Warren Adler's Blog, page 22

Boom, Boom, Boom

“Boom, Boom, Boom” as read by Warren Adler

It ain’t my world no more

And I’m getting tired of keeping score

I feel trapped in an endless maze

Wherever I turn is the latest craze

Even when I try to list the things I hate

I’m always at the gate too late

In cyberland I wander in a blindfold

Bested by a five year old

In music rap grates my ears

And brings me to the edge of tears

In fact to me pop culture is a foreign land

And there are things I never understand

Perhaps it’s just that life moves faster

And seems too complicated to master

Or it’s just me getting slower

And my IQ is sinking lower

Or the past seems an endless summer

And age is making me dumber

Am I making too much of a fuss?

Perhaps the world was ever thus

And the old like me are getting tired

Our memories mired

In the glories of the past

Discovering that life goes by too fast

And everything that went before

Enriched us more

And what comes next is lesser fare

The present being hard to bear

But even as I set my thoughts in verse

I think tomorrow will be worse

Sorry folks for the doom and gloom

Hear it coming, boom boom boom

-W.A.

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Why I Write: A Novelist’s Reflection on the 70th Anniversary of George Orwell’s Pivotal Essay

People often ask, and I ask myself on a daily basis, why I have spent more than six decades or more writing novels, short stories, essays, poems, plays and occasional reportage, continuing to ply this obsession into the cusp of my dotage.

My answer to others and especially to myself never seems quite adequate. Whether I take the high road proclaiming the need to find artistic and aesthetic truth in the human condition or the low road of pure egoism, I sound like either a pompous ass or a mere poseur.

I can take refuge in proclaiming it as an addiction or perhaps the need to unburden myself of a brain overstuffed with stories. While others might review events in unloved childhoods citing loneliness, abuse, cruel parenting, hunger or poverty that forced them out of despair and longing and into some inner fantasy life, I can’t say any of that was true for me. As a child of the Depression I will admit to having a profound shortage of money and a mostly unemployed dad, but I thrived in the bosom of an extended family, never feeling poor, lonely, unloved or abused. I had a perfectly wonderful, joyous upbringing.

I’ve also searched through the comments, both written and oral, of other writers for an adequate explanation that might suit my situation without quite sounding my particular gong. That is, until I took a second gander at one of George Orwell’s celebrated essays “Why I Write” (1946).

I give Orwell a rousing round of applause for his wisdom and insight. His “Why I Write” essay is close to my heart and my identity as a writer. When I first read this essay years ago, I did so with passing interest but not without the passionate truth and excitement of discovering a kindred motive. Obviously it needed the perspective and leavening of age and a lifetime of writing to fully understand what he meant and how close he gets to the defining answer I have been searching for.

The Four Reasons

Orwell cites four reasons why he picked up his pen to serve his own writing addiction. Although he did cite the loneliness of his childhood and some of the reasons I have rejected, his very first reason was “Sheer egoism. Desire to be clever, the desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death…It is humbug to pretend this is not a motive, and a strong one. Writers share these characteristics with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen – in short, with the whole top crust of humanity.” I concur enthusiastically with this premise. He made the point, too, that the motivation behind such characteristics has little or nothing to do with money.

His second reason was “Aesthetic enthusiasm. Perception of beauty in the external world, or, on the other hand, in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story. Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed.” I certainly would not take issue with this premise. It has informed my writing since the very beginning of my journey into the power, value and influence of words. Indeed, choosing exactly the right word for exactly the right reasons underlies the veritable architecture of the writer’s art.

His third reason was “Historical impulse. Desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity.” His view is absolutely on point. The keyword here is “true” meaning that the serious writer must view events and the surrounding environment through a lens that is as free from distortion as possible and present the facts with a precise and crystal-clear vision. Indeed, it is the writer’s brief to follow this fine line of presentation even in the writing of historical fiction as I have tried to do in my work in that category.

His fourth reason was far more complex and suggests many meanings. He called it “Political purpose–using the word ‘political’ in the widest possible sense…to alter other people’s idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once again, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.”

