Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 88
May 21, 2024
A Writer's Moment: Tragedy to comedy, 'Everything is copy'
May 20, 2024
A Writer's Moment: 'Run from ghosts or ride on dolphins'
'Run from ghosts or ride on dolphins'
“Withmy writing, I can still play inside an enchanted castle or live inside an oldfort. I can run from ghosts or ride dolphins any day of the week.”– Mary Pope Osborne
Almost every young reader know Jackand Annie, the brother-and-sister protagonists created by Osborne, who was bornat Ft. Sill, OK on this date in 1949. Theduo are the stars of Osborne’s award-winning Magic Tree House series,now translated into some 30 languages with over 130 million copies in print worldwide.
The daughter of a career militaryman, Osborne lived in 13 houses around the globe before age 15. "Moving was never traumatic for me, butstaying in one place was. When my dad finally retired to a small town in NorthCarolina, I nearly went crazy with boredom." That led her to try Community Theater torekindle that sense of adventure that she was missing.
“I continued to visit imaginaryplaces … whether I acted in a play or worked backstage, the world of TennesseeWilliams or Shakespeare always seemed more real to me than the dreary life ofhigh school,” Osborne said.
In her early 30s, “one day, out ofthe blue” she started writing a story that she had been thinking about. “It just came to me,” she said. The result was the semi-autobiographical Run, Run As Fast As You Can and she hasnever looked back. The first of her MagicTree House books, Dinosaurs BeforeDark, followed. In them Jack andAnnie are transported to different areas and eras for a series of cliffhangingadventures thanks to their titular magic treehouse.
While the duo’s adventures are at the heart of eachstory, readers also are subliminally introduced to events, animals and peopleworldwide and from throughout history. “I discovered writing children's bookswas a way to keep living in my imagination like a child,” Osborne said. “ I could be somewhere different in everysingle book.”
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May 18, 2024
A Writer's Moment: 'An orphan of silence'
'An orphan of silence'
“Poetryis an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience behindthem.” – Charles Simic
Born in Serbia in May of 1938, Simicemigrated to the U.S. at age 16, served in the U.S. Army and then studied atNew York University where he began his writing career. A multiple award winner for his works, he wonthe Pulitzer Prize for his book The World Doesn't End.
He servedas co-poetry editor of TheParis Review in the 1990s; was the U.S. Poet Laureate in 2008-09; and won theRobert Frost Medal for “lifetime achievement in poetry” in 2011. A prolific writer, Simic authored 40 books ofpoetry, the last one (No Land In Sight)published shortly before his death in 2023. For Saturday’s Poem, here is Simic’s,
CountryFair
If you didn't see the six-leggeddog,
It doesn't matter.
We did, and he mostly lay in the corner.
As for the extra legs,
One got used to them quickly
And thought of other things.
Like, what a cold, dark night
To be out at the fair.
Then the keeper threw a stick
And the dog went after it
On four legs, the other two flapping behind,
Which made one girl shriek with laughter.
She was drunk and so was the man
Who kept kissing her neck.
The dog got the stick and looked back at us.
And that was the whole show.
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May 17, 2024
A Writer's Moment: 'Talent, determination . . . and sheer luck'
'Talent, determination . . . and sheer luck'
“Ifpeople ask me for the ingredients of success, I say one is talent, two isstubbornness or determination, and third is sheer luck. You have to have twoout of the three. Any two will probably do.” – Fred Saberhagen
Born on May 18, 1930 Saberhagen ismost famous for his Sci-Fi Berserker series of short stories andnovels. He also was one of the firstwriters to put together a series of novels where vampires (including Dracula)are the “good guys.”
A native of Chicago and a Korean Warveteran, Saberhagen started writing science-related pieces and then fiction “aroundthe age of 30.” His firstnovel The Golden People came out in 1964 following a series of successeswith magazine articles and short stories. He said he was “filled with ideas” and felt the urge to write every day.
“Ideas are everywhere,” he said. “It's the paperwork, that is, sitting downand thinking them into a coherent story, trying to find just the right words. . . that can get to be a writer’s labor.”
As a writer of “serious science,” too, he served as both editor and writerfor all the chemistry articles in the Encyclopædia Britannica from the late1960s through the mid-1970s. But,from that point until his death in 2007 he only wrote science fiction.
His advice to aspiring writers: “Keepwriting, and keep sending things out, not to friends and relatives, but topeople who have the power to buy. A lot of additional, useful tips could beadded, but this is fundamental.”
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May 16, 2024
A Writer's Moment: 'Persistence and faith in your ideas'
May 15, 2024
'Persistence and faith in your ideas'
“Thething about reading is that if you are hooked, you're not going to stop justbecause one series is over; you're going to go and find something else.”– Eoin Colfer
Born in Wexford, Ireland on this date in 1965 Colfer is best known for his “ArtemisFowl” children’s book series, although he also gained considerable fame afterbeing selected to do the 6th edition of the popular Hitchhiker'sGuide to the Galaxy series – titled And Another Thing.
Colfer grew up in southeast Irelandand started his adult life as a schoolteacher, following in the footsteps ofhis parents. After trying a couple ofstand-alone books for young readers, he created his 12-year-old criminalmastermind Artemis Fowl. His tales havebeen wildly popular around the globe, spinning off into a graphic novel seriesand TV movies. Ever the teacher, Eoin (pronounced Owen), is apopular speaker st writing conferences and workshops where he encouragespersistence and faith in ideas.
“I often meet frustrated youngwriters who say they've only got so far and just can't finish a book,” hesaid. “Even if you don't happen to usewhat you've worked on that day, it has taught you something and you'll beamazed when you might come back to it and use it again.”
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