Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 119
November 4, 2023
A Writer's Moment: The 'gibberish' of life
The 'gibberish' of life
“Ofcourse a poem is a two-way street. No poem is any good if it doesn't suggest tothe reader things from his own mind and recollection that he will read into it,and will add to what the poet has suggested.” – James Laughlin
Laughlin, born on this date in 1914,was founder of New Directions Publishing and author of more than 1,200 poems,most focused on everyday experiences, love, and life.
The Academy of American Poets honorsLaughlin’s memory through its annual “James Laughlin Award” in support of anauthor’s “second” book of poetry. ForSaturday’s Poem, exerpted from TheCollected Poems of James Laughlin, here is,
What The Pencil Writes
Often when I go out I
put in my coat pocket
some paper and a pencil
in case I want to
write something down
well there they are
wherever I go and as
my coat moves the pencil
writes by itself
a kind of gibberish
hieroglyphic which I
often think as I undress
at night & take
out those papers with
nothing written on
them but strange and
meaningless marks is
the story of my life.
@font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}
November 3, 2023
It's a 'historic' state of mind
“I'venever been very attached to genre labels and never set out intentionally towrite historic fiction. Besides, what you consider historic depends on how farback your memory extends.” – Charles Frazier
Born on this date in 1950, Fraziernone-the-less has been one of the historical fiction genre’s top writers,including winning the National Book Award for his masterpiece Cold Mountain – a Civil War tale of awounded Confederate deserter. The book,adapted for the big screen, also won a handful of Academy Awards, includingBest Supporting Actress for Renee Zellweger.
“While writing Cold Mountain, I held maps of two geographies, two worlds, in mymind as I wrote,” Frazier said. “One wasan early map of North Carolina. Overlaying it, though, was an imagined map ofthe landscape Jack (the main character) travels in the southern Appalachianfolktales. He's much the same Jack who climbs the beanstalk, vulnerableand clever ... and opportunistic.”
Frazier’s writing is rich in theculture and sensibilities of the North Carolina mountains where he sets most ofhis work based on local history and stories. His new (2023) novel, TheTrackers, follows a painter during the Great Depression who tracks down awoman with a valuable painting.
Frazier said he likes to includemusic from the area and the era in which he writes – another feature that setsit apart.
“It always helps me connect with characters, to thinkabout what music they respond to,” Frazier said. “I love music. If I had to give up reading or give uplistening to music, I suspect I'd stick with the music.”
@font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}
A Writer's Moment: It's a 'historic' state of mind
November 2, 2023
A Writer's Moment: 'It takes a new eye'
'It takes a new eye'
“Ithink as the world changes, we have to keep up. We have to note what ishappening, and I think writing has always had a powerful corrective influenceand possibility. We have to write about what's good, and we also have to writeabout parts of our culture that are not good, that are not working out. I thinkit takes a new eye.” – Lee Smith
Born on Nov. 1, 1944 Smith isa native Virginian who grew up in Appalachia, “devoured” any books or storiesshe could find, and was writing—and selling, for a nickel apiece—storiesabout the coal boomtown of Grundy and its nearby isolated "hollers"by the age of 9.
She continued to write at HollinsCollege where she and classmate (and fellow writer) Annie Dillard sang anddanced in a band called The Virginia Woolfs. In her senior year she won a writing contest, which led to her firstbook, The Last Day The Dog Bushes Bloomedin 1968, the first of 15 novels (her newest is this year's Silver Alert) and 4 collections of short stories.
Among her many awards are the Sidney Lanier Prize for SouthernLiterature and the Southern Book Critics Circle Award. Her memoir Dimestore: A Writer’s Life, publishedin 2016, is the story of her life in Grundy and beyond. “I write about people in small towns; Idon't write about people living in big cities,” she said. “My kind of storytelling depends upon peoplethat have time to talk to each other.”
October 31, 2023
A Writer's Moment: 'Finding writing opportunities around the globe'
'Finding writing opportunities around the globe'
“Asa writer, when you fall in love with a place, you want to spend more time init, either physically or mentally, and so you write about it.”– Don Winslow
Thriller/crime writer Winslow,born on this date in 1953, is a native New Yorker who has lived and worked around the world, getting the chance to “fall in love” and write about many different locales.
A private investigator before hebecame a writer, Winslow earned a degree in African History, has a master’sdegree in Military History, and worked as a safari guide in Africa and hikingguide in China before getting into writing in the 1990s. His first novel, A Cool Breeze on theUnderground, is set in NYC where he was doing his private eye work andbecame the first in a series of books about investigator Neal Carey. His current series - "City on Fire" - also is set in NYC.
But he likes to write about manythings and places. “My problem is not that there are too few ideas out there,” Winslowexplained. “It's that there are toomany.” A self-proclaimed insomniac, hestarts his writing day at 5:30 a.m., writes for several hours before going fora 6 or 7 mile hike, then hits the keyboard again. His routine has resulted in two dozen novels, almost all bestsellers, the latest being this summer's City of Dreams. Whenhe first started he set a page count goal. “So I thought I should write five pages a day. And that'swhat I did. Eventually I had a book,” he said. “Producing words isn't a problem for me. And I usually write two booksat a time. When one horse gets winded, you just jump on the other.”
October 30, 2023
Writing literature 'In the deepest and highest sense'
“I am trying to make clear through my writingsomething which I believe: that biography- history in general- can beliterature in the deepest and highest sense of that term.”– Robert Caro
A native of New York City, Carobegan his professional career as areporter with The New Brunswick (N.J.)Daily Home News, and from there he went on to six years as aninvestigative reporter with the Long Island newspaper Newsday.
While there, he wrote The Power Broker, a biography of Robert Moses, the New York metropolitan area urban planner. It was the first of many award-winning books for Caro. The book not only won a Pulitzer Prize and rose to the top ofmost best-seller lists, it also was chosen by the Modern Library as one of thehundred greatest nonfiction books of the 20th Century. Among his other books since then are four of a planned fivevolumes of The Years of Lyndon Johnson (1982, 1990, 2002, 2012).
While theJohnson books also have received numerous
accolades, it is The Power Brokerthat is widely viewed as a seminal work because it combined painstakinghistorical research with a smoothly flowing narrative writing style. “I never wanted to dobiography just to tell the life of a famous man.," Caro said. "I always wanted to use the life of a man toexamine political power, because democracy shapes our lives.”
