A Writer's Moment: Write With Assurance and Confidence

A Writer's Moment: Write With Assurance and Confidence: “The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be ...

Write With Assurance and Confidence

“The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.)"  – Neil Gaiman 

Born in England in 1960, Gaiman now makes his home near Minneapolis where he writes in virtually every genre from Children’s and Young Adult to short fiction, novels and graphic novels.  He also is a prolific writer of nonfiction, audio theatre, poetry, song lyrics and films.   And his blog and Twitter feeds have millions of followers.   Credited as one of the creators of modern comics, Gaiman is listed in the Dictionary of Literary Biography as one of the top ten living post-modern writers. 

                                Among his dozens of honors are Hugos, Nebulas, Newbery and Carnegie medals.  He is the first author to win both a Newbery and a Carnegie for the same work –The Graveyard Book (slated for a movie).  His title The Ocean at the End of the Lane won the British Book of the Year award.

Gaiman credits librarians with fostering his life-long love of reading.   "I wouldn't be who I am without libraries. I was the sort of kid who devoured books, and my happiest times as a boy were when I persuaded my parents to drop me off in the local library on their way to work, and I spent the day there.”

Writer’s Moment with a friend at http://writersmoment.blogspot.com

A Writer's Moment: The Book - Humankind's Great Achievement

A Writer's Moment: The Book - Humankind's Great Achievement: “Read. The book is still the greatest manmade machine of all – not the car, not the TV, not the computer or the smartphone...Do not allow ...

Our Greatest Achievement

“Read. The book is still the greatest manmade machine of all – not the car, not the TV, not the computer or the smartphone...Do not allow our social media to segregate us into ever smaller tribes and clans, fiercely and sometimes appropriately loyal to our group, but also capable of metastasizing into profound distrust of the other.” – Ken Burns

Burns, noted for his many outstanding, award-winning films, made those comments in a 2015 commencement speech to the graduating class at Washington University in St. Louis, essentially adding speechwriter and speaker to his already impressive resumé.

Born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1953, Burns has produced over 30 major films and documentary series including  *The Civil War (winner of more than 40 awards); The National Parks: America's Best Idea; and The Vietnam War.   He also is credited with developing a filming technique known as “The Ken Burns Effect,” giving life to still photographs by slowly zooming in on subjects of interest and panning from one subject to another.  This year his newest film is on Country Music, and in 2020 he is focusing on the great writer Ernest Hemingway.

Burns has been a lifelong avid supporter of education, libraries and the arts.  “Insist that we support science and the arts, especially the arts,” Burns said.  “They have nothing to do with the actual defense of the country – they just make the country worth defending.”

*The Civil War features a distinctive melody throughout called "Ashokan Farewell,” a haunting song that embodies that terrible struggle and its effect on our nation and perhaps best on display in a scene featuring a letter by combatant Sullivan Ballou.  Ken Burns’ amazing filmmaking skills and this beautiful song can be heard and seen at this YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VK1KcZoDu0

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A Writer's Moment: Effectively 'Nudging' Our World

A Writer's Moment: Effectively 'Nudging' Our World: “I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you might nudge ...

Effectively 'Nudging' Our World

“I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you might nudge the world a little or make a poem that children will speak for you when you are dead.” – Tom Stoppard

 A Czech-born playwright (in 1937), Tomas Straussler escaped the Nazis as a child, ending up in Great Britain.  He changed his name and started writing journalistically in 1954.   Then in 1960 he decided to try writing plays and his first effort, A Walk on the Water, not only made it to the stage but was televised by the BBC.   His second play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead earned him international acclaim from which he never looked back, earning 4 Tony Awards in the process.

Also a writer for radio, television and film, he co-wrote the Academy Award winning script for the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love, which also won best actress for Gwyneth Paltrow in her first starring role. 

 

       In July 2013 he was awarded the prestigious PEN Pinter Prize for both his lifetime achievement as a writer and for his ability to (as the award states): "to define the real truth of our lives and our societies by putting the words in the right order," and so that they effectively “nudge” our world.

“I cannot say that I write with any social objective,” Stoppard said.  “One writes because one loves writing, really.”

Writer’s Moment with a friend at http://writersmoment.blogspot.com

A Writer's Moment: Exploring The 'Fluidity' of Language

A Writer's Moment: Exploring The 'Fluidity' of Language: “I have always loved the fluidity of language - delighting in dialects, dictionaries, slang and neologisms.” – Ben Sc...

Exploring The 'Fluidity' of Language

“I have always loved the fluidity of language - delighting in dialects, dictionaries, slang and neologisms.” – Ben Schott

Born in London on this date in 1974, Schott combined his love of both writing and photography into his successful career as author of the Schott's Miscellanies and Schott's Almanac series.

The Miscellanies grew out of his creation – and self-publication – of cards for his friends that contained booklets of what he considered vital but hard to find information.   It wasn’t long before one made it into the hands of a publisher who not only saw the brilliance of what Schott had devised but also its marketability.   Within months the first edition – Schott’s Original Miscellany – had risen to the top of bestseller lists and was spun off into Schott’s other books. 

      His Almanacs share the same look and feel as his 4-book Miscellanies series – only substantially longer and larger.   Among the books’ subjects are The World; Society; Media & Celebrity; Music & Movies; Books & Arts; and Science & Technology.  Each also includes an “Ephemerides” section containing traditional almanac information on dates, moon phases, and the season.

“For me,” Schott said, “writing is like being taken on a walk by a footnote: It's amazing where you end up.”

Writer’s Moment with a friend at http://writersmoment.blogspot.com

A Writer's Moment: 'Every Day Is The Best Day'

A Writer's Moment: 'Every Day Is The Best Day': “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson Emerson, born on this date in 1803, was t...

'Every Day Is The Best Day'

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson, born on this date in 1803, was the first American to advocate for Americans to develop a writing style of their own; to create “American” writing and not just copy that of their forebears from other parts of the world.

One of the first writers to keep journals, influencing his great friend Henry David Thoreau to do the same, Emerson’s journals and notes ultimately were published in 16 volumes by Harvard University Press and are considered to be his key literary works – even though that was not his intent.  “I just wanted to maintain a record of the things that were important to my life,” he wrote.   As it turned out, they are things that have influenced generations of writers both in their content and the practice of journaling itself. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A teacher as well as writer and scholar, he was a staunch supporter of education for girls and women and helped found a Massachusetts school for girls.  And, from the mid-1840s on, he was a national leader of the abolitionist movement.  Known for his kindness and support of others, he said simply, “You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.”

A Writer's Moment: Finding Natural Inspiration

A Writer's Moment: Finding Natural Inspiration: “If you get simple beauty and naught else, you get about the best thing God invents.     – Robert Browning     Photo by Dan Jorgensen...

Finding Natural Inspiration

“If you get simple beauty and naught else, you get about the best thing God invents.

   – Robert Browning

 

  Photo by Dan Jorgensen

  

"The clouds gathering."  Looking west from the Colorado prairie near Fort Lupton toward Long’s Peak.  As a writer, whenever I find myself stuck, I know I can always turn to nature to provide the necessary inspiration for my writer’s moments.

Find a point of inspiration and you will never be left wondering where to “refill the tank” when you feel your writing coming up empty.  Happy Writing!

Writer’s Moment with a friend at http://writersmoment.blogspot.com