Since Orwell confessed that his most sacred purpose was to fight injustice, on the surface this thought of his might be interpreted merely to define writing as propaganda. I see that explanation more as an appeal for understanding and a search for truth and life’s meaning.

Writing is a Sacred Calling

A serious writer yearns to create stories that plumb the soul of the human condition, ever searching, ever exploring, through character and plots to create a kind of mirror image of people trying to make sense out of their existence in the brief time they appear on the stage of life. I believe, too, that it is a personal journey, a kind of artistic self-autopsy where the writer wrestles through storytelling to discover for himself the why and how of his own life’s purpose.

What Orwell was saying, as I understand it, was that serious writing is a sacred calling with deep purpose, using the power of the mind and the mysterious gifts of artistry and talent to unravel the eternal puzzle of “what happens next” which is at the heart of the human conundrum. It does sound a bit lofty, but then as any writer worth their salt knows…it is.

Of course, Orwell embellished his thesis with additional chapter and verse, but on the whole, I think he got it right and the older I get, the more I agree with him. It may not exactly answer the question, especially the one posed to oneself. But coming back to his reasons after many, many years from having first read it, my round of applause to him is far beyond an empty gesture.

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Matthew Specktor

Like almost every writer I know, I was an avid childhood reader: Tom Sawyer, D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, etc. The moment at which I decided to try my own hand is indelible: as a romantic-hearted, muddle-headed fifteen-year-old, I read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise (itself a romantic-hearted, muddle-headed novel) on the brick terrace of my father’s house in Malibu. Sunday afternoon. I lowered the book to my lap, stared out at the Pacific, lit an Export A cigarette (for I was a pretentious and foolhardy fifteen-year-old as well), and thought, I could do this. I’d LIKE to do this. My initial reasons, perhaps, were egomaniacal, but I found in writing, as nowhere else, a recognition of both the world as I yearned for it and of my own vulnerable adolescent being. The first time I sat down to write a piece of fiction, I was flooded with terror, a sense of hopelessness, and a tiny spark of exhilaration. I was like a castaway armed with two sticks. Neither the impulse nor the gesture has changed much. Day in, day out, in the face of variable conditions, I try to generate the old friction. To tamp down the contours of my egotism, strike one bit of wood against another, and thus to burn.

http://www.matthewspecktor.com/

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Heidi Heilig

To me, the most rewarding part of being a writer is the actual writing. I love crafting stories. I love wrestling with plot. I love pitting characters against one another, or turning their worlds upside down just when they’re getting the hang of things. It’s the most fun you can have without risking arrest.

www.heidiheilig.com

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TORTURE MAN | THE OFFICIAL BOOK TRAILER (PLUS BONUS EXTENDED VERSION)

The caller made it clear-$10 million or her daughter’s head. The power of unintended consequences sends the privileged life of prominent anti-war activist Sarah Raab crashing down around her. Fear and terror take hold and Sarah turns to former CIA operative Carl Helman, a man she has only just met and who stands against everything she has been fighting for. How could this happen? Why would a terrorist group target her family? Confusion turns to fear and anger as Sarah faces the shocking truth lying beneath the surface of her life. And though Carl’s interrogation methods violate everything Sarah believes in, they may be the only way to save her daughter’s life. Faced with horrific choices, Torture Man takes the reader on an intense weekend where Wall Street kickbacks, deceit, corruption, and jihad collide on the Upper East Side of New York City.

TORTURE MAN | THE OFFICIAL BOOK TRAILER

BONUS EXTENDED VERSION

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TORTURE MAN | THE OFFICIAL BOOK TRAILER (EXTENDED)

The caller made it clear-$10 million or her daughter’s head. The power of unintended consequences sends the privileged life of prominent anti-war activist Sarah Raab crashing down around her. Fear and terror take hold and Sarah turns to former CIA operative Carl Hellmann, a man she has only just met and who stands against everything she has been fighting for. How could this happen? Why would a terrorist group target her family? Confusion turns to fear and anger as Sarah faces the shocking truth lying beneath the surface of her life. And though Carl’s interrogation methods violate everything Sarah believes in, they may be the only way to save her daughter’s life. Faced with horrific choices, Torture Man takes the reader on an intense weekend where Wall Street kickbacks, deceit, corruption, and jihad collide on the Upper East Side of New York City.

