Jean Harkin's Blog, page 6
October 21, 2016
Travel is a Moveable Feast
Further testimony from Portland poets affirms that travel “offers a means of finding a place in our heads for creating all manner of things. . . music, prose, and poetry.” So states Jim Stewart, song writer, poet, and author of "OCHOCO REACH," a novel of adventure with “heart and insight” featuring Bucket the dog.
Jim continues: “Travel is a moveable feast. It teaches/allows us to open to new experience.” He says the inspiration of travel can open up a bloom of ideas “where we didn’t know we had flower buds.”
Mary Jane Erickson, a retired nurse who now writes poetry instead of professional nursing articles, says that multiple photographs she snapped on trips to Tahiti, Spain, and Portugal in the 1980s bring back those places, people, history, and “yummy food” to inspire her poetry.
What aspects of travel unlock the creative muse? Jim thinks it is “the motion, the potential for adventure. . . We embody the concept of a stranger in a strange land. Thought patterns change, habits change.” And then the brain responds to being out of the usual routines; creativity is unleashed.
So—poets and writers of all genres, let’s get moving! Travel to a new place, take yourself on a jaunt, break up your routine. And, as Jim and Mary Jane do, take your notebook along!
Jim continues: “Travel is a moveable feast. It teaches/allows us to open to new experience.” He says the inspiration of travel can open up a bloom of ideas “where we didn’t know we had flower buds.”
Mary Jane Erickson, a retired nurse who now writes poetry instead of professional nursing articles, says that multiple photographs she snapped on trips to Tahiti, Spain, and Portugal in the 1980s bring back those places, people, history, and “yummy food” to inspire her poetry.
What aspects of travel unlock the creative muse? Jim thinks it is “the motion, the potential for adventure. . . We embody the concept of a stranger in a strange land. Thought patterns change, habits change.” And then the brain responds to being out of the usual routines; creativity is unleashed.
So—poets and writers of all genres, let’s get moving! Travel to a new place, take yourself on a jaunt, break up your routine. And, as Jim and Mary Jane do, take your notebook along!
September 30, 2016
Does Travel Inspire the Writing of Poetry?
On a flight from Chicago to Dublin I became so claustrophobic I had to write a poem to calm myself. It began, “Flying inside this pod
Is my life for seven hours
It feels like a cocoon. . .”
And throughout my travels around Ireland, the lyrical speech of the Irish, vistas of yellow gorse, baby sheep, ancient stones, and the sea inspired me to write many more poems.
Does travel inspire the creation of poetry? From my experience, it does. And so I ran my theory by two Portland poets to find out if they agree:
Sheila Deeth remembers writing two poems in the back seat of a car while riding around England. One of those poems, "Too Late," might have been inspired by the rhythm of the car wheels beating on the pavement. It’s a short slant-rhyme poem with “ee” sounds at ends of the lines—the screech of brakes, scream of tires?
Another poem by Sheila, "As We Should," repeats the words “Err, yes” throughout. Sheila wrote that she was inspired by the “song of the waves on various beaches.”
Carolyn Martin says “Most definitely!” that travel inspires the poetry within her. She is presently circulating a chapbook of travel poems to various publishers. She won second place in the 2015 Writer’s Digest poetry contest with a travel poem, "In Praise of Retiring in Pacific Standard Time."
It’s the “newness” of travel that inspires Carolyn as she discovers new geological, cultural, and sensual wonders. She takes “dozens and dozens of photos to remember people, places, experiences,” and she collects informational brochures so that when she returns home “a poem or two is waiting.”
Carolyn quoted a line from an Elizabeth Bishop poem, "Questions of Travel": “Think of the long trip home. Should we have stayed at home and thought of here?”
Carolyn responded in a poem that expresses there’s no way to “capture a place” without being there. Sheila and I would certainly agree, regardless of whether you write at the scene or bring the experience home to later craft a poem.
Is my life for seven hours
It feels like a cocoon. . .”
And throughout my travels around Ireland, the lyrical speech of the Irish, vistas of yellow gorse, baby sheep, ancient stones, and the sea inspired me to write many more poems.
Does travel inspire the creation of poetry? From my experience, it does. And so I ran my theory by two Portland poets to find out if they agree:
Sheila Deeth remembers writing two poems in the back seat of a car while riding around England. One of those poems, "Too Late," might have been inspired by the rhythm of the car wheels beating on the pavement. It’s a short slant-rhyme poem with “ee” sounds at ends of the lines—the screech of brakes, scream of tires?
