Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 360
June 9, 2019
Immersing Each Reader
“The greatest gift is our own eyes, sense of smell, and abilities to deduce.”– Patricia Cornwell
Born in Florida on this date in 1956, Cornwell has authored more than 30 books, including 24 in the Scarpetta series. Often credited with being the first writer in the forensic crime genre, her writing was a major influence on the development of shows like CSI and its subsequent CSI spinoffs as well as shows like True Crime and Cold Case Files.
Cornwell started writing as a journalist at the Charlotte (NC) Observer where she was assigned the crime beat. After adding more life experiences that would shape her fiction – working in the office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia and for the Richmond Police Department – she turned to creative writing in the mid-1980s. After 3 novels that essentially went nowhere, her breakthrough came with Postmortem, the first to feature forensic investigator and medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta.
To date her books have sold well over 100 million copies and won her numerous writing awards, including the coveted Sherlock Award for development of the best detective character. She writes in first person, because “It makes the reader feel as if he or she is the one solving the crime.” She said she enjoys the company of bright people from whom she draws inspiration. “Being with someone who is smart and gives good advice adds tremendously wonderful elements to your life.” Writer’s Moment with a friend at http://writersmoment.blogspot.com
A Writer's Moment: Immersing Each Reader
A Writer's Moment: Immersing Each Reader: “The greatest gift is our own eyes, sense of smell, and abilities to deduce.” – Patricia Cornwell Born in Florida...
June 8, 2019
A Writer's Moment: A Writer's Resources
A Writer's Moment: A Writer's Resources: “A writer - and, I believe, generally all persons - must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All ...
A Writer's Resources
“A writer - and, I believe, generally all persons - must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.” – Jorge Luis Borges
Borges, born in 1899, was an Argentine essayist, short story writer and poet who knew the value and power of the things within our “personal” world and how beneficial they could be to him as a writer. For Saturday’s Poem, here are Borges’ thoughts on that topic, vividly portrayed in his award-winning poem, ThingsMy walking stick, small change, key ring, The docile lock and the belatedNotes my few days left will grant No time to read, the cards, the table,A book, in its pages, that pressedViolet, the leavings of an afternoonDoubtless unforgettable, forgotten,The reddened mirror facing to the west Where burns illusory dawn. Many things,Files, sills, atlases, wineglasses, nails,Which serve us, like unspeaking slaves,So blind and so mysteriously secret!They’ll long outlast our oblivion;And never know that we are gone.Share A Writer’s Moment with a friend at http://writersmoment.blogspot.com
June 6, 2019
A Writer's Moment: The Writer's Main Task
A Writer's Moment: The Writer's Main Task: “The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.” – Thomas Mann Born in Lubeck, Germany on this date in...
The Writer's Main Task
“The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.”– Thomas Mann
Born in Lubeck, Germany on this date in 1875, Mann was a journalist, novelist, short story writer, philanthropist and essayist who started writing in the mid-1890s while living in Munich.
His creative writing career, which became wildly successful with his first novel Buddonbrooks – about a merchant family and reflective of his own childhood roots – was marked primarily by his short stories, which also were popular throughout his lifetime and continue to be studied in writing classes today.
Winner of the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature, Mann became one of the most outspoken critics of Adolph Hitler and the Nazis and ultimately fled to Czechoslovakia and then the United States. One of the most prominent anti-Nazi spokespersons during World War II, he ultimately became a naturalized American citizen and lived in the U.S. until shortly before his death in Switzerland in 1955.While he relished his role as a writer, he said he often struggled, particularly “finding the right words” to express the ideas he had formulated. “A writer,” he said, “is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
Writer’s Moment with a friend at http://writersmoment.blogspot.com
June 5, 2019
'Everything Is Possible'
“When nothing is sure, everything is possible.” – Margaret Drabble
Drabble was born in England on this date in 1939, the daughter of novelist John F. and teacher Kathleen Drabble, thus growing up in a household filled with books, reading and advocacy on behalf of social causes.
The author of some two dozen books, including19 novels, she has won numerous awards, including the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize for The Millstone and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Jerusalem The Golden. She also was honored in 2011 by England’s PEN chapter with its “Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature" award. Drabble’s realistic descriptions of her protagonists sometimes have been inspired by her own life. Her early works were about the conflicts young women often face between career choice and motherhood, and in her later years she has depicted an aging novelist and her challenges. She also has written several screenplays, plays and short stories, as well as non-fiction such as A Writer's Britain: Landscape and Literature.
Her advice to new writers: “You have to be careful what you imagine, because the act of imagining is the act of encouraging yourself to be a certain kind of person.”
Writer’s Moment with a friend at http://writersmoment.blogspot.com
A Writer's Moment: 'Everything Is Possible'
A Writer's Moment: 'Everything Is Possible': “When nothing is sure, everything is possible.” – Margaret Drabble Drabble was born in England on this date in...
June 4, 2019
A Writer's Moment: Life Experiences Into Words
A Writer's Moment: Life Experiences Into Words: “I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more po...
Life Experiences Into Words
“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.” – Robert Fulghum
Fulghum – author of the mega-bestseller Everything I Needed To Know I Learned in Kindergarten – was born this date in 1937 in Waco, Tex. He speaks and writes from his many life experiences which have included work as a ditch-digger, newspaper carrier, ranch hand, IBM salesman, singing cowboy … and being a child. It was my great good fortune to spend a day with this interesting and thoughtful writer, serving as his host and driver when he came to speak at a college where I worked.
I remember vividly how he walked out in front of a boistrous crowd of about 1,000 students and held up his hands saying “Anyone here know this song?” Then he began humming the tune to “Itsy Bitsy Spider” while making the climbing up the waterspout movements. Within seconds nearly every student had stopped talking and started either singing or humming while making the spider climbing movements with their own hands. They were mesmerized by his actions, and shortly after by his words.
Fulghum told me he started writing to further share thoughts and ideas he utilized in his current “day job,” which was being a minister. “I think,” he said in his understated manner, “my writing is part of my ministry.” Writer’s Moment with a friend at http://writersmoment.blogspot.com
