Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 374
March 13, 2019
A Writer's Moment: Implementing The 'Sleuthing' Gene
A Writer's Moment: Implementing The 'Sleuthing' Gene: “We're all amateur investigators. We scan bookshelves, we ogle trinkets left out in the open, we calculate the cost of furniture and s...
Ah, That Crafty 'Sleuthing' Gene
“We're all amateur investigators. We scan bookshelves, we ogle trinkets left out in the open, we calculate the cost of furniture and study the photographs on display; sometimes we even check out the medicine cabinet.”– Lisa Lutz
Born in Southern California on this date in 1970, Lutz attended several colleges and universities without getting a degree, worked in a number of low-paying jobs, and then got started writing with an idea for a screenplay, which ultimately became the basis for a best-selling series of novels. It was while working for a private investigation firm that she started writing the screenplay for a dark Mob-type comedy called “Plan B.”
Ultimately published as the novel The Spellman Files, her book is about a family of private investigators named Spellman, who, while very close knit, are also intensely suspicious and spend much time investigating each other. That first book – nominated for half-dozen awards – led to 6 books in the series, all honored with multiple honors. In addition to the Spellman books, she’s authored a children’s book and several stand-alone thriller/mystery books, including the 2017 hit The Passenger. Known for both her humor and attention to detail, she said, “My writing process is chaos. I usually start with an overarching theme. Then I establish several story threads, but I don't outline. I just start writing and keep notes for what may come. It's an organic process that's usually pretty flexible.”
Share A Writer’s Moment with a friend at http://writersmoment.blogspot.com
Implementing The 'Sleuthing' Gene
“We're all amateur investigators. We scan bookshelves, we ogle trinkets left out in the open, we calculate the cost of furniture and study the photographs on display; sometimes we even check out the medicine cabinet.”– Lisa Lutz
Born in Southern California on this date in 1970, Lutz attended several colleges and universities without getting a degree, worked in a number of low-paying jobs, and then got started writing with an idea for a screenplay, which ultimately became the basis for a best-selling series of novels. It was while working for a private investigation firm that she started writing the screenplay for a dark Mob-type comedy called “Plan B.”
Ultimately published as the novel The Spellman Files, her book is about a family of private investigators named Spellman, who, while very close knit, are also intensely suspicious and spend much time investigating each other. That first book – nominated for half-dozen awards – led to 6 books in the series, all honored with multiple honors. In addition to the Spellman books, she’s authored a children’s book and several stand-alone thriller/mystery books, including the 2017 hit The Passenger. Known for both her humor and attention to detail, she said, “My writing process is chaos. I usually start with an overarching theme. Then I establish several story threads, but I don't outline. I just start writing and keep notes for what may come. It's an organic process that's usually pretty flexible.”
Share A Writer’s Moment with a friend at http://writersmoment.blogspot.com
March 12, 2019
A Writer's Moment: Tuirning On Those Writing Lights
A Writer's Moment: Tuirning On Those Writing Lights: “Once I started to write, it was like all the lights came on. I was always making up stories in my head. I was a daydr...
Tuirning On Those Writing Lights
“Once I started to write, it was like all the lights came on. I was always making up stories in my head. I was a daydreamer. I didn't start as a child, but once I started, I couldn't stop. It was compulsive.” – Sandra Brown
Born on this date in 1948, Brown is the bestselling author of both romantic novels and thriller suspense novels under her own name and the pen names Rachel Ryan, Laura Jordan, and Erin St. Claire. She is the only writer to win both the Romance Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award and the International Thriller Writers “Thrillermaster” Award.
Born in Waco, TX, Brown grew up in Fort Worth where she studied at Texas Christian University, majoring in English before leaving college to get married in 1968 to Michael Brown, a former television news anchor and award-winning documentarian (for Dust to Dust).
A news reporter for many years, she started creative writing in the early 1980s after her husband dared her to give it a try. Since then she’s published more than 70 books, 50 of which have hit the New York Times’ Bestseller List including her 2018 smash hit Tailspin. “When I set out to write,” she said, “I see it very visually. I almost feel like a reporter. I'm relating what I'm seeing and hearing, so it's kind of watching a play for me.”
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March 11, 2019
A Writer's Moment: That Great 'Last Page'
A Writer's Moment: That Great 'Last Page': “ Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it’s a letdown, they won’t buy anymore. The first ...
That Great 'Last Page'
“Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it’s a letdown, they won’t buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book.” – Mickey Spillane
Mickey was a master of “getting to the destination.” Born in Brooklyn, NY, in March 1918 as Frank Morrison Spillane, “Mickey” created one of the most memorable of characters, the hard-boiled detective Mike Hammer. At the height of his popularity in 1980, Spillane (who died in 2006) had a remarkable 7 of the year’s 15 top-selling fiction books.
Like many great writers, he used “life experiences” as background for his own work, starting during his high school days in New Jersey. His jobs included a time with the circus, lifeguarding, meatcutting, bartending and flying – something that led to time in the Army Air Corps during World War II.Spillane said he was “a writer not an author” who also loved to read, especially about history. “I think a lot of authors like history,” he said, “because they want to be part of it.”
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March 10, 2019
A Writer's Moment: Now That's Genius
A Writer's Moment: Now That's Genius: “What is genius but the power of expressing a new individuality?” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning Born this week in March in 1806, Eliza...
March 9, 2019
A Writer's Moment: The 'Genius' of Her Poems
A Writer's Moment: The 'Genius' of Her Poems: “What is genius but the power of expressing a new individuality?” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning Born this week in ...
Now That's Genius
“What is genius but the power of expressing a new individuality?”– Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Born this week in March in 1806, Elizabeth Barrett burst onto the British arts scene in 1844 with her first poetic volume, simply titled Poems. Not only did it bring her great success, but it also attracted the admiration of writer Robert Browning. Their courtship and correspondence, including the poem “How Do I Love Thee,” and marriage were carried out in secret, for fear of her father's disapproval, and as she feared, he disinherited her following their marriage.
But she went on to become one of the most admired and successful poets in the world, living with Browning in Italy until her death in 1861. For Saturday’s Poem, here is her well-known and often-quoted sonnet, How Do I Love Thee
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, -- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! -- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
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