Another poem by Sheila, "As We Should," repeats the words “Err, yes” throughout. Sheila wrote that she was inspired by the “song of the waves on various beaches.”
Carolyn Martin says “Most definitely!” that travel inspires the poetry within her. She is presently circulating a chapbook of travel poems to various publishers. She won second place in the 2015 Writer’s Digest poetry contest with a travel poem, "In Praise of Retiring in Pacific Standard Time."
It’s the “newness” of travel that inspires Carolyn as she discovers new geological, cultural, and sensual wonders. She takes “dozens and dozens of photos to remember people, places, experiences,” and she collects informational brochures so that when she returns home “a poem or two is waiting.”
Carolyn quoted a line from an Elizabeth Bishop poem, "Questions of Travel": “Think of the long trip home. Should we have stayed at home and thought of here?”
Carolyn responded in a poem that expresses there’s no way to “capture a place” without being there. Sheila and I would certainly agree, regardless of whether you write at the scene or bring the experience home to later craft a poem.
September 2, 2016
Bio of My Book
The gem of an idea from my brother Charlie sparked an inspiration to write my first published book. I was in the muddle of finding a publisher for my first novel, when Charlie, who had read most of my writings, suggested I might want to compile my "weird stories" into a book.
I figured that putting together a collection of stories might be a worthwhile interruption of my novel project. So I began looking through my files and collecting stories.
When I determined I had enough to fill a slim volume, I began to edit and tweak the stories I'd selected, all with a certain quality of weird-and-oddness; I also selected a few photographs to add interest. After researching how other writers had compiled short story collections, I arranged and organized my pages in MS Word. I decided the title story should be "Night in Alcatraz" because it might attract readers' attention.
Thus began my book, "Night in Alcatraz: And Other Uncanny Tales."
I contracted with my good friend Sheila to format my book to print on Createspace. She not only put her formatting know-how to work, she also looked at the stories, suggested some edits, and advised how the pages should look. We tried out several type fonts to determine which would provide easy reading and best accommodate the spaces needed for the stories, photographs, and section divisions. We discussed headers, footnotes, italics, and more.
After at least 12 pdf files back and forth, with corrections, changes, and new ideas, the book was ready to upload to Createspace. Sheila was my guardian angel, introducing me to Createspace and their publishing procedures.
Soon I received my first print copy proof in the mail (with a temporary cover Sheila and I created from the Createspace site.) After a few revisions and another pdf file or two, my book was ready for a second proof. It looked great, but I wanted a cover that would carry the title well.
"Alcatraz" needed a photo of that island prison in San Francisco Bay. I had a nice one taken by my daughter Nancy when we visited the site in 2015. For my specially-designed cover with photo, I needed a special designer--my friend Pati, a retired designer and editor for a large publisher. She might also call herself a "font geek" as she knows type fonts, literally backward and forward, and has an eye for how type should look and how it expresses ideas and emotions. So Pati was my go-to girl!
The back cover design was a big question. What should be there--photos, story excerpts, promotions, my bio? I wanted to publicize my writers' group's annual journal publication. Eventually, Sheila, Pati, and I decided on a clean, neat back cover advertising the Writers' Mill Journal and my bio--both brief, with my photo.
Pati worked her design magic, her struggles with formats, dimensions, and other factors unwitnessed by me. Until one day--voila--she unveiled the beautiful cover that now graces my book!
The final proof--with my new cover--arrived from Createspace, and I approved it. After Pati's OK, "Night in Alcatraz: And Other Uncanny Tales" is now available in print and Kindle from Amazon, and in print online at Barnes & Noble, possibly other sources.
Now my book is out there. I like how it looks-- the midnight blue color with nice white type that shows up well even on thumbprints, Nancy's great photo, and my name floating in San Francisco Bay.
What's nice about sharing stories is that stories generate stories. Readers bring their own experience to the page and recall their own stories and memories, some perhaps long forgotten until. . .
I figured that putting together a collection of stories might be a worthwhile interruption of my novel project. So I began looking through my files and collecting stories.
When I determined I had enough to fill a slim volume, I began to edit and tweak the stories I'd selected, all with a certain quality of weird-and-oddness; I also selected a few photographs to add interest. After researching how other writers had compiled short story collections, I arranged and organized my pages in MS Word. I decided the title story should be "Night in Alcatraz" because it might attract readers' attention.
Thus began my book, "Night in Alcatraz: And Other Uncanny Tales."
I contracted with my good friend Sheila to format my book to print on Createspace. She not only put her formatting know-how to work, she also looked at the stories, suggested some edits, and advised how the pages should look. We tried out several type fonts to determine which would provide easy reading and best accommodate the spaces needed for the stories, photographs, and section divisions. We discussed headers, footnotes, italics, and more.
