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A Writer's Moment: 'Distress and Loveliness'

A Writer's Moment: 'Distress and Loveliness': “I began as a writer of light verse, and have tried to carry over into my serious or lyric verse something of the stri...

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Published on October 28, 2023 06:57

'Distress and Loveliness'

“Ibegan as a writer of light verse, and have tried to carry over into my seriousor lyric verse something of the strictness and liveliness of the lesser form.”– John Updike

Born in Pennsylvania in 1932,two-time Pulitzer Prize winner John Updike was a novelist, short story writer,art critic, literary critic – and poet. He authored 8 books of poetry, the last in 2009, the year of hisdeath.

Updike wrote poetry for most of hislife. In his teens, he was already publishing poems in magazines, and his firstbook, The Carpentered Hen and Other Tame Creatures (1958), was a poetrycollection. With the month nigh upon us, here for Saturday’s Poem is Updike's,

November

                                   The stripped and shapely
                                   Maple grieves
                                   The ghosts of her
                                   Departed leaves.

                                   The ground is hard,
                                   As hard as stone.
                                   The year is old,
                                   The birds are flown.

                                   And yet the world,
                                   In its distress,
                                    Displays a certain
                                    Loveliness.

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Published on October 28, 2023 06:56

A Writer's Moment: 'The best way to change people's minds'

A Writer's Moment: 'The best way to change people's minds': “A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people.” – Will Rogers ...

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Published on October 28, 2023 06:35

'The best way to change people's minds'

“Aman only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association withsmarter people.” – Will Rogers

Rogers, born in 1879 near Claremore in what was then Oklahoma Territory,appears in my novel And The WindWhispered as a 15-year-old. He grewto become one of America’s most beloved writers and entertainers before hisuntimely death in a plane crash in 1935.

During his life he wrote more than4,000 nationally syndicated newspaper columns carried by more than 600newspapers. He rarely missed a story deadline,saying that among all the things he was doing – and that was a lot – hiswriting was at the top of his list.

In addition to his columns, he wrote20 books, making him one of the nation’s leading writers in the first half ofthe 20th century. He also dida regular radio show and frequent radio commentaries.

All told, books, columns andcommentaries combined, Rogers wrote more than 4 million words. His columns alone reached a potentialaudience of 40 million readers, and all of his books were major sellers as hiswords spread wisdom and reflections that still remain timely a century later. He said the best way to change people's minds was by setting a good example.

“People’s minds are changed through observation,”Rogers said, “not through argument.”

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Published on October 27, 2023 07:11

'Just trying to tell a story'

“Ijust want to be told a story, and I want to believe I'm living that story, andI don't give a thought to influences or method or any other writerly concerns.” – Anne Tyler Born on this date in 1941, Tyler made a splash with her novels The Accidental Tourist, and BreathingLessons, finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (BreathingLessons won the award0. She also is wellknown in the cinematic world with 7 of her 20 novels being made into movies. Her latest work is 2022's French Braid.

Also the author of dozens of shortstories, Tyler has earned the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize, the Ambassador BookAward, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and The Sunday Times’Award for Literary Excellence.

Noted for her attention to detailand character development, Tyler primarily focuses her writing on everydayAmericans and the ordinary details of their lives, putting us – her readers – deepinto those lives and the trials and tribulations we all face. “I don’t think of my work in terms ofthemes," she said. "I’m just trying to tell a story.”
Her advise to new writers issimple: “Write the first drafts as if no one else will ever read them -without a thought about publication - and only in the last draft to considerhow the work will look from the outside.”

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Published on October 25, 2023 07:16

A Writer's Moment: 'Just trying to tell a story'

A Writer's Moment: 'Just trying to tell a story': “I just want to be told a story, and I want to believe I'm living that story, and I don't give a thought to influences or method...

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Published on October 25, 2023 07:16

A Writer's Moment: 'How long is a novel anyway?'

A Writer's Moment: 'How long is a novel anyway?': “How long is a novel anyway? Only thing I have here outside of French and Spanish is 1563 pages (of something called)...

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Published on October 24, 2023 06:03

'How long is a novel anyway?'

“How long is a novel anyway? Only thing I have here outside of French andSpanish is 1563 pages (of something called) War and Peace by a man callshimself Tolstoi. Very discouraging. I’ve only done 200 pages of 200-220 wordsapiece … (but) Think it’s going to be a Wham. Hope so” - Ernest Hemingway
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Hisletters are written to a wide range of friends, family and publishingassociates during the months he was working on the manuscript of the novel he wascalling Fiesta, a name that it wouldbe marketed under in most of its European editions.
[image error]I was surprised to find out that he really wasn’t sure just how long his manuscript should be before it was considered “A Novel.” Hemingway, born in July of 1899, was noted for his short stories, and hadjust cobbled together a dozen of them into the book In Our Times, but he really hadn’t donea novel in the traditional sense until this point.
When asked what inspired him to be a betterwriter, he noted, “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.”

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[image error][image error] Ernest Hemingway with Lady DuffTwysden, wife Hadley (center), and friends, during the July 1925 trip to Spainthat inspired The Sun Also Rises.

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Published on October 24, 2023 05:58

Opening doors with her writing

“IfI can write a book that will help the world make a little more sense to a teen,then that's why I was put on the planet.” – Laurie HalseAnderson

Born in Potsdam, NY on this date in1961, Anderson began her career as a freelance writer and a reporter at ThePhiladelphia Inquirer in the early 1980s before switching courses intocreative writing for young adults.

After self-publishing a couple ofbooks, her book Speak not only wasaccepted by a major publisher but also hit the 1999 New York Times bestseller list. A portrayal of a 13-year-old sexual assault victim who loses her abilityto speak after the attack, Speak wonthe Golden Kite award, the Edgar Allan Poe Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. The book has been translated into 16 languages and made into a majormotion picture.

Her book Fever 1793 was anALA Best Book for Young Adults and a Junior Library Guild selection, and Chainswas a National Book Award finalist and winner of the Scott O'Dell Award forHistorical Fiction. She also has beennamed for the ALA’s Margaret A. Edwards Award for her ongoing contribution toyoung adult literature.

She strives to portray characterswith whom teens can identify. “That can be the most painstaking aspect of beinga teen, figuring out what the world really looks like. If you find someone in a book, you knowyou're not alone and that's what's so comforting about books.”

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Published on October 23, 2023 06:20

A Writer's Moment: Opening doors with her writing

A Writer's Moment: Opening doors with her writing: “If I can write a book that will help the world make a little more sense to a teen, then that's why I was put on th...

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Published on October 23, 2023 06:20