VISIT THE OFFICIAL TORTURE MAN WEBSITE AND BUY THE BOOK

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Arjun Basu

I hate writing. I hate the process of it. The loneliness. I hate staring at a blank page knowing it must be filled. Yes, must. That’s the key word. I’m convinced that no one writes because they want to. Why would anyone put themselves through the process? What level of masochist am I as a writer? Are we as a group? What’s wrong with us? With me? I guess that’s the question I ask every time I start something new. And then I sigh, and I am buried in the writing. Lost in it. Transported. And slowly, I feel the relief. The drug of it inside me, freeing me, giving me a kind of permission. To be. To create. To tell a story. Again. And again.

www.arjunbasu.com

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My Experience of Balancing Family Life While Pursuing A Career in the Arts

As a committed writer of imaginative fiction for virtually my entire life, I have often wondered about the effect my obsessive conduct and allocation of time to pursue such an occupation has had on my relationships with family, friends and others who need and crave my attention.

What is the ultimate effect of a writer’s creative compulsion on the people closest to him or her? No doubt, there is a correlation here with the inventor, the hobbyist, the business person, the techie startup guru or the garden variety workaholic or anyone with an intense need to pursue an activity, any activity, that is so obsessively singular and averse to distraction that it tears apart the fabric of personal relationships.

There is no escaping the fact that writing, or any other brand of artistry, requires not only total focus, but concentration, often isolation. The subconscious, the engine of creativity, is like a perpetual motion machine always operating. For me and perhaps other writers, this has meant that even while outwardly appearing to interact with loved ones and friends, I am always partially engaged in the process of composition.

Related: 5 Tips for Maintaining Work-Life Balance, From People Who’ve Been There

I suppose the following assertion is open to argument, but my own lifetime experience has convinced me that the committed writer, or any artist, does not choose to pursue their art, it chooses them. It is not simply a conscious act of discipline and will, but a necessity, a hunger, an indispensable need that can’t be measured by the metric of worldly success or celebrity. It is a compelling life force.

My need for love, family, friends and a sense of comforting security has always been a balancing act between that hunger and my creative compulsions. Striking a balance, although seemingly impossible, is in reality actually achievable.

Being born in 1927, my obligations as both father and husband have been honed for me personally by generations of historic precedent and example. By today’s standards it might seem on the surface to be stubbornly old fashioned, but the role of parenthood is fixed in my generation by precedent. Above all, both parents must provide each other and their offspring with presence, meaning time, the most precious commodity in the universe. Without presence, there is absence and for a loved one absence can be lethal.

I am the father of three sons. I was 26 when my eldest was born. At the beginning there were years of great frustration as the stories piled up in my mind and the need for family support prevented the allocation of time to pursue the “dream.” My parents’ perpetual presence in my own upbringing, upon reflection, gave me personal security throughout my earliest role as a father and I am eternally grateful for that experience. My father’s particular situation, though, had a terrible downside for him and an ironic upside for me in the long run.

Report: Adopt These 12 Habits for a Better Work-Life Balance

My father was a low level clerk who called himself a bookkeeper. He lost a promising job in the Great Depression and never recovered. He was poor and powerless and his experiences with “bosses” was toxic. He frequently talked angrily to himself and it was soon apparent from an early age that he was berating his bosses, arguing with them, confronting them, something he could never do face to face. It was pure fantasy, a common response to powerlessness by those paralyzed by fear. The lesson of my father’s anger and frustration taught me never to find myself or my loved ones in that position. He was always at the mercy of others, and I vowed early on never to be beholden to others to make my living. Controlling my own destiny has always been one of my principal obsessions.

