Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 454

Using 'The Poetry of Words'

“They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.” – Edgar Allan Poe
Today is the birthdate (in 1809) of writer, editor, and literary critic Edgar Allan Poe, best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre.  Widely regarded as a key figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole, he also was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story.
The first well-known American writer to try to make a living by writing alone, Poe was both successful – and not – having spurts of decent amounts of income followed by periods of destitution.  Ultimately, his lack of income may have been a contributing factor to his early death.  But the actual cause of his death at age 40 has never been determined, and has been the subject of movies and “whodunit?” books.
Poe probably would have liked that.  He enjoyed writing a good mystery and a good detective story.  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in fact, said, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has developed.... Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it?"  The Mystery Writers of America have named their annual awards for excellence, "Edgars.”
His crafting of pieces using “just the right word or turn of phrase” might reflect back to his love                               of language and the poetic uses of words.   He once noted,  “I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of Beauty.”


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Put passion at the heart of your work

“I always tell people, start with what you're passionate about. If you truly are passionate, you'll keep it up.” – Robert Scoble

Good advice, obviously, whether it’s for something you are writing, or for any other project upon which you are embarking.  
Scoble, who celebrates a birthday today, is best known as a blogger and for his blog Scobleizer, which came to prominence during his tenure as a technology evangelist at Microsoft.  Now at UploadVR, he also has worked for Fast Companyas a video blogger, and Rackspace and its sponsored community site Building 43, writing on breakthrough technology.
Born in New Jersey, he grew up in the Silicon Valley – literally in the shadow of Apple’s international headquarters – and studied journalism and mass communications at San Jose State.  He has legions of followers and one piece of advice for would-be bloggers is to always maintain your site and don’t change it.  In addition to his blog and very active use of Twitter, he has written several books including the bestselling Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with  Customers.                                                                                                “Be the authority on your product/company,” Scoble advises.  “You should know more about your product than anyone else alive if you're writing a blog about it.”  In other words: Be Passionate.

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Bringing the 'ordinary' into vivid detail

“You don't need many words if you already know what you're talking about.”– William Stafford 
Stafford, who was born in Kansas on this date in 1914, had a quiet daily ritual of writing, much of it focused on the ordinary, but powerfully presented through his words.   His gentle quotidian style has been compared to that of Robert Frost.
A close friend and collaborator with Minnesota poet Robert Bly, Stafford’s writing career started late in life (he was 46 when he first published).  His writing, though, started privately much earlier and for over 50 years he kept a daily journal until his death in 1993.  Ultimately his journals totaled over 20,000 pages, some published in the 2003 book Every War Has Two Losers.  Stafford’s complete journal collection is maintained by Lewis & Clark College.
A frequent contributor to magazines and journals, Stafford composed some 22,000 poems with over 3,000 appearing in his 57 published books of poetry.   U.S. Poet Laureate James Dickey called Stafford            one of those poets "who pour out rivers of ink, all on good poems."
Stafford said he would love to be able to constantly look at life through a child’s eyes, knowing that the world would always look amazing that way.   “Kids,” he said.  “They dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music.”

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Sharing 'truths' through writing

“The truth is always something that is told, not something that is known. If there were no speaking or writing, there would be no truth about anything. There would only be what is.” – Susan Sontag

Sontag, who was born on this date in 1933, (she died in 2004) was a writer, filmmaker, teacher, and political activist, who was active in writing, speaking about, and travelling to key areas of conflict, including the Vietnam War and the Siege of Sarajevo.  She has been called "one of the most influential critics of her generation."
She also was lauded for her ongoing support of beleaguered Iranian dissident Salmon Rushdie, and as a leading writer on culture, health issues, and AIDS.  Her 1986 short story "The Way We Live Now,” published to great acclaim in The New Yorker, remains a significant text on the AIDS epidemic.
While she wrote mostly nonfiction, her literary career began and ended with fiction, and she especially liked working on historical fiction.  “The past itself, as historical change continues to accelerate, has become the most surreal of subjects - making it possible... to see a new beauty in what is vanishing,” she said.
She achieved popular success as a best-selling novelist in that genre with her late in life works The Volcano Lover and In America.    And she said she enjoyed linking her writing to things she’d discovered in her own life.“I was not looking for my dreams to interpret my life,”                 she once remarked, “but rather for my life to interpret my dreams.”

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A testament to hope and service

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”– Martin Luther King, Jr.
Today, of course, is the birthdate of one of America’s (and the world’s, for that matter) iconic leaders.  We “officially” celebrate it tomorrow, but today is the actual date.  He would have been 88.
Having grown up during the tumultuous times in which he lived and died, I was profoundly affected by his words – both so eloquently spoken and his many written works.  While each and every piece by King deserves a mention, the 1986 book, A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches is one I highly commend to all.
This collection outlines MLK's views on capitalism, poverty, military campaigns, social policies, Black nationalism and much more.  They are writings and thoughts that remain relevant as we face many of the same social and political challenges, providing a road map for each of us to follow. 
“We are not makers of history,” King wrote.                             “We are made by history.”




