Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 145

Leaving a legacy of hope

 

“Writingis sweat and drudgery most of the time. And you have to love it in order toendure the solitude and the discipline.” – Peter Benchley

 

Born on this date in 1940, Benchleymade his mark with his breakthrough novel Jaws, subsequently made into ablockbuster movie by Steven Spielberg. Several more of his bestselling works also were adapted for cinema,including The Deep. 

 

Benchley was seemingly born towriting, the third generation of family authors.  His father was Nathaniel and grandfatherRobert, one of the founders of the famed writing group known as the AlgonquinRound Table.  But Peter struggled to gethis foot in the publishing door and nearly decided against it.  After working as a speechwriter for PresidentLyndon Johnson, he was knocking around as a part-time freelancer beforepitching the idea for Jaws, “onefinal attempt to stay alive as a writer.”

 

The shark novel attracted aDoubleday editor who offered him an advance of $1,000 to put together the first100 pages.  Jaws was published in1974 and became a huge success, staying on the bestseller list for 44 weeks.Spielberg said he initially found many of the characters unsympathetic andactually wanted the shark to win. 

 

While Benchley didn’t have“personal” experience with Great White Sharks, he learned all he could aboutthem and subsequently wrote about extensively about both protecting sharks and oceanconservation.  In 2004 the Blue FrontierCampaign established the annual “Peter Benchley Ocean Awards” to recognizethose efforts.

 

Benchley died in 2006 but his legacylives on.   The annual Peter BenchleyOcean Award ceremony annually brings together world leaders, scientists andpolicy makers to elevate marine conservation and promote actions that serve toprotect and restore our oceans. 

 

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A Writer's Moment: Leaving a legacy of hope

A Writer's Moment: Leaving a legacy of hope:   “ Writing is sweat and drudgery most of the time. And you have to love it in order to endure the solitude and the disci...

A Writer's Moment: 'The moment of change'

A Writer's Moment: 'The moment of change':   “The moment of change is the only poem.” –   Adrienne Rich   Born in May 1929, Rich was a poet, essayist and feminist called "...

'The moment of change'

 

“Themoment of change is the only poem.” –  Adrienne Rich 
Born in May1929, Rich was a poet, essayist and feminist called "One of the mostwidely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century” inthe text accompanying the prestigious MacArthur (Genius) Fellowship, awarded herin 1994. 
Her works span 7 decades, includingdozens of poetry collections, a dozen nonfiction books, and a huge number ofessays.  Rich’s collection Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972  won the National Book Award.  She also earned the Frost Medaland a Lifetime Recognition Award from the Griffin Poetry Prize.           For Saturday’s Poem here is Rich's,
            Prospective Immigrants, Please Note                 Eitheryou will
                go through this door
                or you will not go through.
                Ifyou go through
                there is always the risk
                of remembering your name.
                Thingslook at you doubly
                and you must look back
                and let them happen.
                Ifyou do not go through
                it is possible
                to live worthily        
                tomaintain your attitudes
                to hold your position
                to die bravely
                butmuch will blind you,
                much will evade you,
                at what cost who knows?
                Thedoor itself
                makes no promises.
                It is only a door.

'Amazing' and true

 

“Onthe wagon sped, and I, as well as my comrades, gave a despairing farewellglance at freedom as we came in sight of the long stone buildings.”– Nellie Bly
That quote came from the beginning ofone of the most harrowing experiences a writer can put herself into –undercover reporting in a dangerous setting.  And while itmarked the start of a two-week living nightmare, it also marked the beginningof a reporting career that would catapult her into the role of the most famousreporter of her day.
Born on this date in 1864as Elizabeth Jane Cochran, Bly set the standards for how undercoverjournalism should be done and excited the imagination of the nationand the world with the things she was willing to do, putting her body on theline to “get the story and bring the truth to the world.”
The opening quote above came fromher smuggled notes out of the infamous Blackwell’s Island, a New York insaneasylum in the 1880s. Her reporting from there blew the lid off the terribleways the inmates were treated and led to vast reforms.  It was just the first of many, many thingsthat this diminutive and imaginative reporter would do, including traveling aroundthe world alone to attempt to break the record of the fictional Phileas Fogg inJules Verne’s book Around The World in 80Days.  She did it in just over 72days. 
Bly is a key character in my book And TheWind Whispered, set in 1894.  I’vestrived to keep her character true to the fortitude and actions she displayed.  The Amazing Nellie Bly was her title in thosedays.  It still applies today, and the reportingworld can be thankful that she was there to pave the way. 
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A Writer's Moment: 'Amazing' and true

