Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 41
March 10, 2025
'Biding time . . . gets you nowhere'
“If you can't laugh at your owncharacters, or shed a tear for them, or even get angry at one of them, no oneelse will either.” – Johanna Lindsey
Born in Frankfurt, West Germany onthis date in 1952, Lindsey had a legitimate claim as “Queen of Americanhistorical romance writers,” writing more than 60 Number One New YorkTimes bestsellers in the genre, starting with 1977’s Captive Bride. Her last book, Temptation’s Darling,came out just before her death (from lung cancer) in 2019.
Born into a U.S. military family,she had the usual “Army Brat” experience of numerous moves before settling inHawaii, living and writing there and in New England where she died.
Translated into over a dozenlanguages, Lindsey's books span various eras of history, but by far the mostpopular are her stories about the Malory-Anderson family. Set in the 1700s and 1800s, the series ended with2017’s massive bestseller Beautiful Tempest, released about thesame time she was diagnosed with cancer. She didn’t let the illness stopher, writing constantly until her death and releasing 3 more books during thattime.
“Biding time is easy,” Lindsey said, “and getsyou nowhere.”
March 8, 2025
The poetic 'songs of life'
“Whether you listen to a piece ofmusic, or a poem, or look at a picture or a jug, or a piece of sculpture, whatmatters about it is not what it has in common with others of its kind, but whatis singularly its own.” – Basil Bunting
Bunting was born to start thecentury (March of 1900) in which he became one of Great Britain’s mostsignificant modernist poets. He startedwriting poetry as a child, cementing his reputation with his 1966autobiographical masterpiece Briggflatts He wrote and published right up to his deathin 1985.
A lifelong music lover, he oftenemphasized the sonic qualities of poetry and liked reading his poetryaloud. Many recordings of him readingare widely available. For Saturday’sPoem – from Briggflatts – here is Bunting’s,
CODA
Astrong song tows
us, long earsick.
Blind, we follow
rain slant, spray flick
to fields we do not know.
Night, float us.
Offshore wind, shout,
ask the sea
what’s lost, what’s left,
what horn sunk,
what crown adrift?
Where we are who knows
of kings who sup
while day fails? Who,
swinging his axe
to fell kings, guesses
where we go?
A Writer's Moment: The poetic 'songs of life'
March 7, 2025
A Writer's Moment: 'Life . . . As We See It'
'Life . . . As We See It'
“The function of the novelist . . .is to comment upon life as he sees it.” –Frank Norris
Born in Chicago in March of 1870,Norris wrote as a “naturalist,” shocking many readers with his sometimes brutaland graphic depictions.
The author of 11 novels, 3nonfiction books and numerous essays, he is perhaps best known for histrilogy The Octopus, The Pit, and The Wolf -- the latter only partially completed when he suddenly and unexpectedly diedin 1902 from complications while in surgery. The 3 stories follow the journey of a crop of wheat from itsplanting in California to its ultimate consumption as bread in WesternEurope. Along the way, much suffering and death follow the storylineand its key characters as greed and harsh conditions often stand in their way.
Sometimes criticized for hisdepictions of suffering caused by corrupt and greedy turn-of-the-centurycorporate monopolies, he stood solidly behind his writing for both its in-depthresearch and for being morally correct and truthful. And, he is credited with having an impact oninfluential leaders like Theodore Roosevelt, who cited Norris in his efforts toreform the big corporations.
“Truth,” Norris wrote, “is a thing immortal andperpetual, and it gives to us a beauty that fades not away in time.”
March 6, 2025
'It's the carpentry of it all'
“Ultimately, literature is nothingbut carpentry. With both you are working with reality, a material just as hardas wood.” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Colombian novelist, short-storywriter, screenwriter and journalist Marquez, born on this date in 1927, was oneof the most significant authors of the 20th century. Winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize inLiterature, he actually started his career as a journalist, writing manyacclaimed nonfiction works and journalistic short stories before turning tofiction.
Best known for his novels OneHundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, healso was a fierce critic of Colombia’s intense and often corrupt politicalscene and not afraid to skewer politicians in his writings.
He often said the most important influencers on his writingwere American authors William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway. “Faulkneris a writer who has had much to do with my soul,” he said, “but Hemingway isthe one who had the most to do with my craft - not simply for his books, butfor his astounding knowledge of the aspect of craftsmanship in the science of writing.” Marquez was equally lauded by fellowwriters for his keen eye to detail and skill as a master storyteller.
“What matters in life is not whathappens to you,” he said, “but what you remember and how you remember it.”
A Writer's Moment: 'It's the carpentry of it all'
March 5, 2025
'A favorite novel for each stage of life'
“I think ever since I started toread, there have been favorite novels for different stages of my life. And oneis never bumped out of place to yield to another. Instead, I just add to myfavorite shelves.” – Robin Hobb
Born in California on this date in1952 Hobb is actually Margaret Astrid Lindholm, who decided she’d rather beknown by the names Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm whilewriting. Since 1995 she’s written five different series set inthe "Realm of the Elderlings", for which she earned the World Fantasy Award for LifeAchievement in 2021.
Hobb’s initial writing successeswere in children’s stories, writing as Megan Lindholm, the name she continuedusing when she moved into short stories set in the Fantasyworld. But when she decided to go to longer, epic-style Fantasy, shetook on the Robin Hobb title.
Lindholm has lived in Alaska sinceage 10 with just a one-year move to Denver when she started her collegestudies. She has been writing since her teen years and is noted fora style that is built from the main character outward.
“As the character talks and moves,the world around him is slowly revealed, just like dollying a camera back for awider look at things,” she explained. “So all my stories start witha character, and that character introduces setting, culture, conflict,government, economy... all of it, through his or her eyes.”
A Writer's Moment: 'A favorite novel for each stage of life'
March 4, 2025
'Fasten your seat belt and write on'
“I think we have a great deal ofmythology around writing. We believe that only a few people can really do it. Iwrote a book called The Right to Write. In it,I argued that all of us have the capacity to write. That it's as normal towrite as it is to speak.” – Julia Cameron
Born in Libertyville, IL on thisdate in 1948, Cameron has been a teacher, artist, poet, playwright, filmmaker,composer, journalist and author, most famous for her books on writing andcreativity. The Artist's Way, her first book and massivebestseller, came out in 1992 and she has now written a remarkable 36 nonfictionbooks, 2 novels, 6 plays, 4 books of poetry and many short stories, essays andscreenplays.
Bookending her first success, shepublished Living the Artist’s Way: An Intuitive Path to Greater Creativityin 2024 on the heels of another successful “How To” book Write for Life: AToolkit for Writers in 2023.
Cameron started her writing careerat the Washington Post before moving over to RollingStone magazine. It was there that she met director MartinScorsese and after a somewhat tumultuous marriage, they divorced butcontinued a close relationship, including collaborating on three films.
“I have learned, as a rule of thumb,never to ask whether you can do something,” she said. “Say, instead,that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable thingsfollow.“
