Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 46

A Writer's Moment: 'A bridge across our fears'

A Writer's Moment: 'A bridge across our fears':   "Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives.  It lays the foundations for a future of change...

A Writer's Moment: 'Falling in love with imagination'

A Writer's Moment: 'Falling in love with imagination':   “I have fallen in love with the imagination. And if you fall in love with the imagination, you understand that it is a free spirit. It wil...

'Falling in love with imagination'

 

“I have fallen in love with theimagination. And if you fall in love with the imagination, you understand thatit is a free spirit. It will go anywhere, and it can do anything.” –Alice Walker

 

Born into a sharecropping family inrural Georgia on this date in 1944, Walker has authored 17 books of fiction, anda dozen each of poetry and nonfiction. She is the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize inFiction for her multi-award winning novel The Color Purple.   

 

“I started writing as a child. But Ididn't think of myself actually writing until I was in college (at prestigiousSarah Lawrence in New York),” she said.  Right out of college she dived rightinto the writing world, working for Ms. Magazine while also devotingcopious amounts of time to the Civil Rights Movement.  Her first book of poems, Once, waspublished in 1968 and her first novel, The Third Life of Grange Copeland,came out in 1970.   

 

Influenced by the work of Zora NealeHurston, Walker is credited with bringing renewed attention to Hurston's writingsand helping revive the popularity and respect Hurston first received during the1920s.   And ’s Walker’s continued to be a tireless advocate for socialjustice.

   

“I think that all people who feelthat there is injustice in the world anywhere should learn as much of it asthey can bear,” she said.  “That is our duty.”

A Writer's Moment: Simply 'born a writer'

A Writer's Moment: Simply 'born a writer':   “Every reader re-creates a novel - in their own imagination, anyway. It's only entirely the writer's when nobody else has read it....

Simply 'born a writer'

 

“Every reader re-creates a novel -in their own imagination, anyway. It's only entirely the writer's when nobodyelse has read it.” – Susan Hill

 

Born in Scarborough, England on Feb.5, 1942 Hill is the award-winning author of dozens of “mostly ghost stories.”Among her works are The Woman in Black, The Mist in theMirror, and I'm the King of the Castle, for which she receivedthe Somerset Maugham Award – a really cool award that can only be used forforeign travel to do more research for your writing.  She has wonnumerous prestigious literary awards and in 2020 was named Dame Commander ofthe (Order of the) British Empire (DBE) in recognition of her services to andimpact on English literature.  

 

Hill's novels are written in adescriptive gothic style, relying on suspense and atmosphere to createimpact.  In 2005 she had the wonderful idea of creating a series ofcrime novels featuring detective Simon Serrailler, beginning with TheVarious Haunts of Men.  Subsequently, she has written 14 of theseterrific crime mysteries with an infused “chill” factor, the most recent being AChange of Circumstance.

 

Saying that she thought she must have been born a writer, she has authored 32novels, 10 nonfiction books, 6 short story collections, 13 children’s books and5 plays.

 

 “I was never really good at anything else,”she said of her writing skills.  “I had no other option.  I could write; Iwanted to write; I wrote.  Otherwise, I was unemployable.” 

 

'Over Perform; Over Achieve'

 

“I believe in the concept of‘over-performing.’  I believe anyone can achieve their goals in lifeif they over-perform, and that means you have to work ten times harder thananybody you see.” – Stephen J. Cannell

 

Born in Los Angeles on Feb. 5, 1941 Cannellwas one of television’s most successful writers and producers who also became one of the country’s best mystery writers before his death in2010.  

 

Because he was dyslexic, Cannell learnedto do “great dictation,” which led to his scripting more than 450 shows andproducing 1,500 separate episodes of the nearly 40 television series hecreated.  Among his biggest successes were The RockfordFiles, 21 Jump Street and The Commish.

