst on the bus, the worldwould be a better place.” -- Liam Wilkinson
Born in England on this date in 1981, Wilkinson is a poet, songwriter and singer. Here for Saturday's Poem is his quirky offering,
Sunday
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Sunday is made of crisp paper
and coffee
so I’m happy to be here
out in the world
carrying the news
home
and savoring
the Americano on my tongue.
II.
The shop assistant
had no idea
how much I loved her today.
Or how much
I loved the gorgeous line
of fresh orange juice
in the fridge
and the low low price
of economy cat litter.
III.
The stillness of the seventh day
is only beautiful in things
as it happens.
sad
to think Monday
will soon be here
in the tears
of tomorrow’s frozen vegetables.
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December 8, 2023
A Writer's Moment: 'Life's too short to read depressing books'
'Life's too short to read depressing books'
“Librariansand romance writers accomplish one mission better than anyone, includingEnglish teachers: we create readers for life - and what could be morefulfilling than that?” – Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Phillips, born in Ohio in December 1944, is credited by many who are “in the know” as being the creator of thesports romance genre and also has been called the “Queen of Romantic Comedy.”
The only five-time winner of theRomance Writers of America Favorite Book of the Year Award, she has been inductedinto the Romance Writers Hall of Fame and received theRomance Writers of America's Lifetime Achievement Award. Her current best-seller in her "Chicago Stars" series is When Stars Collide and the newest, Simply the Best, is out in 2024.
“I write about the men you want toread about but don't necessarily want to be married to,” she said when askedabout who she likes to select for her protagonists. As for her mantra as a writer, it's simple: “Because life’s too short to read depressingbooks.”
