Alexandra Bogdanovic's Blog: That's life... - Posts Tagged "charles-schulz"
My hero
Here's a thought. If you've ever read a book, written a book or even thought about writing one, chances are you've got a literary hero.
For readers it's probably a character. But for authors, the odds are even better that it's a fellow wordsmith. For some, perhaps, it's a master of the craft. Or maybe it's an obscure writer whose name -- known only to a select few -- evokes the image of a starving artist driven solely by their passion.
For me it is Snoopy. Yes, that Snoopy -- the loveable beagle of Peanuts fame created by Charles Schulz.
For the record, I loved him long before it ever dawned on me to use a pen or pencil for anything other than doodling or homework -- and long before I could type, for that matter. I mean, what child wouldn't fall in love with a dog who could play baseball, fly an airplane, hold his own with a BFF as hip as Woodstock, and write the great American novel -- or at least try to write it?
To this day, the fact that he didn't quite manage to become a best-selling author hasn't diminished my respect for the pup. If anything, Snoopy's dogged determination in the face of so much rejection heightened it. But in all honesty, he didn't officially become my literary hero until a few years ago, when I received a book called "Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life."
Edited by Barnaby Conrad and Monte Schulz, the hard-cover book features commentary, essays, anecdotes and Peanuts comic strips. Collectively, they show just how Snoopy dealt with criticism, rejection and writers block. In the book, some fairly decent authors including Ray Bradbury, William F. Buckley Jr., Clive Cussler and Sidney Sheldon, offer advice to help Snoopy hone his craft.
But to me, the best part of the whole book is the front cover. On it are frames from an old Peanuts comic strip in which the brilliant beagle struggles to create one of the best sentences ever written. Painstakingly, word by word, we see it evolve... "It was a dark and stormy night."
Pure genius.
And until next time, "That's Life..."
For readers it's probably a character. But for authors, the odds are even better that it's a fellow wordsmith. For some, perhaps, it's a master of the craft. Or maybe it's an obscure writer whose name -- known only to a select few -- evokes the image of a starving artist driven solely by their passion.
For me it is Snoopy. Yes, that Snoopy -- the loveable beagle of Peanuts fame created by Charles Schulz.
For the record, I loved him long before it ever dawned on me to use a pen or pencil for anything other than doodling or homework -- and long before I could type, for that matter. I mean, what child wouldn't fall in love with a dog who could play baseball, fly an airplane, hold his own with a BFF as hip as Woodstock, and write the great American novel -- or at least try to write it?
To this day, the fact that he didn't quite manage to become a best-selling author hasn't diminished my respect for the pup. If anything, Snoopy's dogged determination in the face of so much rejection heightened it. But in all honesty, he didn't officially become my literary hero until a few years ago, when I received a book called "Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life."
Edited by Barnaby Conrad and Monte Schulz, the hard-cover book features commentary, essays, anecdotes and Peanuts comic strips. Collectively, they show just how Snoopy dealt with criticism, rejection and writers block. In the book, some fairly decent authors including Ray Bradbury, William F. Buckley Jr., Clive Cussler and Sidney Sheldon, offer advice to help Snoopy hone his craft.
But to me, the best part of the whole book is the front cover. On it are frames from an old Peanuts comic strip in which the brilliant beagle struggles to create one of the best sentences ever written. Painstakingly, word by word, we see it evolve... "It was a dark and stormy night."
Pure genius.
And until next time, "That's Life..."
That's life...
All you may -- or may not -- want to know about my adventures as an author and other stuff.
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