I was still in my twenties when I struck out on my own. After graduating from New York University with a degree in English literature, I worked for the New York Daily News before becoming Editor of the Queens Post, a prize-winning weekly newspaper on Long Island. My column ‘Pepper on the Side’ became a staple at a number of newspapers in the country. During the Korean War, I served in the U.S. Army in the Pentagon as the only Washington Correspondent for Armed Forces Press Service where my bylined stories went out weekly to all publications produced by the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. The laws of action and reaction had kicked in. My father’s powerlessness taught me the value of setting your own course in your own way on your own schedule. In other words, I became the master of my own use of time.

Related: Lifestyle Entrepreneurship Is the Ultimate in Work-Life Balance

By the time I was in my forties I had a distinguished career as an entrepreneur, owning four radio stations and a TV station. I founded and ran my own advertising and public relations agency in Washington, D.C.; Warren Adler Ltd, where I was responsible for advertising and PR campaigns for political candidates, numerous businesses, and apartment and home communities. Among my clients was the Watergate complex, which I named myself. I was a consultant to the Nixon campaign in 1968 where my brief was the Jewish vote. I subsequently served as an advisor to the first Nixon administration. Throughout my entrepreneurial pursuits I juggled family support and as soon as my financial situation eased and I was the boss of my own entity I made my own hours and worked like a busy beaver to find even more time for my real enterprise dream, which was to become a full-time novelist.

I’ve never discounted the role of luck, determination, obsession and sacrifice, without which no entrepreneurial adventure can ever succeed. At long last, I had found the time to pursue my real goal. Since I was the boss I could manipulate my time to allow four hours in the morning every day to pursue my writing career and on my own authority I could juggle that time without fear of reprisal. My writing time usually began around 6 a.m. and often stretched to 10 a.m. The kids were out of the house by 8 a.m. and my wife was busy with various chores and later with her career. We always made it a point to have dinner together and during the summer we either vacationed together or took a house at the beach and I commuted every weekend.

I finally decided to close my agency in 1974, at the age of 47, after the successful publication of my first novel, Undertow. From that point on I was able to pursue a more active writing schedule and by then the kids were older and busy with their schooling and my wife had found a career path.

Navigating the needs of loved ones and the compulsions of the creative life is, in my opinion, a necessity for a working writer. Throughout my career, which has spanned more than a half a century of writing, producing more than fifty novels, numerous short stories, essays, and plays, I have maintained a marriage that has lasted nearly 65 years and an excellent relationship with my three sons – quite the opposite of the marriage between my most well-known characters Barbara and Jonathan Rose.

My dream is an ever-evolving creature and I continue to invest myself in it. After achieving the luxury of full-time authorship I discovered that the changing patterns of book publishing allowed an author the option of becoming his or her own master, something I write extensively about in “Why I Went Independent as an Author.”

For that impetus, I continue to cite my father’s futile struggle and while in the end it left him discouraged and bereft, it imbued me with the reason to strike out on my own, to live in my own time, at my own pace, and make my own decisions on what to write, obeying the muse that motivates my creative instincts. I think my father would have applauded my decision.

This article was originally published on Entrepreneur 

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“Reflections on Balancing Family Life White Pursuing a Career in the Arts” Featured on ENTREPRENEUR

As a committed writer of imaginative fiction for virtually my entire life, I have often wondered about the effect my obsessive conduct and allocation of time to pursue such an occupation has had on my relationships with family, friends and others who need and crave my attention.

