A Writer's Moment: 'History is what we bring to it'

A Writer's Moment: 'History is what we bring to it':   “History is what we bring to it, not just the events themselves, but how we interpret those events.” – Robert Harris Born in March of 1...

'History is what we bring to it'

 

“History is what we bring to it, not just the events themselves, but how we interpret those events.” – Robert Harris

Born in March of 1957 in Nottingham, England (made famous by The Legend of Robin Hood), Harris’s writing career began as a print journalist and morphed into television reporting (for the BBC) before he switched to historical writing in the late 1980s.  

 

Harris’s first big hit was the bestseller Fatherland and he built a loyal following with books focused on World War II, including the wildly successful Enigma – both a bestseller and an award-winning movie.   Since then he has had successful forays into ancient Rome and contemporary history, including another massive award-winning bestseller and movie Conclave.

 

Now the author of 5 nonfiction books and 17 novels his next one, set in ancient Rome, is due out in August.  Called Agrippa, it is based on the Roman general and statesman Marcus Agrippa as he looks back on his lifelong friendship with Octavian – the Roman emperor Augustus Caesar.

   

“I write as well as I can,” Harris said.  “I'm a journalist at heart, so (to me) it's the story that matters.”   

A Writer's Moment: 'The capacity for writing success'

A Writer's Moment: 'The capacity for writing success':   “I think we have a great deal of mythology around writing. We believe that only a few people can really do it. I wrote a book called   The...

'The capacity for writing success'

 

“I think we have a great deal of mythology around writing. We believe that only a few people can really do it. I wrote a book called  The Right to Write.  In it, I argued that all of us have the capacity to write. That it's as normal to write s it is to speak.” – Julia Cameron

 

Born on this date in 1948, Cameron has been a teacher, author, artist, poet, playwright, novelist, filmmaker, composer, and journalist.  She’s earned acclaim in almost every category but perhaps is most famous for her teaching and books on writing and creativity, including The Artist's Way.  She has written 3 dozen nonfiction books, 2 novels, 6 plays, 4 books of poetry, and many, many short stories, essays and screenplays.  Her most recent book, published in 2024, is The Artist's Way Toolkit, How to Use the Creative Practices.

 

She grew up in Chicago, went to college in New York and Washington, DC, and started her career as a writer at the Washington Post before moving over to Rolling Stone magazine. While working on an article for Oui Magazine, she met and married director Martin Scorsese – a marriage that lasted just a year and produced a daughter.  Despite their divorce, they have worked together on several successful films.     

 

“I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something,” she said.  “Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow.“

A Writer's Moment: 'Don't get jealous; get inspired'

A Writer's Moment: 'Don't get jealous; get inspired':   “My inspiration for writing is all the wonderful books that I read as a child and that I still read. I think that for those of us who writ...

'Don't get jealous; get inspired'

 

“My inspiration for writing is all the wonderful books that I read as a child and that I still read. I think that for those of us who write, when we find a wonderful book written by someone else, we don't really get jealous, we get inspired, and that's kind of the mark of what a good writer is.” –  Patricia MacLachlan

 

Born in Cheyenne, Wyo. on this date in 1938, MacLachlan is best known for her 1986 Newbery Medal-winning novel (and series of books) Sarah, Plain and Tall, also adapted into television movies by Hallmark.

 

MacLachlan “grew up on the prairie” and said the experience shaped both who she was and how she learned to portray things.   While she studied, married and lived in New England most of her adult life, she kept a small bag of dirt from the Wyoming prairies to call to mind her Wyoming roots.

 

MacLachlan wrote many award-winning and sought-after books – 35 in all – and her final two, My Life Begins and Snow Horses: A First Night Story both came out  in 2022, the year of her death.  For a great example of her poetic, poignant style, check out her 2015 novel, The Truth of Me, a celebration of how our unique "small truths" make each of us magical and brave in our own ways.

 

“I have great editors and I always have,” she modestly said of her successes.  “Somehow, great editors ask the right questions or pose things to you that get you to write better. It's a dance between you, your characters, and your editor.”

A Writer's Moment: 'You have to trust the narrative'

A Writer's Moment: 'You have to trust the narrative':   “When you start a novel, it is always like pushing a boulder uphill. Then, after a while, to mangle the metaphor, the boulder fills with h...