After at least 12 pdf files back and forth, with corrections, changes, and new ideas, the book was ready to upload to Createspace. Sheila was my guardian angel, introducing me to Createspace and their publishing procedures.
Soon I received my first print copy proof in the mail (with a temporary cover Sheila and I created from the Createspace site.) After a few revisions and another pdf file or two, my book was ready for a second proof. It looked great, but I wanted a cover that would carry the title well.
"Alcatraz" needed a photo of that island prison in San Francisco Bay. I had a nice one taken by my daughter Nancy when we visited the site in 2015. For my specially-designed cover with photo, I needed a special designer--my friend Pati, a retired designer and editor for a large publisher. She might also call herself a "font geek" as she knows type fonts, literally backward and forward, and has an eye for how type should look and how it expresses ideas and emotions. So Pati was my go-to girl!
The back cover design was a big question. What should be there--photos, story excerpts, promotions, my bio? I wanted to publicize my writers' group's annual journal publication. Eventually, Sheila, Pati, and I decided on a clean, neat back cover advertising the Writers' Mill Journal and my bio--both brief, with my photo.
Pati worked her design magic, her struggles with formats, dimensions, and other factors unwitnessed by me. Until one day--voila--she unveiled the beautiful cover that now graces my book!
The final proof--with my new cover--arrived from Createspace, and I approved it. After Pati's OK, "Night in Alcatraz: And Other Uncanny Tales" is now available in print and Kindle from Amazon, and in print online at Barnes & Noble, possibly other sources.
Now my book is out there. I like how it looks-- the midnight blue color with nice white type that shows up well even on thumbprints, Nancy's great photo, and my name floating in San Francisco Bay.
What's nice about sharing stories is that stories generate stories. Readers bring their own experience to the page and recall their own stories and memories, some perhaps long forgotten until. . .
August 11, 2016
The Truth of Fiction
"It's only fiction," he said in response to my question: "Why did she have that look? What was she thinking and feeling?" We had just watched the enigmatic end to the movie "45 Years."
Why is it so compelling to want to know a fictional character's emotions, thoughts, motivations? Why do these concerns keep us reading or watching? "Because in literature. . .we know people inside out," says Irish writer Edna O'Brien in an interview by Ron Rosenbaum (Smithsonian, July-August 2016.)
Can we get to know fictional characters better than people in real life--our families, friends? Says O'Brien, "Yes, I think it is true. How utterly impossible it is, in hate or in friendship, to fully know another person. . .You don't know the person you live with even though you know a lot about them. The constant shuffling of change, and through everything the paradox of ambiguity. We know a version of them."
One value of reading fiction is that a well-crafted story is better able to reveal the depths of human emotions, thoughts, and motivations than real life or non-fiction (with the possible exception of memoir and autobiography.) Through the p.o.v. of a reality-based character in literature, human personality is clearly presented.
How do fiction writers manage to reach into the depths and nuances of human psychology to create characters that are virtually real? Fred White notes in his book "Where Do You Get Your Ideas?" that "the psychological forces underlying human motivation are sometimes too complex to anticipate; but once (a writer is) deeply into rendering (their) characters' actions and reactions, some of these subtle forces begin to surface." Thus, the phenomenon many writers experience of characters having a life of their own! And these characters become real to the reader.
As a complement to this post, see my current review of "Still Life with Elephant," by Judy Reene Singer. A bit of wisdom from p.o.v. character Neelie reinforces my post about how well we know the REAL people in our lives vs. the FICTIONAL characters we learn about inside out: "Predicatability," says Neelie is how we know people in our lives. We know them by becoming used to how they will act, react, things they might say, and their likes and dislikes. In the book, Neelie is practiced at knowing in which order Matt will put ketchup on his french fries and is surprised when he doesn't salt them.
Why is it so compelling to want to know a fictional character's emotions, thoughts, motivations? Why do these concerns keep us reading or watching? "Because in literature. . .we know people inside out," says Irish writer Edna O'Brien in an interview by Ron Rosenbaum (Smithsonian, July-August 2016.)
Can we get to know fictional characters better than people in real life--our families, friends? Says O'Brien, "Yes, I think it is true. How utterly impossible it is, in hate or in friendship, to fully know another person. . .You don't know the person you live with even though you know a lot about them. The constant shuffling of change, and through everything the paradox of ambiguity. We know a version of them."
