Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 30

'Getting intensely into the story'

 

“For me, being a writer was never achoice.  I was born one.  All through my childhood I wroteshort stories and stuffed them in drawers.  I wrote oneverything.  I didn’t do my homework so I could write.” –Laura Hillenbrand

 

Born in Fairfax, VA in May of 1967,Hillenbrand wrote massive bestselling stories about two amazing sports figuresfrom the 1930s; one the great horse Seabiscuit, the other the great 1930sOlympian Louis Zamperini. 

 

The first story became thebestselling book and award-winning movie Seabiscuit.  Thesecond, one of the most gripping reads of the past two decades and also apopular movie, was Unbroken.  The books have dominated bestsellerlists in both hardback and paperback with combined sales (to date) of more than15 million.

    

Hillenbrand’s own story is probably alsoworthy of a book as she wrote her bestsellers while experiencing debilitating painand isolation.  Confined to her home for 20 years with ChronicFatigue Syndrome, she still pressed on to create these two remarkableworks.   She says being confined while writing helped her “live”her stories more completely in her mind.

 

“I'm attracted to subjects whoovercome tremendous suffering and learn to cope emotionally with it,” shesaid.  “I'm living someone else's life. Iget very intensely into the story, into the interviews and the research. I'mexperiencing things along with my subjects. I have a freedom I don't have in myphysical life.”

 

 

'Each hour offers new opportunities'

 

“The next year, the next day, thenext hour are lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoiled, as if you hadnever wasted or misapplied a single moment in all your life.  You canturn over a new leaf every hour if you choose.“ –Arnold Bennett

 

Bennett was born in England in Mayof 1867 and was a newspaper editor who started writing a weekly column afterbeing perplexed by the lack of good material from his other writers.  Hequickly discovered he had a great knack for it and by 1900 was devotingall of his time to writing.

 

Besides his column, which eventually appearedin hundreds of newspapers, Bennett wrote 34 novels, 7 volumes of short stories, 13plays, and a daily journal.  He also wrote for the cinema in the 1920s andwas the most financially successful British author of his day.  His novel TheOld Wives' Tale -- following the lives of two sisters from youth through old age -- is consideredone of the 20th century’s greatest works of Englishliterature. 

 

Also a much sought-after reviewer, he was acclaimed as a “discoverer” of other great writers.  He unerringly picked out many of the mostimportant writers of the next generation, including James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence,William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway.   And Bennett wrote two dozennonfiction books, including 8 “self-help” books.  His popular How to Live on 24 Hours a Day isstill a regular reference work in the self-help field.

 

“The best cure for worry, depression,melancholy and brooding,” he said, “is to go deliberately forth and try to liftwith one's sympathy the gloom of somebody else.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Each hour offers new opportunities'

A Writer's Moment: 'Each hour offers new opportunities':   “The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoiled, as if you had never wasted or misapplied a ...

A Writer's Moment: 'Everything is interesting'

A Writer's Moment: 'Everything is interesting':   “Whether you want to entertain or to provoke, to break hearts or reassure them, what you bring to your writing must consist of your longin...

'Everything is interesting'

 

“Whether you want to entertain or toprovoke, to break hearts or reassure them, what you bring to your writing mustconsist of your longings and disappointments.” –Rafael Yglesias

Born in New York on this date in 1954, novelist and screenwriter Yglesias isperhaps best known for his book and screenplay Fearless, bothmultiple award winners and nominees.  A “sandwich” member in a familywriters – the son of two and father of two – he also is married to a writer,the novelist Ann Packer.    

 

Literally a “born writer,” Yglesiaswrote his first successful novel, Hide Fox, And After All in the 10th grade,and his novel A Happy Marriage also won multiple awards.  His latest is The Wisdom ofPerversity.   Among his many writing successes for thescreen is his popular version of Les Miserables,featuring Liam Neeson, Geoffrey Rush and Uma Thurman.

 

Noted for creating complexcharacters, he said, “The most fun thing about being a writer is thateverything is interesting.”

 

A Writer's Moment: A poem should 'Be'

A Writer's Moment: A poem should 'Be':   “What is more important in a library than anything else - than everything else - is the fact that it exists.”  – Archibald MacLeish   ...

A poem should 'Be'

 

“What is more important in a librarythan anything else - than everything else - is the fact that it exists.” –Archibald MacLeish

 

MacLeish, born in Glencoe, IL on May7, 1892, has been called “One of the hundred most influential figures in librarianshipduring the 20th century.” As the 9th U.S. Librarian of Congress – apost he held for 5 years – he was instrumental in establishing the U.S. PoetLaureate position, which he himself easily could have held, being the winner oftwo Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry.  He alsowon a Pulitzer for his Tony-winning Broadway play J.B. – a modernday re-telling of the Book of Job.

 

“Poetry,” he said, “is concernedwith feelings; the ‘feel’ of the world.”  For Saturday’s Poem, here are lines from MacLeish’s,

 

Ars Poetica

Apoem should be wordless a sthe flight of birds.

Apoem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs

A poem should be equal to:
Not true.

For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf.

For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea –

A poem should not mean
But be.

Strive 'to be the talent'

 

“People set newspapers on fire; theyuse them for wrapping fish. The Internet does not have that property. What Idon't think we've gotten is that you can make things last longer than inprint.” – Ezra Klein

 

 Born on this date in 1984,Klein is a reporter, blogger, political commentator and columnist for TheNew York Times, host of The Ezra Klein Show podcast, and co-founderthe explanatory news site Vox Media.  

 

A native of California who studiedjournalism at UC-Santa Cruz, Klein is the son of a college professor and aprofessional artist and “grew up writing.”  The Washington Post’s first“pure” blogger, he was hired at age 25 and was one of the first bloggers toreport from a national political convention.

 

Klein has won numerous awards forhis political commentary and also for histhought-provoking book Why We’re Polarized.  

 

From his own experience, he offers this advice for beginning writers and podcasters: “Try to get thejob that's most like the job you want, rather than the one that's moreprestigious. Always try to be the talent.”

A Writer's Moment: Strive 'to be the talent'

A Writer's Moment: Strive 'to be the talent':   “People set newspapers on fire; they use them for wrapping fish. The Internet does not have that property. What I don't think we'v...

'Looking straight at the world'

 

“Fiction should be about moraldilemmas that are so bloody difficult that the author doesn't know theanswer.” – Patricia Barker

 

Born on this date in 1943, Barker isan English writer whose Regeneration Trilogy collectively hasbeen cited among the 10 Best Historical Fiction works in all of Englishliterature.  The Trilogy – Regeneration, The Eye in the Door, andThe Ghost Road – explores the history of the First World War by focusing onthe aftermath of trauma.   Ghost Road also was cited for theprestigious Booker Prize, awarded annually for the best single work of Englishlanguage fiction.

 

A native of Yorkshire, Barker wasfocused on a career in international history before turning to writing in hermid-30s.  After early failures (her first 3 novels were rejected),she broke onto the scene in 1982 with Union Street, winner of theFawcett Society Award for Fiction   She thenwon the Guardian Fiction Prize for Eye in the Door before settingout to write the “Regeneration” books.   

 

She’s now authored 16 books, themost recent being 2024’s The Voyage Home, in her “Trojan War Series.”

   

“When writing about historicalcharacters I try to be as accurate as possible and, in particular, notmisrepresent the view they held.   With areal historical figure you (must) be fair,” she noted. 

 

“Looking straight at the world ispart of your duty as a writer.”