A Writer's Moment: Poetic Versatility Personified

A Writer's Moment: Poetic Versatility Personified: "I grew up aware of two ways of looking at the world that are opposed to each other and yet can exist side by side in the same person...

Poetic Versatility Personified

"I grew up aware of two ways of looking at the world that are opposed to each other and yet can exist side by side in the same person. One is the scientific view. The other is the magic view." – Nancy Willard

    Born this week in 1936, Willard (who I featured earlier this week for her career in writing) was an  award-winning, versatile author of many of volumes of poetry. The first author to win the Newbery Prize (recognizing the best in children’s literature) for a book of poetry for children, she also wrote novels, short stories and literary criticism for adults.  For Saturday’s Poem, here is Willard’s, 

                       The Vanity of the Dragonfly

The dragonfly at rest on the doorbell—

too weak to ring and glad of it,

but well mannered and cautious,

thinking it best to observe us quietly

before flying in, and who knows if he will find

the way out? Cautious of traps, this one.

A winged cross, plain, the body straight

as a thermometer, the old glass kind

that could kill us with mercury if our teeth

did not respect its brittle body. Slim as an eel

but a solitary glider, a pilot without bombs

or weapons, and wings clear and small as a wish

to see over our heads, to see the whole picture.

And when our gaze grazes over it and moves on,

the dragonfly changes its clothes,

sheds its old skin, shriveled like laundry,

and steps forth, polished black, with two

circles buttoned like epaulettes taking the last space

at the edge of its eyes.

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A Writer's Moment: 'Life Is About Not Knowing'

A Writer's Moment: 'Life Is About Not Knowing': “I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a...

'Life Is About Not Knowing'

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end.” – Gilda Radner

One of the joys in my life has been knowing Joan Licursi, among the longtime leaders of Gilda’s Club in New York City – an institute set up in the name of Gilda Radner to insure that no one has to face the ravages of cancer alone.   Radner was born on this date in 1946 and after her death from cancer in 1989, family and friends founded Gilda’s Club, both in her memory and to help others with the disease. 

                                            The organization took its name from Radner's comment that cancer gave her "membership to an elite club I'd rather not belong to.”  Radner's story can be read in her inspiring, humorous and heart-wrenching book, It's Always Something, written after her diagnosis with the illness.   Gilda’s Club has become a global network serving multi-thousands of victims and their families.

“While we have the gift of life, it seems to me the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die - whether it is our spirit, our creativity or our glorious uniqueness,” Radner once said.   “Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.”

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A Writer's Moment: It's the 'Rhythm' of Each Sentence

A Writer's Moment: It's the 'Rhythm' of Each Sentence: “Read everything, write all the time.   And if you can do anything else that gives you equal pleasure and allows you t...

It's the 'Rhythm' of Each Sentence

“Read everything, write all the time.  And if you can do anything else that gives you equal pleasure and allows you to sleep soundly at night, do that instead.  The writing life is an odd one, to say the least.” – Alice McDermott

Born in Brooklyn, NY, on this date in 1953, McDermott is a writer of numerous short stories and 8 novels as well as  Professor of Humanities at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.  All of her novels have earned accolades and awards, led by Charming Billy, for which she won both the American Book Award and  the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. 

The product of  Catholic elementary and high schools, she studied at state universities after that, earning degrees in English and writing.  Prior to her current position, she served as writer-in-residence at both Lynchburg College and Hollins College in Virginia and was lecturer in English at the University of New Hampshire, where she earned her Master’s degree.

           Her short stories have appeared in a wide variety of magazines, journals and newspapers including Redbook, The New Yorker, and Seventeen, The New York Times and The Washington Post.   What makes writing click for her?

“I've got to hear the rhythm of the sentences; I want the music of the prose. I want to see ordinary things transformed not by the circumstances in which I see them but by the language with which they're described,” she said.  “That's what I love when I read.”

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A Writer's Moment: A Writers' Role Model

A Writer's Moment: A Writers' Role Model: “Armenian folklore has it that three apples fell from Heaven: one for the teller of a story, one for the listener, and...

A Writers' Role Model

“Armenian folklore has it that three apples fell from Heaven: one for the teller of a story, one for the listener, and the third for the one who 'took it to heart.' What a pity Heaven awarded no apple to the one who wrote the story down.” – Nancy Willard

Willard, born in Ann Arbor, MI, on this date in 1936, was a novelist, poet and both author and illustrator of children’s books and won the coveted Newbery Medal for her combination poetry-prose children’s book A Visit To William Blake’s Inn.

After growing up “surrounded by stories and storytellers,” she studied writing at the University of Michigan, where she earned both her B.A. and Ph.D.  (sandwiched around a Master’s degree from Stanford).   She started her career by teaching writing at Vassar and then branched off to her writing, particularly children’s and young adult books, combining writing and teaching throughout her life.   Over the years she authored 4 novels, 4 nonfiction books, 18 books of poetry, and a remarkable 43 children’s books, the last one, Gum, published just months before her death in 2017.  