What is the ultimate effect of a writer’s creative compulsion on the people closest to him or her? [Continue Reading on Entrepreneur]

 

Writers of the World – What’s Your Story? Click to Explore and Submit a Reflection

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THE WAR OF THE ROSES in the Media: A Compilation of Dysfunction in Current Events

Jon Stewart mocks ‘photo-bombing’ controversy between Miss Israel and Miss Lebanon, referencing The War of the Roses

“In a segment titled, War of the Poses, Stewart mocked the idea that Lebanese media was angry with their contestant for posing with Matalon, because “Lebanon and Israel are enemies.” – Watch entire segment here (skip to 2:45)

Financial Times: White House Countdown – it’s lookin’ like The War of the Roses

“Things got ugly late on Tuesday after a group backing Cruz released an anti-Trump ad that centred around a photo of Melania Trump, the former Slovenian model married to the tycoon, posing nude on a rug. It sparked a spat on Twitter, in which Trump told “Lyin’ Ted” that he would “spill the beans on your wife!” Cruz responded by calling him a coward.” – Read entire article here.

 

Appeals Court Upholds $21.2 Million Judgment in ‘War of the Roses’ Case

“The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a $21.2 million judgment by a U.S. District Court judge in a complex breach of contract case involving the breakup of a lucrative business partnership, a breakup the judge said rivaled Warren Adler’s “The War of the Roses.” – Read entire article here.

 

Meanwhile somewhere in Malaysia…War of the Roses Continues Over Guan Eng’s Bungalow

“The verbal jousting continues between Wanita MCA vice-chairperson Ong Chong Swen and DAP lawmaker Teresa Kok over Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s purchase of a bungalow below market price.” Read entire article here.

Huffington Post: EU Needs to Act Now to Avoid Diplomatic War of the Roses

“To say the Israeli government is neuralgic about any comments coming from Europe would be a massive understatement. Such is the sensitivity and deep-rooted sense of mistrust that anything, even if it taken out of context, will be slapped down. As a result, the EU-Israel relationship is beginning to feel like the War of the Roses movie.” – Read entire article here.

Tech Eye: Sharp and Foxconn Are in The War of the Roses

“Foxconn and Sharp,  which are supposed to be tying the knot, are already feuding like the divorcing couple in the War of the Roses” – Read entire article here.

 

Huffington Post: Is There Life After Divorce? by Stann Givens – Family Law Attorney

“In my nearly forty years of representing people in divorce cases, I have seen a lot of battles and many very depressed people. About halfway through my career, an old friend I hadn’t seen in several years called and scheduled an appointment to talk about a divorce. He was a great guy and was married to a nice woman. I signed on as his attorney and what I thought was going to be an easy case quickly turned into the War of the Roses (a great movie, by the way, in case you haven’t seen it). These two got along famously with everyone else, but in dealing with each other it was a constant battle.” – Read the entire article here.

Financial Review: Young Liberals Waging ‘Wars of the Roses’ in Melbourne

“In the prize Federal electorate of Goldstein in Melbourne local Liberals are likening a pre-selection battle following Trade Minister Andrew Robb’s resignation to the ‘Wars of the Roses’.” – Read the entire article here.

 

The Wall Street Journal: Wynn Resorts’ ‘War of the Roses’ Escalates

“What was originally a relatively undramatic 2010 divorce resolution dividing up a multibillion-dollar empire has frayed badly in recent years. Ms. Wynn has been in a legal battle with Mr. Wynn since 2012 to try to win the right to get out from under a shareholder agreement signed two years earlier in connection with their divorce. The agreement gave Mr. Wynn voting control over her shares and restricted her ability to sell them.” – Read entire article here.

Wynns at War? We’ve Seen This Movie Before

“Seldom lacking for a pointed retort, Steve Wynn described the former Mrs. Wynn’s Monday counterclaim that he’d been a reckless steward of the company as something straight out of “The War of the Roses,” another divorce-themed movie.” – Read entire article here.

 

And Last, but certainly not least…this 2o1o Daily News piece

The Daily News: Real Life ‘War of the Roses’ Couple Simon and Chana Taub Can’t Behave – On Daughter’s Wedding Night

“The Brooklyn couple who starred in a real-life “War of the Roses” divorce spectacle refused to set their feud aside Sunday – on their daughter’s wedding night…The Taubs’ ugly split was labeled the “War of the Roses” divorce after the 1989 movie in which former lovebirds Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner split their home in two while still living there.” – Read entire article here

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