A Writer's Moment: 'A reason to continue'

A Writer's Moment: 'A reason to continue':   “ I think what gets a poem going is an initiating line. Sometimes a first line will occur, and it goes nowhere; but other times - and this...

'A reason to continue'

 

“I think what gets a poem going is an initiating line. Sometimes a first line will occur, and it goes nowhere; but other times - and this, I think, is a sense you develop - I can tell that the line wants to continue. If it does, I can feel a sense of momentum - the poem finds a reason for continuing.” – Billy Collins

 

Born in New York City in 1941, Collins is a former U.S. Poet Laureate, internationally acclaimed author of dozens of collections of poetry, and recipient of several international prizes for his contributions to the field of literature and letters.  For Saturday’s Poem, here is Collins’, 

                                                Morning

Why do we bother with the rest of the day,
the swale of the afternoon,
the sudden dip into evening,

then night with his notorious perfumes,
his many-pointed stars?

This is the best—
throwing off the light covers,
feet on the cold floor,
and buzzing around the house on espresso—

maybe a splash of water on the face,
a palmful of vitamins—
but mostly buzzing around the house on espresso,

dictionary and atlas open on the rug,
the typewriter waiting for the key of the head,
a cello on the radio,

and, if necessary, the windows—
trees fifty, a hundred years old
out there,
heavy clouds on the way
and the lawn steaming like a horse

A Writer's Moment: It's a discipline 'you have to love'

A Writer's Moment: It's a discipline 'you have to love':   “ Writing is sweat and drudgery most of the time. And you have to love it in order to endure the solitude and the discipline.”  – Peter Be...

It's a discipline 'you have to love'

 

“Writing is sweat and drudgery most of the time. And you have to love it in order to endure the solitude and the discipline.” – Peter Benchley

 

Born in New York City on May 8, 1940 Benchley (who died in 2006) wrote the novel Jaws, subsequently made into a blockbuster movie by Steven Spielberg, who said he initially found many of the characters unsympathetic and actually wanted the shark to win. 

 

Benchley came from a writing legacy, his grandfather Robert being one of the founders of the famed writing group known as the Algonquin Round Table.  But Peter struggled to get his own foot in the publishing door and nearly decided against it.  He had little early success and was just doing part-time freelance writing when he pitched the idea for Jaws as “one final attempt to stay alive as a writer.” And the rest, as the saying goes . . .

Released in 1974, Jaws was at or near the top of the New York Times bestseller list for 44 weeks and has been continuously in print ever since.   While he wrote a couple more bestselling novels, including The Deep (also adapted as a movie), he had more success as a screenwriter (11 movie adaptations) and writing about conservation.   His book Ocean Planet: Writings and Images of the Sea is considered one of the definitive works on the topic.  Today, the annual Peter Benchley Ocean Awards are awarded to recognize conservation efforts on behalf of the world's oceans.  

 

“The ocean is the only alien and potentially hostile environment on the planet into which we tend to venture without thinking about the animals that live there, how they behave, how they support themselves, and how they perceive us,” he said.  “Without the oceans, there would be no life on earth.”

A Writer's Moment: 'The keys to writing success'

A Writer's Moment: 'The keys to writing success':   “If you have a craftsman's command of the language and basic writing techniques you'll be able to write - as long as you know what...

'The keys to writing success'

 

“If you have a craftsman's command of the language and basic writing techniques you'll be able to write - as long as you know what you want to say” – Jeffery Deaver

 

Born in Glen Elyn, Illinois on this date in 1950 Deaver is one of America’s premiere mystery/crime writers having earned most of the top awards in the genre and making almost every major bestseller list around the globe.  A lawyer, too (he graduated from Fordham Law and was in the profession before writing), he’s written 50 novels and 5 collections of short stories.  His “Colter Shaw” stories – the latest being 2025’s South of Nowhere – are the basis for the hit TV series Tracker.

 

Among his many awards are a Nero Wolfe and three Ellery Queen Reader's Awards for Best Short Story and Best Novel of the Year.  And Colter Shaw notwithstanding, Deaver's most popular books feature Lincoln Rhyme, a quadriplegic detective, and NYPD Detective Amelia Sachs.  His books The Devil’s Teardrop, which first introduced Rhyme, and The Bone Collector, first in the Rhyme series, also were popular television movies.  His newest The Collateral Heart is just out in both text and audio versions

 

“My books are primarily plot driven,” he said, “but the best plot in the world is useless if you don’t populate them with characters that readers can care about.” 

A Writer's Moment: 'It's the real art of writing success'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's the real art of writing success':   “The real art is not to come up with extraordinary clever words but to make ordinary simple words do extraordinary things. To use the lang...