 

     Among her many awards besides the Newbery Medal were an O.Henry Prize, 2 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowships, and a Devins Award for Poetry.

“When I was growing up,” Willard said,  “I loved stories in which a girl sets out on a quest to rescue the prince instead of the other way around.”

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A Writer's Moment: You Gotta Show Up For Work

A Writer's Moment: You Gotta Show Up For Work: “I don't teach writing. I teach patience. Toughness. Stubbornness. The willingness to fail. I teach life. The odd ...

You Gotta Show Up For Work

“I don't teach writing. I teach patience. Toughness. Stubbornness. The willingness to fail. I teach life. The odd thing is most of the things that stop an inexperienced writer are so far from the truth as to be nearly beside the point. When you feel global doubt about your talent, that is your talent. People who have no talent don't have any doubt.” – Richard Bausch 

Born at Fort Benning, GA 1945, Bausch now makes his home in southern California where he is a professor of writing at Chapman University and an award-winning writer of short stories, novels and poetry. 

                               Among his numerous awards are a Guggenheim, the PEN/Faulkner for Excellence in Short Story Writing, and a W.Y. Boyd for Excellence in Military Writing for his multiple-award winning historical novel Peace.

His advice for those who aspire to writing:  “Write a little bit every day, each day. Visit it, every day - in other words, show up for work.”

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A Writer's Moment: Shaking Up The 'Familiar'

A Writer's Moment: Shaking Up The 'Familiar': “The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.” – Anaïs Nin Anaïs Nin was...

Shaking Up The 'Familiar'

“The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.” – Anaïs Nin

Anaïs Nin was largely ignored as a writer until the 1960s. Today she is regarded as one of the leading women writers of the 20th Century and a source of inspiration for all who challenge conventionally defined gender roles.

Born in 1903 to Cuban parents living in France, she spent some years in both Spain and Cuba before living most of her life in the United States where she honed her writing skills through her journals,   meticulously kept from age 11 until her death at age 74.   Nin is yet another great example of the value of journal writing and how it can not only shape one's writing, but also provide a mirror on the day-to-day happenings of the world around us. 

                    “It is the function of art and writing to renew our perception,” she said.  “What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it.”

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A Writer's Moment: Authoring 'Real Life' Poetry

A Writer's Moment: Authoring 'Real Life' Poetry: “I do think I have an ability to record sensual and emotional facts and factoids, to construct a convincing surface of what life feels lik...

Authoring 'Real Life' Poetry

“I do think I have an ability to record sensual and emotional facts and factoids, to construct a convincing surface of what life feels like, both physical life and emotional life.” – Anne Carson

Born in Canada on June 21, 1950, Carson is a poet, essayist, translator and Professor of Classics who taught first in Canada and then at both the University of Michigan and Princeton University in the U.S.         Winner of both Guggenheim and MacArthur (the “Genius Grant”) Fellowships, she also won the prestigious Pushcart Prize for her poetry, often lauded for both what the poems say and how they are portrayed on paper. For Saturday’s Poem, here is Carson’s, 

 

                       Room In Brooklyn

This
slow
day
moves
Along the room
I
hear
its
axles
go
A gradual dazzle
upon
the ceiling
Gives me that
racy
bluishyellow
feeling
As hours
blow
the wide
way
Down my afternoon.

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A Writer's Moment: A Key To Writing Success

A Writer's Moment: A Key To Writing Success: “I often will write a scene from three different points of view to find out which has the most tension and which way I...

A Key To Writing Success

“I often will write a scene from three different points of view to find out which has the most tension and which way I’m able to conceal the information I’m trying to conceal.  And that is, at the end of the day, what writing suspense is all about.”– Dan Brown

Born in New Hampshire Brown (who turns 55 tomorrow) has utilized his technique to perfection.  His thrillers exude suspense and his readers flock to them, having purchased well over 200 million copies since his first success, The Da Vinci Code in 2003.  Brown's novels are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour period, and feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes and conspiracy theories.  They’ve been translated into 52 languages. 

While writing is his life it wasn’t that way until the mid-1990s when he was on vacation, read a thriller by Sidney Sheldon, and decided that’s what he really wanted to do.  Up until then he had been a successful singer, songwriter and pianist.

 Brown likes the real people in his life as key characters – a great writing technique that every writer should consider.   And it certainly helps answer that old question often tossed a writer’s direction: “Where do you get your characters?” 

    His secret to his success (besides having writing talent, of course): “Hard work.  I still get up every morning at 4 a.m.  I write seven days a week, including Christmas.  I still face a blank page every morning, and my characters don’t really care how many books I’ve sold."

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A Writer's Moment: A Comic Book Superhero

A Writer's Moment: A Comic Book Superhero: “Take something you love, tell people about it, bring together people who share your love, and help make it better. Ultimately, you'll ...