 

He began writing mystery novels in 1996 withthe best-selling The Plan.  And in 2000, he introduced the character Shane Scully, a streetwise LAPDdetective who followed his instincts and played by his own rules to catchcriminals.  By the time of his death,Cannell had featured Scully in 10 best-selling novels. 

 

Also an occasional actor, Cannellparticipated in several “art imitating life” segments on the show Castle, appearingas himself in poker games with the fictional Richard Castle and other real lifemystery writers James Patterson and Michael Connelly.  Once, Castle’sdetective partner Kate Beckett joined them and “won” their poker showdown, muchto the writers’ dismay.

 

Cannell said having a support system of family or fellow writers is a huge asset for anyone wanting to be a writer.  “My parents werealways encouraging and told me they were behind me, whether or not I madeit.  And my wife (Marcia, his high school sweetheart who was marriedto him for 46 years) was always there for me –  through successes and failures.”  Although the latter were few and far between. 

A Writer's Moment: 'Over Perform; Over Achieve'

A Writer's Moment: 'Over Perform; Over Achieve':   “I believe in the concept of ‘over-performing.’  I believe anyone can achieve their goals in life if they over-perform, and that means you...

'The smart way versus the fun way'

 

“Often, when you look at history,at least through the lens that many of us have looked at history - high schooland college courses - a lot of the color gets bled out of it. You're left witha time period that does not look as strange and irrational as the time you'reactually living through.” –Karen Joy Fowler

 

Born in Indiana in February of1950, Fowler studied Political Science, then took dance classes with an eye onbecoming a classical dancer before trying her hand at writing and realizing thatwas the right career path.  Although she might bebest known for her mega-bestselling novel The Jane Austen Book Club,she started her career with short stories, beginning with the award-winning“Recalling Cinderella.” 

 

After 10 years of short storywriting, she published her first novel, Sarah Canary, to criticalacclaim, winning the prestigious James Tiptree, Jr. Award in theprocess.  That literary prize is given for science fiction or fantasythat "expands or explores our understanding of gender."  SarahCanary focuses on a group of people experiencing a peculiar kind of“first contact.”   Fowler said she wrote the book to "readlike a science fiction novel to a science fiction reader" and "like amainstream novel to a mainstream reader,” leaving it to each individualreader’s interpretation. 

 

Fowler’s career has been marked byher willingness to try several different genres, particularly Science Fiction,Fantasy and Literary Fiction.   “The smart way to build aliterary career is you create an identifiable product, then reliably producethat product so people know what they are going to get,” shesaid.  “That's the smart way to build a career, but not the fun way.Maybe you can think about being less successful and happier. That's an option,too.”

 

 

 

A Writer's Moment: 'The smart way versus the fun way'

A Writer's Moment: 'The smart way versus the fun way':   “Often, when you look at history, at least through the lens that many of us have looked at history - high school and college courses - a l...

'In love with language'

 

“A poet is, before anything else, aperson who is passionately in love with language.” – W.H. Auden

 

Born in England in February of1907, Auden was a prolific writer, penning some 400 poems, including seven longpoems (two of them book-length), 400-plus essays and reviews, and a number ofplays and screenplays, several in partnership with other leading writers of thetime.  He also wrote many opera libretti and musicalcollaborations.    For Saturday’s Poem, here is Auden’s,

 

                                             TheMore Loving One

                                 Looking up atthe stars, I know quite well
                                 That,for all they care, I can go to hell,
                                 But onearth indifference is the least
                                 We haveto dread from man or beast.

                                 Howshould we like it were stars to burn
                                 With apassion for us we could not return?
                                 If equalaffection cannot be,
                                 Let themore loving one be me.

                                 Admireras I think I am
                                 Of starsthat do not give a damn,
                                 Icannot, now I see them, say
                                 I missedone terribly all day.

                                 Were allstars to disappear or die,
                                 I shouldlearn to look at an empty sky
                                And feelits total dark sublime,
                                Thoughthis might take me a little time.