Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 114
December 7, 2023
'Take a deep breath and start writing'
“Stop aspiring and start writing. If you’rewriting, you’re a writer. So, write like you’re a death row inmate and thegovernor is out of the country and there’s no chance for a pardon. Write likeyou’re clinging to the edge of a cliff, white knuckles, on your last breath,and you’ve got just one last thing to say. Write like you’re a bird flying over us and you can see everything . . . Take a deep breath and tell us yourdeepest, darkest secret, so we can wipe our brow and know that we’re not alone.Write like you have a message from the king.” -- Alan Watts
Watts, born in England in January 2015, was a self-styled "philosophical entertainer" and prolific writer who spent much of his adult life in California. His many writings, led by the bestseller The Way of Zen, often reflect his keen interest in patterns thatoccur in nature and which are repeated in various ways and at a wide range ofscales – including the patterns to be discerned in the history ofcivilizations.
His friendship with poet Gary Snyder nurtured his sympathies with the budding environmentalist movement which he strongly supported from the 1950s until his death in 1973. Watts once said of man's relationship to nature that, "If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything."
December 6, 2023
A Writer's Moment: 'It's the conversation between writer and reader'
'It's the conversation between writer and reader'
“The craft of writing is all the stuff that you can learnthrough school; go to workshops and read books. Learn characterization, plotand dialogue and pacing and word choice and point of view. Then there's alsothe art of it which is sort of the unknown, the inspiration, the stuff that isnoncerebral.” – GarthStein
Born on this date in 1964 in Los Angeles, Stein was raised in Seattle where he lives and works as a writer and documentary filmmaker who has directed, edited or produced many award-winning films. He is perhaps best known as the author of The Art ofRacing in the Rain, which has sold more than 4 million copies in 35languages, and spent several years on the New York Times bestseller list.
Stein also isco-founder of Seattle7Writers, a non-profit organization dedicated to energizingreaders and writers and their communities by providing funding, programming,and donations of free books to those in need, and generally inspiring enthusiasmfor reading.
“I'm a writer because I lovereading. I love the conversation between a reader and a writer, and that it alltakes place in a book--sort of a neutral ground. A writer puts down the words,and a reader interprets the words, and every reader will read a bookdifferently. I love that.”
December 5, 2023
'Curiosity keeps leading us down the path'
“Life is composed of lights andshadows and we would be untruthful, insincere and saccharine if we tried topretend there were no shadows. We keep moving forward, opening new doors anddoing new things, because we’re curious, and curiosity keeps leading us downnew paths.” – Walt Disney
Before there was Bugs Bunny or RogerRabbit or any other animated “rabbit” character, Disney -- born on this date in1901 -- created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Praised as “exceptionally clever,” Oswald washugely popular and had a high merchandise tie-in performance.
As Oswald’s popularity continued tosoar, Disney decided he’d like a little largershare of the profits. But instead of giving him more, the powers that be in theNew York advertising world proposed reducing his amount and threatening to takeaway the rights to Oswald if the animator did not agree. He did not and he lost Oswald. Fortunately for the rest of the world and for posterity, that resulted in Disneyturning to a new creation – a little mouse named Mickey.
Mickey Mouse also talked andbeginning in 1927, the year of Mickey’s arrival on the scene, an entertainmentempire was formed. As for Oswald, he fadedfrom the scene once Disney left him behind.
While he was a terrific writer in his own right, Disney hadan uncanny ability to recognize and adapt others’ writing into the many movieshis new studio produced. By the time ofhis death, at the relatively young age of 65, Disney had won 22 Academy Awards(nominated an astounding 59 times) and 4 honorary Academy Awards for hiswork. He also won 7 Emmys for histelevision productions.
“All our dreams can come true,”Disney said, “if we have the courage to pursue them.”
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A Writer's Moment: 'Curiosity keeps leading us down the path'
December 4, 2023
A Writer's Moment: 'The lives it illuminates'
'The lives it illuminates'
“Ithink a biography is only as interesting as the lives and times itilluminates.” – A. Scott Berg
Born in Connecticut on this date in1949, Berg is one of America’s premier biographers, “illuminating” the lives ofsuch famous Americans as Samuel Goldwyn, the founder of MGM; aviator CharlesLindbergh; and actress Katherine Hepburn.
The son of longtime film producerDick Berg, Scott graduated from Princeton and then got into writing biographiesby expanding upon a senior thesis he chose to do on longtime editor MaxwellPerkins, the editor who handled both F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingwayfor the New York-based publisher Scribner’s.
Max Perkins: Editor of Genius,his first full-length effort, won the National Book Award. His second book was Goldwyn: A Biography,and his third Lindbergh, the acclaimed New York Times bestseller that won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize forBiography or Autobiography.
Berg set a goal at age 22 of writing “aseries of biographies about great 20th Century Americancultural figures from different parts of the country” and has completed oneabout one every 8-10 years. The latest of those is Wilson, about President Woodrow Wilson.
“I am a compulsive worker,” he said about his writing pace. “But I'm also a compulsive relaxer.”
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December 2, 2023
A Writer's Moment: 'Speaking to the spirit'
'Speaking to the spirit'
“Poetry speaks to the spirit by piercingunderstanding. It interprets all senseless truths – beauty, love, emotion –into sensible scrawl.” – Richelle Goodrich
Born in Utah in the Fall of 1968, Goodrich grew up in Central Washington. She writes young adult books and poetry. Herinspirational quotes have been published in such wide-ranging places as the Oxford Philosophy Being Human course book; ChickenSoup for the Soul: Christmas in Canada; and a Revlon cosmetics adcampaign. For Saturday’s Poem, here isGoodrich’s,
Smile Anyway
One smile has the power to...
Calm fears.
Soften stone walls.
Warm a cold heart.
Invite a new friend.
Mimic a loving hug.
Beautify the bearer.
Lighten heavy loads.
Promote good deeds.
Brighten a gloomy day.
Comfort a grieving spirit.
Offer hope to the forlorn.
Send a message of caring.
Lift the downtrodden soul.
Patch up invisible wounds.
Weaken the hold of misery.
Act as medicine for suffering.
Attract the companionship of angels.
Fulfill the human need for recognition.
Who knew changing the world would prove so simple?
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