Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 22

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." 

A Writer's Moment: When opportunity knocks, answer!

A Writer's Moment: 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." ...

'Nourishing rejuvenation for the body'

 

“When language is treatedbeautifully and interestingly, it can feel good for the body: It's nourishing;it's rejuvenating.” – Aimee Bender

 

Born in California on June 28, 1969Bender studied creative writingthen took on simultaneous careers as a writer and teacher.  She teaches creative writing at USC and has produced half-a-dozen novels and numerous short stories.  Hermost recent novel is The Butterfly Lampshade.  

 

She enjoys writing, she said,because “The human being's ability to make a metaphor to describe a humanexperience is just really cool.  I loveto write about people in their 20s. It's such a fraught and exciting and kindof horrible time.”  

 

Bender is the winner of twoPushcart Prizes and her novel An Invisible Sign of My Own wasnamed a Los Angeles Times “Pick of the Year.”  Hercollection of short stories, The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, spentseveral months on both the New York Times and LosAngeles Times bestseller lists.

 

While she’s had success with bothnovels and short stories, she prefers the latter.  “Novels are so much unrulier and stressful towrite. A short story can last two pages and then it's over, and that's kind ofa relief.  I really like balancing the two.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Nourishing rejuvenation for the body'

A Writer's Moment: 'Nourishing rejuvenation for the body':   “When language is treated beautifully and interestingly, it can feel good for the body: It's nourishing; it's rejuvenating.” – Aim...

'Always arrive on time!'

 

“People need dreams, there's as muchnourishment in 'em as food.” – Dorothy Gilman

 

Born in New Jersey on this date in1923, Gilman is best remembered for her Mrs. Pollifax series, a huge hit on thewritten page and the movie screen.   Begun in a time when womenin mystery meant Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and international espionagemeant James Bond or John Le Carre, her heroine became a spy in her 60s andmight be the only spy in literature to belong simultaneously to the CIA andher local garden club.

 

Gilman first wrote children’sstories under the name Dorothy Gilman Butters and then began writing adultnovels about Mrs. Pollifax, a retired grandmother who becomes a CIA agent.

 

Most of her books feature strongwomen having adventures around the world, reflective of her own internationaltravel background.  But they also feature small town life andputtering in the garden, something she enjoyed doing – cultivating vegetablesand herbs and again using that skill and knowledge in her writing.

 

Named a Grand Master by the MysteryWriters of America, she died in 2012 having authored dozens of books and myriadshort stories and pieces for magazines and newspapers.  

 

Her advice to writers was always beon schedule in everything you do.   “If something anticipated arrivestoo late it finds us numb, wrung out from waiting, and we feel - nothing atall. The best things arrive on time.”