Unleashing the hidden power of writing

“Language exerts hidden power, like the moon on the tides.” – Rita Mae Brown

Born on this date in 1944, Brown has excelled in every type of writing she’s attempted, ranging from screenplays to television scripting to novels and poetry.  After a string of stand-alone novels, led by the award-winning Rubyfruit Jungle, she has written a remarkable 55 more novels, 4 nonfiction books, and 9 screenplays.  Twenty-eight of her titles are in the “Mrs. Murphy Mysteries” series and 11 in her “Sister Mysteries" series.  Since the 1990s she has published at least a title every year, including last year’s best-selling Crazy Like A Fox and this year’s Probable Claws.

Raised first in an orphanage and then by her aunt and uncle, she grew up in Pennsylvania, went to school at the University of Florida, and lived for a time as a homeless person in New York City before earning degrees in Classics, English and Cinematography.  Ultimately she went on to earn two Master’s degrees and a Ph.D.        Her first attempt at writing was ultimately made into a television special, I Love Liberty, which earned her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing in a Musical or Variety.  She followed that with a screenplay parody of “slasher” movies called The Slumber Party Massacre, a film that not only appeared on TV but also in limited release and spawned two sequels and a cult following that continues to this day.

Inspired by her writing success, she wrote her first novel and has never looked back and said every time she thinks about easing up, a deadline from her publisher seems to loom. "A deadline is just negative inspiration," she said.  "Still, it's better than no inspiration at all."

Share A Writers Moment with a friend by clicking the g+1 button below