Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 509

Filling the spaces in between

“Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.”                                                                                                            – Aldous Huxley Best known for Brave New World, considered by most critics as one of the ten best English language novels of the 20th Century, and for the non-fiction book The Doors of Perception, Huxley was born this day in 1894 in London to a family of writers and educators.  
He was already writing as a young teen and by his early 20s was editing the distinguished magazine Oxford Poetry at a time when others his age were still finishing their studies or interviewing for positions. He had dozens of short stories and poetry pieces published before age 30, then switched to novels, all successful though none so much as Brave New World in 1931.  Following the novel’s immense success, he started traveling the world and writing about that.  His travel books are among the best ever written.  He finished his career as a television and film scriptwriter in the United States, where he lived until his death in 1963.     His writing was focused on “that space between things known and unknown.  In between are the doors of perception.”   [image error]Aldous HuxleyHuxley was widely acknowledged as one of the pre-eminent intellectuals of his time and was nominated no fewer than seven times for the Nobel Prize in Literature.  Of Brave New World, he said he wrote it out of fear that mankind would lose individual identity in the future and needed to be prepared.  “The most distressing thing that can happen to a prophet is to be proved wrong,” he said.  “The next most distressing thing is to be proved right.”
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Wise words from a wise chief

To A Grandchild

Heed the days
when the rain flows freely,
in their greyness
lies the seed of much thought
The sky hangs low
and paints new colors
on the earth.
 
After the rain
the grass will shed its moisture,
the fog will lift from the trees,
a new light will brighten the sky
and play in the drops
that hang on all things.
Your heart will beat out
a new gladness
- if you let it happen.
 
In the midst of a land
without silence
you have to make a place for yourself.
Those who have worn out
their shoes many times
know where to step.
It is not their shoes
you can wear
only their footsteps
you may follow,
- if you let it happen.

       - Chief Dan George 
                  [image error]


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Let your heart soar!

Today is the anniversary of the birth of a great Native American leader, environmentalist, poet, essayist AND actor.  Chief Dan George, born in 1899, became a household name in the 1960s and '70s with his poetry and his acting, especially in the award-winning 1970 Dustin Hoffman film Little Big Man.
I was in the military in Europe at the time and my wife and I were traveling in Denmark when the movie reached that country.  We saw it on a Danish screen (it was in English with Danish subtitles and it was weird how we found ourselves trying to read the Danish -- which we could not, of course -- even though we could clearly hear the words).
 [image error]Chief Dan George
George, who was born in Canada and served as chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, a coastal band located in North Vancouver, B.C., played Cheyenne chief Old Lodge Skins in this major acting role after having done a few roles on TV and in smaller movies beginning at age 60.  He was 71 when he accepted the Little Big Man role.  For his efforts he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won many other awards from almost every major organization that judges films and acting. 
His famous line in the movie was “My heart soars like a hawk,” based in part on his poem “My heart soars,” which is his best-known written work.  The poem was recited by Canadian born actor Donald Sutherland at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. 
My Heart SoarsThe beauty of the trees, the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass ... speaks to me.
The summit of the mountain, the thunder of the sky,
The rhythm of the sea ... speaks to me.
The faintness of the stars, the freshness of the morning,
the dewdrop on the flower ... speaks to me.
The strength of the fire, the taste of salmon, the trail of the sun,
and the life that never goes away ... they speak to me.
And my heart soars. 

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It's the words that matter most

“Lyrics are kind of the whole thing; it's the message. Something might have a beautiful melody but if it's not the truth coming out of your mouth, it's not appealing.” – Alison Krauss
Often credited with reviving America’s interest in bluegrass through her writing of the score of the wonderful movie O Brother Where Art Thou?, Alison Krauss was born to be a singer, songwriter and entertainer extraordinaire.  A violinist at age 5, and competition fiddler by age 8, she had her first recording at age 14, already the lead fiddler by then with a group that was to become Union Station – the band she still performs with today.   And while her fiddling is almost unsurpassed, her singing, as they say “ain’t too shabby either.”
She has released 14 albums, appeared on numerous soundtracks, and won dozens of awards, including 28 Grammys, more than any other living performer.  Her creative and heartfelt writing has been lauded in successful movies like the one above and Cold Mountain, which both earned her Academy Award nominations. 
 [image error]Alison Krauss turns 44 today
To jump-start your day and enjoy great music, too, here are two examples of Alison Krauss’ writing, singing and fiddling.  The first is with Union Station on The David Letterman Show, and the second a version of her award-winning hit “Down to the River to Pray” from O Brother Where Art Thou? performed with the Berklee College Gospel Choir.  Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hayb9mZSZDQ  (Lay My Burden Down)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CJfxaWRkNs  (Down to the River to Pray)

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Well..that was then and ...