One value of reading fiction is that a well-crafted story is better able to reveal the depths of human emotions, thoughts, and motivations than real life or non-fiction (with the possible exception of memoir and autobiography.) Through the p.o.v. of a reality-based character in literature, human personality is clearly presented.
How do fiction writers manage to reach into the depths and nuances of human psychology to create characters that are virtually real? Fred White notes in his book "Where Do You Get Your Ideas?" that "the psychological forces underlying human motivation are sometimes too complex to anticipate; but once (a writer is) deeply into rendering (their) characters' actions and reactions, some of these subtle forces begin to surface." Thus, the phenomenon many writers experience of characters having a life of their own! And these characters become real to the reader.
As a complement to this post, see my current review of "Still Life with Elephant," by Judy Reene Singer. A bit of wisdom from p.o.v. character Neelie reinforces my post about how well we know the REAL people in our lives vs. the FICTIONAL characters we learn about inside out: "Predicatability," says Neelie is how we know people in our lives. We know them by becoming used to how they will act, react, things they might say, and their likes and dislikes. In the book, Neelie is practiced at knowing in which order Matt will put ketchup on his french fries and is surprised when he doesn't salt them.
July 22, 2016
Little Boys Lost
Interesting how one book connects to another, even though widely contrasting in subject, story, and style. Characters in the last three books I read were ten-year-old boys--lost, abandoned, and in trouble in varying degrees. Plus another link: Two of the novels contain a scene where the young boy inhabits a parent's childhood bedroom.
Bud Caldwell, an orphan in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, is the p.o.v. character of "Bud, Not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis. Bud follows clues left by his late momma to find his presumed father and winds up in the home of a Grand Rapids band leader. Bud settles in to a bedroom with familiar photos on the wall.
Jamie Moore is an important character in Kent Haruf's "Our Souls at Night." Jamie's parents have separated, and his dad sends him away to spend the summer with the grandmother, Addie Moore, thus adding a complication to Addie's newfound relationship with a neighbor widower. Jamie is assigned to his dad's old bedroom, but he is a sad child who needs the comfort of sharing his grandma's bed.
Samuel appears in a rather light-hearted novel, "The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine" by Alexander McCall Smith, 16th in the ladies' detective series. Ten-year-old Samuel was abandoned by his mother to protect him from her unsavory profession, and he has been abused by a foster mother. He is a juvenile delinquent in the making until main character Mma Ramotswe takes Samuel under her wing and finds him a refuge at her friend's home for orphans; Mma follows through to provide further happiness for Samuel.
Please see my reviews of all three novels on this page. And happy reading for the rest of the summer!
Bud Caldwell, an orphan in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, is the p.o.v. character of "Bud, Not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis. Bud follows clues left by his late momma to find his presumed father and winds up in the home of a Grand Rapids band leader. Bud settles in to a bedroom with familiar photos on the wall.
Jamie Moore is an important character in Kent Haruf's "Our Souls at Night." Jamie's parents have separated, and his dad sends him away to spend the summer with the grandmother, Addie Moore, thus adding a complication to Addie's newfound relationship with a neighbor widower. Jamie is assigned to his dad's old bedroom, but he is a sad child who needs the comfort of sharing his grandma's bed.
Samuel appears in a rather light-hearted novel, "The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine" by Alexander McCall Smith, 16th in the ladies' detective series. Ten-year-old Samuel was abandoned by his mother to protect him from her unsavory profession, and he has been abused by a foster mother. He is a juvenile delinquent in the making until main character Mma Ramotswe takes Samuel under her wing and finds him a refuge at her friend's home for orphans; Mma follows through to provide further happiness for Samuel.
Please see my reviews of all three novels on this page. And happy reading for the rest of the summer!
July 1, 2016
OK is not Okay
I observed that the abbreviation 'OK' is usually, and more correctly, spelled out 'okay' in creative writing. While editing for a different fine point in my novel, "Promise Full of Thorns," I noticed my characters say "OK" quite often. Uh-oh! I would have to weed that out and change 'OK' to 'okay' whenever it appears in 345 pages/90,218 words.
Groan! This could take several days, maybe a week of work. So I began in MS Word: Clicked on Edit/Find. Find What: OK. Replace with: okay. Find next: The finder landed on page 2, highlighting the last two letters in 'book,' then jumping to page 4 to the last two letters of 'took.' Oh no--double groan!! I re-estimated that the process would then take weeks, not days. In frustration, I turned off the computer.
