Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 21

'Gaining a clear vision of life'

“For me, a happy ending is noteverything works out just right and there is a big bow, it's more coming to aplace where a person has a clear vision of his or her own life in a way thatenables them to kind of throw down their crutches and walk.” –Jill McCorkle

 

McCorkle – born in Lumberton, NC onthis date in 1958 – is the award-winning author of a dozen books and aprofessor of writing at North Carolina State University.  Among herawards is the Dos Passos Prize for writing excellence.

 

She holds the distinction of havingher first two novels – The Cheer Leader and July 7th(both award winners) – published on the same day in 1984.  She has published five other novels andfive collections of short stories since, the most recent being 2024’s Old Crimes.   Five of McCorkle’s books have been named NewYork Times “Notable Books,” and four of her short stories have been named tothe “Best American Short Stories” list.   She also earned the New England BooksellersAward for outstanding writing. 

 

McCorkle said she finds inspirationeverywhere.  “I always tell my students,'If you walk around with your eyes and ears open, you can't possibly live longenough to write all the novels you'll encounter.'”

A Writer's Moment: Capturing earth's beauty

A Writer's Moment: Capturing earth's beauty: “I wanted to communicate what I had seen, so that others could see it, too.”  –  Laurie Lee   Born in England in 1914, Lee was a successfu...

Capturing earth's beauty

“I wanted to communicate what I hadseen, so that others could see it, too.” –  LaurieLee

 Born in England in 1914, Lee wasa successful novelist and screenwriter but said he loved poetrybest.  Many of his poems – written for every season – captured thebeauty of the English countryside.  For Saturday’s Poem here is thepoem he chose to grace his own tombstone.  

  April Rise

Ifever I saw blessing in the air
I see it now in this still early day
Where lemon-green the vaporous morning drips
Wet sunlight on the powder of my eye.

Blown bubble-film of blue, the sky wraps round
Weeds of warm light whose every root and rod
Splutters with soapy green, and all the world
Sweats with the bead of summer in its bud.

If ever I heard blessing it is there
Where birds in trees that shoals and shadows are
Splash with their hidden wings and drops of sound
Break on my ears their crests of throbbing air.

Pure in the haze the emerald sun dilates,
The lips of sparrows milk the mossy stones,
While white as water by the lake a girl
Swims her green hand among the gathered swans.

Now, as the almond burns its smoking wick,
Dropping small flames to light the candled grass;
Now, as my low blood scales its second chance,

                        If ever world were blessed, now it is. 

'The potency and power of words'

 

“Words - so innocent and powerlessas they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil theybecome in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.” – NathanielHawthorne
 

Born on the 4th ofJuly in 1804, Hawthorne established himself as one of America’s pre-eminent 19thCentury writers with tales about his native New England.

 

His most prominent story that haslasted through the ages is The Scarlet Letter.  Its successcatapulted him from near-obscurity to the center of the New England writingmovement, which at the time included such prominent writers as Ralph WaldoEmerson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  

 

He took advantage of his newpopularity to rapidly publish or re-publish works like The House of theSeven Gables, Wonder Book for Girls and Boys, and Twice-ToldTales, all still studied in American literature courses. 

 

The great-great grandson of a SalemWitch Trials judge, Hawthorne often focused on Puritanic themes and espousedbeing pure, accurate and meticulous, especially when it came to the power that writers' words can convey.   

 

“Accuracy is the twin brother ofhonesty; inaccuracy of dishonesty,” he noted. “Easy reading is damn hardwriting.”

A Writer's Moment: 'The potency and power of words'

A Writer's Moment: 'The potency and power of words':   “Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one ...

A Writer's Moment: A magic carpet 'wafting us to a special world'

A Writer's Moment: A magic carpet 'wafting us to a special world':   “ A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way.”  – Caroline Gordon   ...

A magic carpet 'wafting us to a special world'

 

“A well-composed book is a magiccarpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any otherway.” – Caroline Gordon

 

Born in Kentucky in 1895, Gordon wasa novelist, literary critic and friends with nearly every famous writer of the1920s, ’30s and ’40s.   A great writer herself, she won aGuggenheim Fellowship in 1932 and the O.Henry Award for her short story OldRed in 1934.   In 1963 she republished the story as thelead work for a book called Old Red and Other Stories, also anaward winner.

 

A “free spirit” (her term forherself), she and husband Alan Tate often hosted major writers in theirKentucky home where “writing was the talk from dawn ‘til dark.”  

 

F. Scott Fitzgerald, ErnestHemingway, William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, T.S. Eliot and Robert PennWarren were frequent visitors, but the most important one for her was FordMaddox Ford, who she considered her mentor.  It was Ford who counseledand prodded her into completing the novel Penhally, key to gainingher the prestigious Guggenheim.

 

She wrote 9 more novels and dozensof short stories, often autobiographical and drawn from the South, giving therest of the world an in-depth look at the region.  The CollectedStories of Caroline Gordon, published at the time of her death in1981, was lauded as one of the 20th Century’s best short storycollections. 

    

Gordon thought of her writing as aform of art.  “And art,” she said, “should never bejudged.  It should be the judge of us.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Apply your creativity and do it often'

A Writer's Moment: 'Apply your creativity and do it often':   “Occasionally, there arises a writing situation where you see an alternative to what you are doing, a mad, wild gamble of a way for handli...

'Apply your creativity and do it often'

 “Occasionally, there arises a writing situation where you see an alternative to what you are doing, a mad, wild gamble of a way for handling something, which may leave you looking stupid, ridiculous or brilliant – you just don't know which. You can play it safe and proceed along the route you'd mapped out for yourself. Or you can trust your personal demon who delivered that crazy idea in the first place.  Trust your demon.” – Roger Zelazny

When writers like George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones) are asked who influenced them, more often than not they’ll say Zelazny.  Born in 1937, Zelazny was a fantasy and science fiction writer extraordinaire.  He wrote dozens and dozens of short stories and novels, including Lord of Light.  In his relatively short life (he died at age 58) he was nominated for three dozen major writing awards and won 14. 
The secret to his success?  “Write often.  I try to sit down and write at least 3 times a day, even if only for a few sentences at a time,” he said.  “Creativity is worthless if you don’t take the time to apply it.”

When opportunity knocks, answer!

"My dad was an adventurer; my mother a romantic.  When they met in college, both were creative writers; the writing was a bond." -- Brian Herbert
Herbert, the son of science fiction author Frank Herbert (author of the Dune series) and Beverly Stuart (author of many romance novels and stories), was born on June 29, 1947 and despite those deep writing roots didn’t naturally gravitate to writing himself.
“I didn't actually get along with my dad when I was growing up,” Brian said, “so by the time I was in my 20s, I didn't think I was going to be a writer.”   But, luckily for the writing (and reading) world, he changed his mind and became as important a writer as his parents.  Now the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers, he won several literary honors and has been nominated for the highest awards in science fiction. In 2003, he published Dreamer of Dune, a moving biography of his father and Hugo Award finalist. 
Brian’s other acclaimed novels include Sidney's Comet, Man of Two Worlds (written with his father), Sudanna Sudanna, and 22 Dune series novels co-authored with Kevin J. Anderson, the most recent being 2022's The Heir of Caladan.
He said he finally decided to get into writing at the urging of his writer wife Jan.  “My wife noticed that I wrote really good complaint letters about faulty products and that I could get anything I wanted out of these big corporations,” he explained; then jumping at the opportunity to get started.
"Opportunities are a tricky crop, with tiny flowers that are difficult to see and even more difficult to harvest."