“Any writer who gives a reader a pleasurable experience is doing every other writer a favor because it will make the reader want to read other books. I am all for it.” – S.E. Hinton
While still in her teens, Hinton became a household name as the author of The Outsiders, her first and most popular novel, set in Oklahoma in the 1960s. She began writing it in 1965 inspired by two rival gangs, the Greasers and the Socs, at Will Rogers High School where she was a senior.  Her desire was to show sympathy toward the Greasers by writing from their point of view.
She marketed it to publishers herself and in 1967 New York City-based Viking Press took a chance on it.  Good idea on their part.  To date, it’s sold 14 million and still sells over 100,000 copies annually.
Since then, book after book by Hinton have been acclaimed for their realism and amazing attention to the details that Young Adults not only identify with but embrace, and they say she is a true spokesperson for their points of view.  America’s YA librarians have agreed, giving her the Margaret A. Edwards Award for her body of work on behalf of youth and young adults.  The librarians noted that in reading Hinton's novels "a young adult may explore the need for independence and simultaneously the need for loyalty and belonging, the need to care for others, and the need to be cared for by them."[image error]

S.E. Hinton near her childhood home  
Her other key works, known now to four generations of YA readers, are That Was Then, This Is Now; and Rumble Fish.  Hinton, who turns 67 today, is a member of the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame, acclaimed for “books that leave a reader both satisfied and wanting more.”
“How a piece ends is very important to me,” she said.   “It's the last chance to leave an impression with the reader, the last shot at 'nailing' it. I love to write ending lines; usually, I know them first and write toward them, but if I knew how they came to me,” she added with a twinkle in her voice,  “I wouldn't tell.”


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Great incubators, journlism and 'just writing'

“I went into journalism to learn the craft of writing and to get close to the world I wanted to write about - police and criminals, the criminal justice system.   I still look at a newspaper as the center of a community.  It's one of the tent poles of the community, and that's not going to be replaced by web sites and blogs.” – Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the crime mysteries of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida.  Majoring in journalism and minoring in creative writing, he excelled at both.  He started his career as a newspaper reporter, working in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale and specializing in the crime beat, of course – Chandler’s influence shining through.  While writing during the height of a murder and violence wave rolling over South Florida, one of his pieces was short-listed for a Pulitzer Prize for features.  That attention landed him a job as a crime reporter in Los Angeles, Chandler’s old stomping grounds.   He wrote for the Los Angeles Timesand then started writing creatively in what would make him a household name – mystery and crime fiction. 
I was first drawn to Connelly’s writing because of his “newspaper style” – concise, to the point, and riveting.  When I read Blood Work, one of the most clever ideas for a mystery I’d seen, I was really hooked.   In it, the protagonist, an FBI detective, receives a donor heart.  After his recovery he’s contacted by the sister of the donor to find out who murdered her, the first time he’s known that his heart came from a murder victim. 
[image error]
Connelly is a master at taking current events and weaving them into his books.  He says he never starts out knowing where a book is headed, “But I have a reasonably good idea.”His books, translated into 39 languages, have garnered every major award for mystery and crime writing, including The Edgar (several times) and the RBA International Award for Crime Writing.   He has served as President of the Mystery Writers of America, and he makes regular appearances as a card-playing partner of Richard Castle on the TV series “Castle.”
Connelly, who turns 59 today, said that besides being a journalist, a great incubator for being a writer is simply to BE a writer.  You need to write.  "Even if it's just one paragraph, write every single day."  Take those writer's moments and write them down.

