Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 148

A Writer's Moment: Enjoying creative writing's pace

A Writer's Moment: Enjoying creative writing's pace:   “The deadlines are much, much longer with books. When I was a reporter, a lot of times I'd come in at 8:30 a.m., get an assignment ri...

Enjoying creative writing's pace

 

“Thedeadlines are much, much longer with books. When I was a reporter, a lot oftimes I'd come in at 8:30 a.m., get an assignment right away, interviewsomebody, turn the story in by 9:30, and have the finished story in the paperthat landed on my desk by noon.” – Margaret Haddix
Anyone who’s ever worked injournalism – particularly on “breaking news” – knows the reporter’s daily mantra: “Write tight and write quick.”  Born on this day in 1964, Haddixstudied at Miami of Ohio before starting her writing career as a reporter in Fort Wayne, IND, and Indianapolis before switching to the creative side in the mid-1990s.
Today she’s best known for herseries’ Shadow Children and The Missing and her best-selling standalone books RunningOut of Time and The Girl With 500Middle Names.  She has authored more than 30 books and won the          International Reading Association’s Children’s Book Award for her body of work. 
As most journalists know, creativewriting is a luxury after dealing with the daily deadlines of the reportingworld.  “Generally I finish a first draftin 2-6 months, then I set it aside for a while so that when I come back to it Ican read it with fresh eyes and figure out how to improve it.   I can spend as longrevising a manuscript as I spent writing it in the first place.”

She said she prefers the ‘Creative’world.    “It's just so much fun to makeup characters, situations, and everything else about a story,” she said.  “I have so much freedom and flexibility to dowhatever I want.”

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Writing words that 'fit' for all

 

“I don't want my books to exclude anyone, but if they haveto, then I would rather they excluded the people who feel they are too smartfor them!” – Nick Hornby
Hornby, born in England on this date in 1957, writes about ordinary people in ways that translate into best-sellers, like Fever Pitch, About a Boy and High Fidelity.    FeverPitch, while written about a fan’sobsession (based on his own) with English soccer, was made into an even bigger hit as an American movieadaptation focusing on Jimmy Fallon’s character’s obsession with theBoston Red Sox. 
Music also plays a big role in Hornby's writing, again based on his ownexperiences.  Hornby has had long and fruitful collaborations with therock band Marah and even toured in the United States and Europe with the band,joining them on stage to read from his essays.   And, he's had great collaborations with singer/songwriter Ben Folds, known to many aschief judge on the hit TV show “The Sing Off.”   Songwriters like using the universality of the words he writes.
Dedicated to helpingkids with special needs, Hornby has donated all of his royalties from some ofhis 100-plus books to helping kids with autism.   He co-founded Ministryof Stories, a nonprofit dedicated to helping children and young adultsdevelop their writing skills, and to support teachers who inspire students towrite, both literature and music lyrics.
 

“Sentimental music has this greatway of taking you back somewhere at the same time that it takes you forward,”Hornby commented about the songs he enjoys.  “You (can) feel nostagic andhopeful all at the same time.”

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A Writer's Moment: Writing words that 'fit' for all

A Writer's Moment: Writing words that 'fit' for all:   “I don't want my books to exclude anyone, but if they have to, then I would rather they excluded the people who feel they are too sma...

'I want to please you'

 

“Takingthe time to polish a pun or fine-tune a practical joke is a way of saying, 'I'mthinking about you and I want to please you.” – Andrew Hudgins

Born into a military family in April1951, Hudgins moved around the American South for much of his childhood, attendingHuntingdon College and the University of Alabama and earning his MFA from theIowa Writers’ Workshop. His first book of poetry, Saints and Strangers, wasnominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and his third, The Never-Ending, was afinalist for the National Book Award.  For Saturday’s Poem, here is Hudgins’,

 

   Day Job and Night Job

After my night job, I sat in class
and ate, every thirteen minutes,
an orange peanut-butter cracker.
Bright grease adorned my notes.

At noon I rushed to my day job
and pushed a broom enough
to keep the boss calm if not happy.
In a hiding place, walled off

by bolts of calico and serge,
I read my masters and copied
Donne, Marlowe, Dickinson, and Frost,
scrawling the words I envied,

so my hand could move as theirs had moved
and learn outside of logic
how the masters wrote. But why? Words
would never heal the sick,

feed the hungry, clothe the naked,
blah, blah, blah.
Why couldn't I be practical,
Dad asked, and study law—

or take a single business class?
I stewed on what and why
till driving into work one day,
a burger on my thigh

and a sweating Coke between my knees,
I yelled, 'Because I want to!'—
pained—thrilled!—as I looked down
from somewhere in the blue

and saw beneath my chastened gaze
another slack romantic
chasing his heart like an unleashed dog
chasing a pickup truck.

And then I spilled my Coke. In sugar
I sat and fought a smirk.
I could see my new life clear before me.
lt looked the same. Like work.

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A Writer's Moment: 'I want to please you'

A Writer's Moment: 'I want to please you':   “Taking the time to polish a pun or fine-tune a practical joke is a way of saying, 'I'm thinking about you and ...

A Writer's Moment: 'Start your writing where it's most vivid'

A Writer's Moment: 'Start your writing where it's most vivid':   “I don't necessarily start with the beginning of the book. I just start with the part of the story that's most vivid in my imagi...

'Start your writing where it's most vivid'

 

“I don't necessarily start with the beginning of the book. Ijust start with the part of the story that's most vivid in my imagination andwork forward and backward from there.”– Beverly Cleary 
Cleary, born on April 12, 1916, created vivid, outstandingcharacters and had an outsized
 impact on generations of young people    who might not have had the impetus topick up a book or listen to a story until they saw or heard something she hadwritten.
“Theworld has changed, especially for kids, but kids' needs haven't changed,”Cleary reflected on the occasion of her 100th birthday (she lived to nearly 105).   “They stillneed to feel safe, be close to their families, like their teachers, and havefriends to play with.”

“Quite often,” Clearynoted,  “somebody will say to me, ‘Whatyear do your books take place?’ and the only answer I can give is, ‘Inchildhood’.”

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'All serious daring starts from within'

 

“Writinga story or a novel is one way of discovering sequence in experience, ofstumbling upon cause and effect in the happenings of a writer's own life.”–  Eudora Welty
Welty went on the trail of such writing and self-discovery in the early 1930s, divinginto journalism and photojournalism to help care for her family after herfather died from leukemia.  Ultimately,she became one of America’s premiere writers about the American SouthernExperience.  Honored just before herdeath in 2001 with the Medal of Freedom (for her life’s work), she also won aPulitzer for her novel TheOptimist’s Daughter.
Born on this date in 1909, Welty's love of reading was reinforced by her mother who believed"any room in the house, at any time in the day, was there to read in, orto be read to."                
A Works Progress Administration employee in the mid-‘30s,Welty documented daily life and the effect of WPA efforts in Mississippithrough both her words and photos.  In1971 she published one of the definitive photo books about the experience, One Time, One Place.   Many of herbooks and short stories are reflective of the hard times and individualhardships she  observed. 
Never afraid to speak out againstinjustice, Welty said “All serious daring starts from within.  To imagine yourself inside the life of anotherperson... is what a story writer does in every piece of work; it is his firststep, and his last too, I suppose.”

A Writer's Moment: 'All serious daring starts from within'

A Writer's Moment: 'All serious daring starts from within':   “Writing a story or a novel is one way of discovering sequence in experience, of stumbling upon cause and effect in the happenings of a w...