Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 357

'Life Is About Not Knowing'

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end.”– Gilda Radner
One of the joys in my life has been knowing Joan Licursi, among the longtime leaders of Gilda’s Club in New York City – an institute set up in the name of Gilda Radner to insure that no one has to face the ravages of cancer alone.   Radner was born on this date in 1946 and after her death from cancer in 1989, family and friends founded Gilda’s Club, both in her memory and to help others with the disease.                                              The organization took its name from Radner's comment that cancer gave her "membership to an elite club I'd rather not belong to.”  Radner's story can be read in her inspiring, humorous and heart-wrenching book, It's Always Something, written after her diagnosis with the illness.   Gilda’s Club has become a global network serving multi-thousands of victims and their families.
“While we have the gift of life, it seems to me the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die - whether it is our spirit, our creativity or our glorious uniqueness,” Radner once said.   “Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.”

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A Writer's Moment: 'Life Is About Not Knowing'

A Writer's Moment: 'Life Is About Not Knowing': “I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a...

It's the 'Rhythm' of Each Sentence

“Read everything, write all the time.  And if you can do anything else that gives you equal pleasure and allows you to sleep soundly at night, do that instead.  The writing life is an odd one, to say the least.”– Alice McDermott
Born in Brooklyn, NY, on this date in 1953, McDermott is a writer of numerous short stories and 8 novels as well as  Professor of Humanities at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.  All of her novels have earned accolades and awards, led by Charming Billy, for which she won both the American Book Award and  the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. 
The product of  Catholic elementary and high schools, she studied at state universities after that, earning degrees in English and writing.  Prior to her current position, she served aswriter-in-residence at both Lynchburg College and Hollins College in Virginia and was lecturer in English at the University of New Hampshire, where she earned her Master’s degree.            Her short stories have appeared in a wide variety of magazines, journals and newspapers including Redbook, The New Yorker, and Seventeen, The New York Times and The Washington Post.   What makes writing click for her?
“I've got to hear the rhythm of the sentences; I want the music of the prose. I want to see ordinary things transformed not by the circumstances in which I see them but by the language with which they're described,” she said.  “That's what I love when I read.”


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A Writer's Moment: It's the 'Rhythm' of Each Sentence

A Writer's Moment: It's the 'Rhythm' of Each Sentence: “Read everything, write all the time.   And if you can do anything else that gives you equal pleasure and allows you t...

A Writer's Moment: A Writers' Role Model

A Writer's Moment: A Writers' Role Model: “Armenian folklore has it that three apples fell from Heaven: one for the teller of a story, one for the listener, and...

A Writers' Role Model

“Armenian folklore has it that three apples fell from Heaven: one for the teller of a story, one for the listener, and the third for the one who 'took it to heart.' What a pity Heaven awarded no apple to the one who wrote the story down.”– Nancy Willard
Willard, born in Ann Arbor, MI, on this date in 1936, was a novelist, poet and both author and illustrator of children’s books and won the coveted Newbery Medal for her combination poetry-prose children’s book A Visit To William Blake’s Inn.
After growing up “surrounded by stories and storytellers,” she studied writing at the University of Michigan, where she earned both her B.A. and Ph.D.  (sandwiched around a Master’s degree from Stanford).   She started her career by teaching writing at Vassar and then branched off to her writing, particularly children’s and young adult books, combining writing and teaching throughout her life.   Over the years she authored 4 novels, 4 nonfiction books, 18 books of poetry, and a remarkable 43 children’s books, the last one, Gum, published just months before her death in 2017.           Among her many awards besides the Newbery Medal were an O.Henry Prize, 2 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowships, and a Devins Award for Poetry.
“When I was growing up,” Willard said,  “I loved stories in which a girl sets out on a quest to rescue the prince instead of the other way around.”



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A Writer's Moment: You Gotta Show Up For Work

A Writer's Moment: You Gotta Show Up For Work: “I don't teach writing. I teach patience. Toughness. Stubbornness. The willingness to fail. I teach life. The odd ...

You Gotta Show Up For Work

“I don't teach writing. I teach patience. Toughness. Stubbornness. The willingness to fail. I teach life. The odd thing is most of the things that stop an inexperienced writer are so far from the truth as to be nearly beside the point. When you feel global doubt about your talent, that is your talent. People who have no talent don't have any doubt.” – Richard Bausch 
Born at Fort Benning, GA 1945, Bausch now makes his home in southern California where he is a professor of writing at Chapman University and an award-winning writer of short stories, novels and poetry.                                 Among his numerous awards are a Guggenheim, the PEN/Faulkner for Excellence in Short Story Writing, and a W.Y. Boyd for Excellence in Military Writing for his multiple-award winning historical novel Peace.
His advice for those who aspire to writing:  “Write a little bit every day, each day. Visit it, every day - in other words, show up for work.”
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Shaking Up The 'Familiar'

“The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.” – Anaïs Nin
Anaïs Nin was largely ignored as a writer until the 1960s. Today she is regarded as one of the leading women writers of the 20th Century and a source of inspiration for all who challenge conventionally defined gender roles.
Born in 1903 to Cuban parents living in France, she spent some years in both Spain and Cuba before living most of her life in the United States where she honed her writing skills through her journals,   meticulously kept from age 11 until her death at age 74.   Nin is yet another great example of the value of journal writing and how it can not only shape one's writing, but also provide a mirror on the day-to-day happenings of the world around us.                      “It is the function of art and writing to renew our perception,” she said.  “What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it.”


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A Writer's Moment: Shaking Up The 'Familiar'

A Writer's Moment: Shaking Up The 'Familiar': “The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.” – Anaïs Nin Anaïs Nin was...