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Go ahead, give it a shot

I remember in grammar school the teacher asked if anyone had any hobbies. I was the only one with any hobbies and I had every hobby there was... name anything, no matter how esoteric. I could have given everyone a hobby and still had 40 or 50 to take home. – Cormac McCarthy
That, says McCarthy, is why he feels comfortable writing about almost anything. Because as every writer knows, if you have a lot of interests they can be transcribed into your work.   Born this date in 1933, one of McCarthy’s early interests was his Irish heritage and before he was too old, he had his name changed from Charles to Cormac after the legendary Irish King, which coincidentally also means “Son of Charles.”
He gravitated to writing early, making use of his knowledge of so many things.  In addition to many stories, he has written ten novels, spanning everything from the Southern Gothic to Western to Post-Apocalyptic genres.  For his efforts he’s won awards in each, including a Pulitzer Prize for his intense effort in the latter, The Road, a book that also won him the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction.
Many of his books have been made into movies including the Academy Award winning No Country for Old Men.   His All the Pretty Horses, one of my favorites, won both a National Book Award and a National Book Critics Circle Award before being made into a terrific movie.  The Road and Child of God also have been adapted for films.
 [image error] Cormac McCarthy
One of McCarthy’s writing traits – lauded by some, hated by some – is his adamant non-use of quotation marks for dialogue.  He said there is no reason to "blot the page up with weird little marks."   His other “quirk” (if it can be called that) is his non-use of computers.  He’s on his second Olivetti typewriter.  His first, bought for $50 in 1963, was auctioned for over $250,000 in 2009 after he felt it needed more maintenance than he could properly administer (his “cleaning” technique was to blow the dust out with a service station air hose).   He donated the money to charity. 
Always frugal, he got his second Olivetti for $11 and went right to work.  He said he constantly has several things underway.  “Even if what you're working on doesn't go anywhere,” he said,  “it will help you with the next thing you're doing. (As a writer) Make yourself available for something to happen. Give it a shot.”
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That "rainbow" connection!

Here in Colorado this time of year, afternoon thundershowers are prevalent, invariably followed by a stunning rainbow.   So, yesterday when I saw yet one more, I was reminded of the wonderful song “Rainbow Connection,” written by the award winning songwriters Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher.
Many people know, of course, that the song originally was performed by muppet Kermit the Frog (voiced by the late, great Jim Henson) in  the 1979 hit The Muppet Movie(if you haven’t seen that movie, it’s another one of those “Not to be missed” things to put on your list).
Williams and Ascher, both in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, earned Oscar nominations for the movie’s score and this terrific song, which often has been compared with “Over The Rainbow” in The Wizard of Oz exactly 40 years earlier.  Both songs are beautiful, make up the opening scene of their respective movies, and reflect each singer's urge to find something more in life.
"Rainbow Connection" has been recorded by hundreds of artists around the world – everyone from Jason Mraz to Willie Nelson and Sarah McLaughlin to the Yale University Whiffenpoofs and the Cast of “Glee.”  The American Film Institute rated it the 74th greatest movie song of all time – not bad for being sung by a frog.
Here's a version by the late Karen Carpenter, whose voice truly took every song to its highest level.  May you find your own rainbow connection in life and in your writers' moments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTb9-eDmvKQ

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That search for order

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Smith Literary Award for her 1987 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Collected Works,</i> which includes one of her most famous short poems, “In A Garden.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(below)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For an enjoyable and thoughtful afternoon or evening of poetic reading pick up one of these two books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>They will transport you to whatever place about which she is writing.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><img alt="" src="http://writersmoment.blogspot.com/201..." /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Elizabeth Jennings</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In A Garden</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">When the gardener has gone this garden </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Looks wistful and seems waiting an event.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />It is so spruce, a metaphor of Eden </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">And even more so since the gardener went,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Quietly godlike, but of course, he had </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Not made me promise anything and I </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Had no one tempting me to make the bad </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Choice.<br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Yet I still felt lost and wonder why?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />Even the beech tree from next door which shares </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Its shadow with me, seemed a kind of threat.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />Everything was too neat, and someone cares<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the wrong way.<br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> I need not have stood long </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mocked by the smell of a mown lawn, and yet </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I did.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  Sickness</span> for Eden was so strong.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Share A Writer’s Moment with a friend by clicking the g+1 button below.</span></b></div>

Rewrites are acceptable!

“The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. You can always do it better, find the exact word, the apt phrase, the leaping simile.” – Robert Cormier
Author, columnist and reporter, Cormier was known for his brilliantly crafted, yet oftentimes deeply pessimistic, downbeat literature. His most popular works  continue to resonate with his mostly Young Adult audience 15 years after his death.  I Am The Cheese, After the First Death, We All Fall Down and The Chocolate War all won major awards, and  I Am The Cheese is considered one of the best Young Adult novels of the past 75 years.
Robert Cormier[image error]
Cormier began his professional writing career scripting radio commercials and went on to become an award-winning journalist. And even though he became widely known, writing 18 novels and countless short stories, he never stopped writing for his local Massachusetts newspaper, the Fitchburg Sentinel and for those youthful readers who made up the core of his fan base.
“I simply write with an intelligent reader in mind,” he once said.  “I don't think about how old they are or where they might live.  And all the stories I'll ever need are right here on Main Street.” 


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