A Writer's Moment: 'Amazing' and true:   “On the wagon sped, and I, as well as my comrades, gave a despairing farewell glance at freedom as we came in sight of the long stone bui...

'Making ordinary into extraordinary'

 

“Thereal art is not to come up with extraordinary clever words but to make ordinarysimple words do extraordinary things. To use the language that we all use andto make amazing things occur.” –  Graham Swift
Born in London on this date in 1949,Swift's first novel, The Sweet Shop Owner,was published in 1980, and his subsequent works have won much praise and manyawards. Waterland, in particular, was one of the finalists for theprestigious Booker Prize.   Both Waterland and his book Last Orders also have been made intowell-received movies.
In the 20-teens Swift made news for hiscomments that e-books are not something authors should support or be happyabout and spoke on behalf of authors' rights.  “Unfortunately writers take avery small part of the profit on their books, and I think in the e-book worldthere is a real danger they will take even less, unless they are vigilant androbust about protecting their own interests,” he noted.      
Swift is a meticulous and deliberatewriter and decries those who say he writes too slowly.

“It can be dismaying . . . for anovelist to compare the slowness of the writing with the speed of the reading,”he said.  “Novels are read in a matter ofdays, even hours.  A writer may labor forweeks over a particular passage that will have its effect on a reader for aninstant - and that effect may be subliminal or barely noticed.”

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A Writer's Moment: 'Making ordinary into extraordinary'

A Writer's Moment: 'Making ordinary into extraordinary':   “The real art is not to come up with extraordinary clever words but to make ordinary simple words do extraordinary things. To use the lan...

'Life experiences: The heart of it all'

 

“Most writers’ ideas and characters come from lifeexperiences.  And why not?  It’s in your life and work, after all, thatyou come in contact with lots of interesting characters.  And I say characters, because people you haveexperience with in your life tend to make up the personalities for thecharacters in your writing.”– Dan Jorgensen
I like to quotewriters on the occasion of their birthdays and today happens to be one for me.  This is a statement I like to share with book clubs and writing groups whenever I meet and talk with them.  Aftermy Tween sports novel Sky Hook cameout a woman who had played on one of my basketball teams as a girl (I coachedgirls basketball for many years) called me and said “That was me in that story, wasn’tit?”  And of course it was. 
I’veheld a lot of jobs and done a lot of volunteering (and volunteering also is agreat way to do things that give you these special experiences).  I’ve been a farmer, cattle herder,meatcutter, worked at a grain elevator and as a crop sprayer.  I was a waiter, been in the Army, coachedboth boys and girls basketball, been a bookseller, acted in community theater, played golf(badly, but I did get a hole-in-one), done public relations and lots and lotsof writing, and taught creative writing and journalism.
A writer's ideas come from the world in which he or she resides.   More often than not ideas come as bits andpieces but I always write down every “bit” and every “piece.”  Part of the puzzle of writing is to try tofit the pieces together at a later date.   Ithink it is a mistake, by the way, to go right to work on an idea – you shouldlet it percolate in your brain for a while, sort of likecoffee.  It will either get richer andgrow in stature or you’ll realize that it’s acidic and needs to be dumped or re-brewed.   Happy writing and happy "writer's moments."

A Writer's Moment: 'Life experiences: The heart of it all'

A Writer's Moment: 'Life experiences: The heart of it all':   “Most writers’ ideas and characters come from life experiences.   And why not?   It’s in your life and work, after a...