A Comic Book Superhero

“Take something you love, tell people about it, bring together people who share your love, and help make it better. Ultimately, you'll have more of whatever you love for yourself and the world.” – Julius Schwartz

Perhaps few people even know Schwartz’s name, but he left readers with a lasting legacy by helping develop some of our most iconic comic book “superheroes” during his lifetime. Schwartz also came up with the concept (and title) of the Justice League of America.

Born on this date in 1915, Schwartz (who died in 2004) was DC Comics’ primary editor in the development of DC’s flagship superheroes Superman and Batman.  Also a literary agent, he co-founded the Solar Sales Service Literary Agency, where he represented such writers as Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury and H. P. Lovecraft, including some of Bradbury's first published works and Lovecraft's last.  

                                               He is credited with helping organize the first World Science Fiction Convention in 1939 and is one of just a few editors to be inducted into both the Comic Industry’s Jack Kirby Hall of Fame and the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame, something he found almost unbelievable.   “Not too many people,” he said,  “ever know who the editor is.”

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A Writer's Moment: From Storytelling To Redemption

A Writer's Moment: From Storytelling To Redemption: "Storytelling makes possible redemptions and healings that can't happen in any other way." – Stephen Do...

From Storytelling To Redemption

"Storytelling makes possible redemptions and healings that can't happen in any other way." – Stephen Donaldson

While Donaldson is American, he has been “other-worldly” in his writing, developing a wide range of fantasy and science fiction novels that have cemented his position as a leading writer in the genre’ and had him knocking around in an alternative universe as his primary setting.   His most well-known series is the 10-novel fantasy The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. 

              Donaldson’s writing – sometimes characterized by its psychological complexity and use of an arcane vocabulary – has generally attracted critical praise for its "imagination, vivid characterizations, and fast pace."   I think he also deserves high marks for great choice of titles (one I especially like is The Rune of Earth).

A graduate of The College of Wooster and Kent State (both in Ohio), he currently makes his home in New Mexico where he celebrated his 72^nd birthday in mid-May.   “I may not yet be as old as dirt,” he said,  “but dirt and I have an awful lot in common.”

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A Writer's Moment: An 'Understanding' of Truth

A Writer's Moment: An 'Understanding' of Truth: “All of us create our own versions of an event, of our lives, even, not because we're liars, necessarily, but beca...

An 'Understanding' of Truth

“All of us create our own versions of an event, of our lives, even, not because we're liars, necessarily, but because we can only see and understand the truth from our own viewpoint, and a shifting viewpoint at that.” – Deb Caletti

Born in California on this date in 1963, Caletti is an award-winning writer, primarily of young adult fiction, although she has several adult novels to her credit as well.   Caletti studied journalism at the University of Washington, received some recognition for playwriting, but always wanted to try novels.  "When my son was two,” she said,  “I got serious about writing. I didn’t want to be one of those people who talked about their dream but never did anything about it.” 

All of her works are set in the Pacific Northwest and her YA books are noted for tackling difficult issues related to relationship dynamics, family (including stepfamilies), change and resilience, and the connections between human nature and animal nature.

           A National Book Award finalist (for Honey, Baby, Sweetheart), and a Michael L. Printz Honor Book medalist (for her most recent book A Heart in a Body in the World), she said she’s been a passionate reader and writer from an early age, and speaks glowingly of libraries and their influence.  

“I understood right from the start that every set of library doors were the sort of magic portals that lead to other lands,” she said.  “My God, right within reach there were dinosaurs and planets and presidents and girl detectives!“

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A Writer's Moment: Poetry Expresses Love Of The World

A Writer's Moment: Poetry Expresses Love Of The World:   “When it (poetry) aims to express a love of the world it refuses to conceal the many reasons why the world is hard...

Poetry Expresses Love Of The World

 

“When it (poetry) aims to express a love of the world it refuses to conceal the many reasons why the world is hard to love, though we must love it because we have no other, and to fail to love it is not to exist at all.” – Mark Van Doren

Born in June 1894, Van Doren was a poet, writer, critic and professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, shaping the writing skills of dozens of America’s leading 20^th century writers.  His teaching skills were such that Columbia created an annual award in his name honoring its best teacher as selected by the students.   In 1940, Van Doren was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his poetry. 

 

For Saturday’s Poem, here are Van Doren’s

Nothing Stays                               Spring Thunder

Nothing stays                                    Listen, the wind is still,

not even change,                                And far away in the night –

That can grow tired                         See! The uplands fill

of it's own name;                              With a running light.

The very thought

too much for it.                                Open the doors. It is warm; 

                                                                   And where the sky was clear—

Somewhere in air                            Look! The head of a storm

a stillness is,                                     That marches here!

So far, so thin-                     

But let it alone.                                 Come under the trembling hedge—

Whoever we are                                Fast, although you fumble...

it is not for us                                   There! Did you hear the edge
of winter crumble?

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