Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 85

'Writing poems that matter'

 

“Iwant to write poems that matter, that have an interesting point of view.”– Maxine Kumin

Born in Philadelphia on June 6, 1925Kumin - who died in 2014 - said an “introspective” childhood led her to writing poetry early.  Named Poet Laureate by the U.S. Congress, shewon the Pulitzer Prize for Up Country and the Aiken Taylor Award forModern American Poetry.  For Saturday’sPoem, here is Kumin’s, 

 

                                                       In The Park

 

You have forty-nine days between
death and rebirth if you're a Buddhist.
Even the smallest soul could swim
the English Channel in that time
or climb, like a ten-month-old child,
every step of the Washington Monument
to travel across, up, down, over or through
- you won't know till you get there which to do.

He laid on me for a few seconds
said Roscoe Black, who lived to tell
about his skirmish with a grizzly bear
in Glacier Park. He laid on me not doing anything.
I could feel his heart
beating against my heart.
Never mind lie and lay, the whole world
confuses them. For Roscoe Black you might say
all forty-nine days flew by.

I was raised on the Old Testament.
In it God talks to Moses, Noah,
Samuel, and they answer.
People confer with angels. Certain
animals converse with humans.
It's a simple world, full of crossovers.
Heaven's an airy Somewhere, and God
has a nasty temper when provoked,
but if there's a Hell, little is made of it.
No longtailed Devil, no eternal fire,

and no choosing what to come back as.
When the grizzly bear appears, he lies/lays down
on atheist and zealot. In the pitch-dark
each of us waits for him in Glacier Park.

 

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A Writer's Moment: 'What are the great turning points?'

A Writer's Moment: 'What are the great turning points?':   “I like reading history, and actually most authors enjoy the research part because it is, after all, easier than writin...

'What are the great turning points?'

 

“Ilike reading history, and actually most authors enjoy the research part becauseit is, after all, easier than writing.” – Ken Follett

 

Born in Wales on June 5, 1949Follett has arguably carved out the top spot in the world forwriting historical thrillers. Since the publication of his first book Eye of the Needle in 1978 his books have sold nearly 200 million copies.  And most have been (many at 'Number One') on the New York Times Bestseller List, including 2023's The Armour of Light, fifth in his "Kingbridge" Series.

 

While words seem to floweffortlessly from Follett’s pen, he has been a champion for those who strugglewith the reading and writing process.  He supports a wide range of local andinternational organizations that promote literacy, writing and support forthose with maladies like dyslexia. 

 

“Without books I would not havebecome a vivacious reader,” he said, “and if you are not a reader you are not a writer. “                       
 

Follett said he enjoys creating historical fiction.  “I startwith the history and I ask myself, 'What are the great turning points? Whatare the big dramatic scenes that are essential to telling the story?'  I like to create imaginary characters andevents around a real historical situation. I want readers to feel:  ‘Okay,this probably didn’t happen … but (wink, wink) it might have.”  

 

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A Writer's Moment: 'Exploring how thought becomes emotion'

A Writer's Moment: 'Exploring how thought becomes emotion':   “The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.” – Thomas Mann Born in Germany on this date in 1875, ...

'Exploring how thought becomes emotion'

 

“Thetask of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.” –Thomas Mann
Born in Germany on this date in 1875, Mann was the1929 Nobel Prize winner for his symbolic and ironic novels and novellas, notedfor their insight and exemplary development of “the idea.”  Among the first to speak out against both Naziismand Adolph Hitler, he fled Germany to exile to Britain in the mid-1930s.    In 1936 his German citizenship was revoked,and Mann became an even more active crusader against the Nazis, creating aseries of BBC broadcasts speaking out against the repressive regime. 
Becauseof his popularity as a writer and speaker, he was a serious threat to Hitler,prompting the German dictator to put him on his “most wanted” list forexecution if he was ever caught.  It wasthen that Mann relocated to the U.S. where he lived until his death in 1955,continuing his writing of thoughtful and thought-provoking essays.   Mannsaid he loved exploring how to “use words” to share not only ideas butemotions.   “The writer's joy is thethought that can become emotion,” he said, “and conversely in seeing how theemotion can wholly become a thought.”

A Writer's Moment: 'First, be a big reader'

A Writer's Moment: 'First, be a big reader':   “Maybe other writers have perfect first drafts, but I am not one of them. I always try to get the book as tight as I can, but you reach ...

'First, be a big reader'

 

“Maybeother writers have perfect first drafts, but I am not one of them. I always tryto get the book as tight as I can, but you reach a point as the author whereyou have lost all perspective.” – Sarah Dessen

Born in Evanston, IL on thisdate in 1970, YA novelist Dessen said she got interested in writing early inlife and can’t remember a time when she wasn’t writing.  After moving to Chapel Hill, NC as a child(her parents were college professors), she studied creative writing at theUniversity of North Carolina and then dived right in – to a job as a waitressat a burrito restaurant, waiting tables at night . . . but writing by day.    Her first novel, That Summer, hit the market in 1996 and by 1997 she was writingfull time.  Both That Summer and her second novel Someone Like You were honored bythe American Library Association in their “Best Fiction for Young Adults”category – the first two of seven of her books to achieve that honor.    Thosetwo novels inspired the popular movie “How To Deal,” and Netflix produced her book Along for the Ride into another.

All 16 of her books (to date) havebeen best sellers, and led to Dessen’s being selected for the ALA’s Margaret A. Edwards Award  “ . . .for significant and lasting contributionto young adult literature.”

Dessen gives the same advice thatmany other best-selling writers do: First be a good reader.  “I wasalways a big reader, mostly because my parents were,” Dessen said.     

 

“I really just love to read, period,whether it be books or magazines or the back of the cereal box. It's the onething I can always count on to calm me down, take me away and inspire me, allat once.”

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A Writer's Moment: 'Imagination: Stronger than Knowledge'

A Writer's Moment: 'Imagination: Stronger than Knowledge':     “I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more...

'Imagination: Stronger than Knowledge'

 

 

“Ibelieve that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potentthan history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope alwaystriumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And Ibelieve that love is stronger than death.” – Robert Fulghum

 

Fulghum’s book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten had just beenpublished when I met him in 1986 when he came to speak at a college convocation Ihelped organize.  His book hadn’t yetmade a splash on the national and international scene so many of the students inattendance had not heard of him. Within minutes they were mesmerized by his talk, just as millions ofbook buyers would be by a book that spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list.

 

Born in Waco, TX on this date in1937, Fulghum speaks and writes from his many life experiences which haveincluded work as a ditch-digger, newspaper carrier, ranch hand, IBM salesman, singing cowboy …  and, of course,being a child.

 

Subtitled “Uncommon Thoughts onCommon Things,” it became such a big hit because, like Fulghum himself, itshares wonderful everyday insights that each of us really ought to know but oftenjust have forgotten.   Over the years, Fulghum – who now splits histime between Moab, UT and the Greek island of Crete – has written a dozenbooks, several plays and a nationally syndicated newspaper column.

 

 

Also a minister, he saidhe started writing to share many of the thoughts and ideas he utilized in hispreaching.  “I think,” he said, “mywriting is part of my ministry.”

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A Writer's Moment: A mirror for life's 'goings on'

A Writer's Moment: A mirror for life's 'goings on':   “The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.” – Anaïs Nin   Born in 1903...