The next day I re-focused and attempted the task again, deciding to check out the More feature under Find and Replace. Voila! There was a choice of locating Whole Words Only! This trick worked like magic, immediately going to my first instance of 'OK' on page 22. Much better! Next it went to page 26, and so on. There were a great number of 'OKs', as every character said it, but the finder feature went through all 90,218 words quickly, enabling me to change 'OK' to 'okay' beginning with small or capital letter, as needed. The process took maybe 15 minutes after all!
Now I'm happy to say "Promise" is AOK, but I expect that more editing "Thorns" lie ahead.
Groan! This could take several days, maybe a week of work. So I began in MS Word: Clicked on Edit/Find. Find What: OK. Replace with: okay. Find next: The finder landed on page 2, highlighting the last two letters in 'book,' then jumping to page 4 to the last two letters of 'took.' Oh no--double groan!! I re-estimated that the process would then take weeks, not days. In frustration, I turned off the computer.
The next day I re-focused and attempted the task again, deciding to check out the More feature under Find and Replace. Voila! There was a choice of locating Whole Words Only! This trick worked like magic, immediately going to my first instance of 'OK' on page 22. Much better! Next it went to page 26, and so on. There were a great number of 'OKs', as every character said it, but the finder feature went through all 90,218 words quickly, enabling me to change 'OK' to 'okay' beginning with small or capital letter, as needed. The process took maybe 15 minutes after all!
Now I'm happy to say "Promise" is AOK, but I expect that more editing "Thorns" lie ahead.
June 17, 2016
Dingbats in our Lives
Have you come across a dingbat today? If you've opened a book you might have seen one--or several. I learned that a dingbat is a printer's ornament used as a spacer, box frame, interruption in text, and to decorate pages. A common dingbat is * * * used to mark a definite change or interruption/shift in a story.
How about an earworm? The thought makes you cringe? You could call it a brain worm instead. Feel any better? It's that stuck-song syndrome where a melody or part of a song continually repeats in your mind. How to get rid of it? Turn on the radio. Of course, another song could get stuck in your head.
An eye rhyme? It's a visual or sight rhyme where two words are spelled much the same but pronounced differently. Such as cough, bough, though, tough. No rhyme when spoken. Only to the eye.
A head rhyme? Same as alliteration where the sound of the first consonant is repeated in a series, such as "peter piper picked. . ."
SOME NEWS to end this blog today: My novel manuscript "Promise Full of Thorns" is a finalist in the Maple Lane Books 2016 publishing contest.
How about an earworm? The thought makes you cringe? You could call it a brain worm instead. Feel any better? It's that stuck-song syndrome where a melody or part of a song continually repeats in your mind. How to get rid of it? Turn on the radio. Of course, another song could get stuck in your head.
An eye rhyme? It's a visual or sight rhyme where two words are spelled much the same but pronounced differently. Such as cough, bough, though, tough. No rhyme when spoken. Only to the eye.
A head rhyme? Same as alliteration where the sound of the first consonant is repeated in a series, such as "peter piper picked. . ."
SOME NEWS to end this blog today: My novel manuscript "Promise Full of Thorns" is a finalist in the Maple Lane Books 2016 publishing contest.
June 7, 2016
Unlikely book links
" I often find links between books I read, sometimes matching up the most unlikely of books. This time I found something in common between Peter Matthiesen's "In Paradise," and Alexander McCall Smith's "The Revolving Door of Life." Such unlikely companions: "In Paradise" is a somber, psychological book about a reunion of people from diverse backgrounds reuniting at Auschwitz in 1996. "The Revolving Door of Life" is a light, often hilarious read about residents in an Edinburgh neighborhood.
What could they possibly have in common? In both novels, characters experienced a mystical, unexplainable, unexpected experience. In "In Paradise," it happened with a spontaneous linking of hands and a 'dance' at the prison camp. In "The Revolving Door. . .", Angus Lordie is at a dinner party and looks out the window onto the sunset-lit skyline of Edinburgh and suddenly feels at one with humanity. His wife Domenica's explanation illuminates both experiences: ". . . a vision of agape, that pure disinterested love of one's fellow man that so many of us would love to find, but never do." (less) "
What could they possibly have in common? In both novels, characters experienced a mystical, unexplainable, unexpected experience. In "In Paradise," it happened with a spontaneous linking of hands and a 'dance' at the prison camp. In "The Revolving Door. . .", Angus Lordie is at a dinner party and looks out the window onto the sunset-lit skyline of Edinburgh and suddenly feels at one with humanity. His wife Domenica's explanation illuminates both experiences: ". . . a vision of agape, that pure disinterested love of one's fellow man that so many of us would love to find, but never do." (less) "
