Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 155
February 28, 2023
Conducting that 'writing symphony'
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McCann said the best writers attempt to become alternative historians. His own sense of the Great Depression, for example, is guided by the works of E.L. Doctorow “In a certain way, novelists become unacknowledged historians, because we talk about small, tiny, little anonymous moments that won't necessarily make it into the history books."
“Every first thing is always a miracle," he said. “The first person you fall in love with. The first letter you receive. The first stone you throw. And in my conception of the novel, the letter becomes important. But what's more important is the fact that we need to continue to tell each other stories.”
A Writer's Moment: Conducting that 'writing symphony'
February 27, 2023
Knocking at the gate of success
“What a writer asks of his reader is not so much to like as to listen.”– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Eminently quotable, Longfellow was born on this date in 1807 and rose to become a world-renowned poet.
Longfellow wrote many lyric poems not just known for their musicality but also for presenting stories of mythology and legend, including the renowned Song of Hiawatha and the favorite of school children almost from its first day, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.
He was the most popular American poet – and perhaps writer – of his day, so admired in the U.S. that his poems commanded huge fees. Young people would turn out to welcome him much like rock stars of today are greeted when they come to town, and his 70th birthday was celebrated like a national holiday with parades, speeches, and the reading of his poetry.
Despite that rock star status, “overnight success” for Longfellow didn’t come until he’d been writing for more than 20 years and he advised all writers to “stay strong” in their writing efforts. “Perserverance is a great element of success,” he said. “If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody eventually.”
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A Writer's Moment: Knocking at the gate of success
February 25, 2023
A Writer's Moment: 'Flushing out life's experiences'
'Flushing out life's experiences'
“One reason to write a poem is to flush from the deep thickets of the self some thought, feeling, comprehension, question, music, you didn't know was in you, or in the world.” Jane Hirshfield
Born on Feb. 24, 1953, Hirshfield has written many books of poetry, received numerous awards, and established herself as a giant among poets in the past half century. Her collection Given Sugar, Given Salt was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and After was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. She also authored a highly regarded book of essays about poetry, Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry.
“My job as a human being as well as a writer is to feel as thoroughly as possible the experience that I am part of, and then press it a little further.” Here, for Saturday’s poem is Hirshfield’s,
Changing Everything
I was walking again
in the woods,
a yellow light
was sifting all I saw.
Willfully,
with a cold heart,
I took a stick,
lifted it to the opposite side
of the path.
There, I said to myself,
that's done now.
Brushing one hand against the other,
to clean them
of the tiny fragments of bark.
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February 24, 2023
'Books are best'
“I still feel, as I did when I was six or seven, that books are simply the best way to experience a story.” – Philip Reeve
Reeve, born in February of 1966, is the British author/illustrator of many books for kids, including the “Dead Famous” book Horatio Nelson and His Victory, and a number of books in the clever Horrible Histories and Murderous Maths series. He also wrote the Buster Bayliss books for young readers, which includes Night of the Living Veg, The Big Freeze, Day of the Hamster, and Custardfinger.
He also delved into historical fiction with his award-winning book Here Lies Arthur, an alternative look at the King Arthur legend.
Reeve said he was always fascinated by the illustrations as much as the writing and has strived to make illustrations as palatable as possible for young readers.
“Even tiny children looking at a picture book are using their imaginations, gleaning clues from the images to understand what is happening, and perhaps using the throwaway details which the illustrator includes to add their own elements to the story."A Writer's Moment: 'Books are best'
February 23, 2023
'Those three things for true happiness'
“In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.” – Tom Bodett
Author and voice actor Bodett is also well-known for his frequent guest appearances on the NPR staple “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!” Born in Illinois on this date in 1955, he grew up in the Michigan and then spent many years in Alaska before moving to Vermont.
Since 1986 he has been the spokesman for the Motel 6 hotel chain, ending commercials with the phrase, "We'll leave the light on for you."
A longtime resident of Homer, Alaska, he authored several books about that area, including a Children’s adventure Williwaw! and the bestselling The End of The Road based on his popular radio show broadcast from there. Bodett also created The Loose Leaf Book Company, a radio program centered on author and book interviews, discussions, and dramatizations. A “dyed in the wool optimist,” he once noted that the
difference between an optimist and a pessimist is that an optimist laughs to forget, but a pessimist forgets to laugh.“They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world," he said. "Someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.”
