Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 133
August 7, 2023
A Writer's Moment: 'Finding your comfortable writing voice'
'Finding your comfortable writing voice'
“The most important thing whenstarting out with essay writing is to find a voice with which you'recomfortable. You need to find a persona that is very much like you, butslightly caricatured.”– Anne Fadiman
The daughter of renowned literary,radio, and television personality Clifton Fadimam and World War IIcorrespondent and author Annalee Jacoby Fadiman, Anne was born on this date in 1953. Afounding editor of the Library of Congress magazine Civilization, she has had a great career as a writer, editor and teacher. At Yale, Fadiman teaches nonfiction writing and serves as a mentor to students who are considering careers in writing or editing. But it was her award-winningbook The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down that brought her the mostacclaim (and many awards). Researched in a small county hospital in California,it examines a Hmong immigrant family and their cultural, linguistic, andmedical struggles in seeking treatment for their epileptic child. In 2017 she wrote a well-received memoir, The Wine Lover's Daughter. Fadiman is the only writer to have won national magazine awards for both reporting and essays.
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She said that while she is grateful for modern electronics and how they haveimproved the lives of writers and readers alike, she prefers a text copy to an e-book. “There is something about holding abook - the smell and the world of association,” she said. “Even when e-booksare perfected, as they surely will be, I think it will be like being in bedwith a very well-made robot rather than a warm, soft, human being whom youlove.”
August 5, 2023
A Writer's Moment: Catching that 'butterfly air'
Catching that 'butterfly air'
“How to Write a Poem? Catch the air around the butterfly.”– Katerina Stoykova-Klemer
Stoykova-Klemer’s poems haveappeared in publications throughout the U.S. and Europe and she also hosts“Accents,” a radio show for literature, art and culture in Lexington, KY. Born in Bulgaria in 1971 she emigrated to theU.S. in 1995 and holds an MFA in Writing from Spalding University. For Saturday’s Poem, here is her short poem,
TheMost
Welcome,
Last Resort.
We meet at last,
Plan Z.
I’ve heard a lot about you,
Worst Case Scenario.
I look forward to
working with you,
When-all-else-fails.
It’s going to be you and I now.
Do you feel lucky to end up with me?
Hey, it’s okay.
After the initial shock
wears off,
you too,
will try to make
the most of me.
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August 4, 2023
A Writer's Moment: 'Writing - it rarely seems like work'
'Writing - it rarely seems like work'
Bornon this day in 1965, Lehane has had striking success with both his novels andscreenplays – but while many of his books have been made into successful films,he has rarely written those scripts himself, noting “I really didn’t have thedesire to operate on my own baby.” Mostnoteworthy of his books to film are the award-winning Gone, Baby, Gone, Mystic River and Shutter Island.
Many of his own screenplays have been for HBOseries like The Wire and Boardwalk Empire, which won ravereviews for their smartly written scripts.
Sinceachieving literary success he also has become a noted teacher of writing,giving back some of what first got him started. He taught advanced fiction writing at Harvard and since 2006 has beenwriter-in-residence at Eckerd College (his alma mater) in Florida. He alsoco-directs the Writers In Paradise conference there each January. His newest book, released earlier this year, is Small Mercies.
Lehane said his initial plan was not to be a writer, “But from the moment I took my firstwriting workshop, I was a writer.” Lehane said he loves to write. "It rarely seems like work even when it gets arduous."
August 3, 2023
A Writer's Moment: Staying firmly 'in the picture'
Staying firmly 'in the picture'
“Inever write to disappear and escape. The truth is exactly the opposite. Mostpeople strike me as escaping and disappearing in one way or another - intotheir jobs, their daily routines, their delusions about themselves and others.”– Steven Millhauser
Born in New York Cityon this date in 1943, Millhauser won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for his novel MartinDressler.
While he has had several successfulnovels, he has earned even more accolades for his numerous short stories.
Oneof his best known, Eisenheim theIllusionist, was made into the critically acclaimed 2006 film The Illusionist. In 2012 he won "TheStory Prize" for his book We Others. Thatprize is given annually for the previous year’s outstanding collection of shortfiction. A resident of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., he also was a longtime creative writing professor at Skidmore, one of the nation’s leading liberal artscolleges. About his writing process, he noted, “When a story or part of a story comes to me,I turn it over in my mind a long time before starting to write," Millhauser said. "I might makenotes or take long drives or who knows what. By the time I give myselfpermission to write, I know certain things, though not everything. I know wherethe story is headed, and I know certain crucial points along the way.”
August 2, 2023
A Writer's Moment: Each 'delicious' beginning of a story
Each 'delicious' beginning of a story
“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they'll take you.” – Beatrix Potter
Potter, born in 1866, wrote and illustrated TheTale of Peter Rabbit, self-published in 1901 for herself, family andclose friends. But those who read andsaw it urged her to do more and in 1902 a 3-color edition was published byFrederick Warne & Company.
Although the book obviously shouldhave been published for all to see, her editor Norman Warne had a bit of anulterior motive, since he hoped Beatrix would be enticed to marry him. Unfortunately, Warne developed leukemia and died before they could wed.
Shemarried William Heelis in her later years and together they purchased a large farm inLancashire where she became a prize-winning breeder of Herdwick sheepand a prosperous farmer keenly interested in land preservation. She continuedto write and illustrate, and to design spin-off merchandise based on hermore than two dozen children's books published by Warne. [image error][image error] Beatrix Potterand her most famous creation Peter
Potter died 1943 willingmost of her property to the National Trust. Much of the land comprises the Lake District National Preserve, whichincludes a replica of Farmer McGregor’s Garden and small statues of Flopsy,Mopsy, Cottontail and, of course, Peter.
