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Monday, March 18, 2024

A Writer's Moment: "Everything's a potential scene; everyone a charac...

A Writer's Moment: "Everything's a potential scene; everyone a charac...:   “I don't e njoy doing a lot of research, preferring as a rule, to ‘make up my facts.’ That's why I write fiction. I firmly bel...

"Everything's a potential scene; everyone a character'

 

“I don't enjoy doing a lot of research, preferring as a rule, to ‘make up my facts.’ That's why I write fiction. I firmly believe that if you want facts, you read non-fiction; you read fiction to discover the truth.” – Joy Fielding

 

Fielding, born in Toronto, Canada on this date in 1945, said she knew early in her life that she wanted to be a writer, and to date she’s followed through big time.  She is the author of 29 novels and 1 novella – many of them bestsellers – including the extraordinarily successful See Jane Run and her 2022 book The Housekeeper.

    

Fielding said she loves writing because she feels like she’s in complete control.  And, she looks upon everything around her as a potential scene and everyone as a potential character.  While snippets of her ideas come from magazine and newspaper articles, more often they are from things that happen to herself or someone she knows. 

 

 “I use whatever I can and nothing is sacred. Of course, nothing is exactly the way it is in real life. A writer borrows a bit from here, there and everywhere, and adapts it to her own purpose.  (But) I find that the more of me I include, the more successful the book, the more readers can identify with.”

Saturday, March 16, 2024

A Writer's Moment: 'Poetry is a call to action'

A Writer's Moment: 'Poetry is a call to action':   “Poetry can tell us about what's going on in our lives - not only our personal but our social and political lives.”...

'Poetry is a call to action'

 

“Poetry can tell us about what's going on in our lives - not only our personal but our social and political lives.”  Juan Felipe Herrera

The author of two dozen books, Herrera (born in 1948) is a poet, performer, writer, cartoonist, teacher and activist whose experiences as the child of migrant farmers has shaped much of his work.   His children's book Calling the Doves won the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award and his poetry book Half the World in Light won the National Book Critics Circle Award.  In 2023 he was awarded The Frost Medal for Lifetime Achievement in American Poetry.

 

“Poetry is a call to action, and it also is action,”  he said.  For Saturday’s Poem, here is Herrera’s,


         Let Me Tell You What A Poem Brings 

Before you go further,
let me tell you what a poem brings,
first, you must know the secret, there is no poem
to speak of, it is a way to attain a life without boundaries,
yes, it is that easy, a poem, imagine me telling you this,
instead of going day by day against the razors, well,
the judgments, all the tick-tock bronze, a leather jacket
sizing you up, the fashion mall, for example, from
the outside you think you are being entertained,
when you enter, things change, you get caught by surprise,
your mouth goes sour, you get thirsty, your legs grow cold
standing still in the middle of a storm, a poem, of course,
is always open for business too, except, as you can see,
it isn't exactly business that pulls your spirit into
the alarming waters, there you can bathe, you can play,
you can even join in on the gossip—the mist, that is,
the mist becomes central to your existence.

 

Friday, March 15, 2024

A Writer's Moment: 'Living in a story'

A Writer's Moment: 'Living in a story':   “I think the job of writing and literature is to encourage each one of us to believe that we're living in a story.”...

'Living in a story'

 

“I think the job of writing and literature is to encourage each one of us to believe that we're living in a story.”  Naomi Shihab Nye

 

Born in 1952, Nye is a self-designated "wandering poet," traveling the world to lead writing workshops and conduct inspirational talks.  She lives in San Antonio – where she earned a degree in English Literature at Trinity University. 

 

Her writing career, which includes contributing to or publishing some 30 books of poetry, several novels, and many stories for kids and young adults, began as a child growing up in St. Louis, where her first poem was published at age 7.

 

Among Nye’s most notable works is the YA novel Habibi, the story of a 14-year-old girl and her Arab father and American mother who move from a home in St. Louis to live in Palestine, mirroring a time in her own life.    The semi-autobiographical piece, the title of which means “beloved,” addresses a wide range of themes including change, family values, war, peace and love.  Winner of multiple awards, the book was named by the American Library Association as one of the best books for Young Adults written in the 20th Century. 

 

“Poetry calls us to pause,” Nye said.  “There is so much we overlook, while the abundance around us continues to shimmer, on its own.”

Thursday, March 14, 2024