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Surprised by Inspiration

“Inspiration is always a surprising visitor.” – John O’Donohue
Born on this date in 1956, O’Donohue was an Irish poet, author, priest, and Hegelian philosopher, who died suddenly (and unexplainedly) in 2008.  Both an author and much sought-after speaker and teacher, particularly in the United States, O'Donohue left the priesthood in 2000 and devoted much of his energies to environmental activism.  One of his most-quoted sayings was the simple lines: “I would love to live like a river flows.  Carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.”A book of his essays, The Four Elements, was published             in 2011 and provides an in-depth look at his beliefs and ideals.   “The way you look at things,” he said,  “is the most powerful force in shaping your life.”               For Saturday’s Poem, here is O’Donohue’s,
Your Soul Knows
Your soul knowsthe geography ofyour destiny.  Yoursoul alone has themap of your future,therefore you cantrust thisindirect, obliqueside of yourself.  Ifyou do, it willtake you where youneed to go, butmore importantit will teach you akindness of rhythmin your journey.



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Capturing 'moments' in individual lives

“A story is a kind of biopsy of human life. A story is both local, specific, small, and deep, in a kind of penetrating, layered, and revealing way.”– Lorrie Moore
Marie Lorena “Lorrie” Moore was born on this date in 1958 in Upstate New York.  Primarily a fiction writer who started writing and winning awards as a teenager, she is perhaps best known for her humorous and poignant short stories like the O’Henry Award-winning "People Like That Are the Only People Here."   The story of a young child falling sick is loosely patterned after her own childhood experiences.
Moore is a recipient of the Rea Award for the Short Story, given to a writer who has made ''a significant contribution to the short story form.'' The award, which includes a major cash prize, was set up to encourage short story writing and is given annually to a living American writer.   Among her story collections are Like Life and Birds of America.   Her story ''You're Ugly Too,'' was chosen for ''The Best American Short Stories of the Century,'' edited by John Updike.Currently a professor at Vanderbilt University, Moore                       also has written several novels, including the thought-provoking and thoughtful A Gate at the Stairs, and the terrific children’s book The Forgotten Helper.  She also writes about books, films, and television for The New York Review of Books.     “Writing,” she said, “has to be an obsession.  It's only for those who say, 'I'm not going to do anything else.'“ 



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Sharing the light of 'a meteor'

“I write for no other purpose than to add to the beauty that now belongs to me.”– Jack London   A tireless writer, London was a novelist, journalist, and social activist who was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction.  He also became one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone.
Born on this date in 1876, he is best known today for books like Call of the Wild and White Fang.  But during his relatively short lifetime (he died of mysterious causes at age 40), he was equally well known for his adventurous lifestyle and support of the causes of the everyday workingman.   His books The People of the Abyss and The War of the Classes not only made bestseller lists but also were polarizing tomes in the early part of the 20thcentury.
A native of the West (his San Francisco home burned during the devastating 1906 earthquake), he worked as a seaman and gold prospector before starting writing as a correspondent for the San Francisco Examiner, which then hired him to do reporting from war zones like the 1904 Russo-Japanese war.  That writing led to his work as a short story writer for magazines and becoming known for his raucous lifestyle. 
“London's true métier was the short story ... London's true genius lay in the short form, 7,500 words and under,” wrote Western Historian Dale Walker.  His story To Build A Fire is considered a masterpiece of the genre.As for his lifestyle and writing style, he wrote,                       “I would rather be known as a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.”
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Making patterns out of chaos

“What underlies great science is what underlies great art, whether it is visual or written, and that is the ability to distinguish patterns out of chaos.”– Diana Gabaldon
It was my good fortune to talk with and listen to what makes for good writing from bestselling author Diana Gabaldon at the Historical Novel Society’s international conference where both of us were on the speaking docket.  Born on this date in 1952, Gabaldon is probably                best known for her Outlander series, which merge multiple genres and feature elements of historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure and science fiction/fantasy. 
Gabaldon (she said you pronounce her last name so that it rhymes with “Bad to the bone”) noted that just like you can read a book anywhere, as a writer you have the opportunity to write anywhere, too.  With an old-fashioned notepad or a laptop computer at hand, you can just start writing.  She also said she likes to write late at night.   “I'm awake and nobody bothers me. It's quiet and things come and talk to me in the silence.”  A native Arizonan, she holds a Ph.D. from Northern Arizona University and also is founding editor of Science Software Quarterly.  She was a professor at Arizona State before turning to writing full time in the 1990s.  Her award-winning books are out in 24 languages worldwide.  The Outlanderseries also has spawned the popular Starz television series Outlander, for which she serves as a consultant.
As for her “best approach” to writing, she said she doesn’t plot out her books ahead of time.  “I don't plan them. I don't begin at the beginning and end at the end. I don't work with an outline,” she said.  “And I don't work in a straight line.”


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A home for the extraordinary

“Now I think poetry will save nothing from oblivion, but I keep writing about the ordinary because for me it's the home of the extraordinary, the only home.” – Philip Levine

Born on this date in 1928, Levine (who died in 2015) was best known for his poems about working-class Detroit.  A Pulitzer Prize winner and onetime U.S. Poet Laureate, Levine also taught for more than 30 years in the English department of California State University, Fresno.  
The son of auto workers, Levine started his own working life in an auto plant, but then took night classes at Wayne State and eventually turned to poetry as his writing outlet.  Since he had grown up in working class neighborhoods, they became his primary focus.  “I write what’s given me to write,” he said.  “Memory has always been fundamental for me.  In fact, remembering what I had forgotten is the way most of the poems get started.”
As for advice to would-be poets, he noted, “Meet some people who care about poetry the way you do. You'll have that readership. Keep going until you know you're doing work that's worthy. And then see what happens. That's my advice.”
                                                                               For a look at the diverse poetic writings of Levine, visit the website: http://www.poemhunter.com/philip-levine/



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