A Writer's Moment: ‘Taking a stand and making a mark’

A Writer's Moment: ‘Taking a stand and making a mark’:   “Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish ....

‘Taking a stand and making a mark’

 

“Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.” – John Jakes

Jakes, who was born this day in 1932, gained widespread popularity with the publication of his Kent Family Chronicles, which became a bestselling American Bicentennial Series of books in the mid-to-late 1970s.  The books sold an amazing 55 million copies.

He has since published several more popular works of historical fiction, most dealing with American history, including the North and South trilogy about the U.S. Civil War,
which sold 10 million copies and was adapted as an ABC-TV miniseries.

A native of Chicago, Jakes started writing while studying the craft at DePauw University and he has now penned 55 novels and 4 nonfiction books, including a terrific book on Famous War Correspondents and another on Famous “Firsts” in Sports.

I loved the Bicentennial Series and was shocked when none were made into some type of movie, but perhaps they had too much breadth and scope to make them easily “filmable,” something I’ve learned can make or break a book’s being adapted into a film.  Simple, as the old saying goes, is good.  And, as Jakes likes to say:

“No writer should minimize the factor that affects everyone, but is beyond control: luck.”

 

 

 

 

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A Writer's Moment: 'Walking Into The Unknown'

A Writer's Moment: 'Walking Into The Unknown':   “With a novel, there is no hurrying it. You're constantly walking into the unknown.” – Tobias Hill   Born on thi s dat e in 1970...

'Walking Into The Unknown'

 

“With a novel, there is no hurrying it. You're constantly walking into the unknown.” – Tobias Hill

 

Born on this date in 1970, Hill is a native of North London and the son of a journalist and graphic designer. He is a prizewinning and critically acclaimed author of five novels, four volumes of poetry, a short story collection and a children's book. 

 

Amongst contemporary British authors, Hill is unusual in achieving critical recognition as a poet, novelist and writer of short stories.  His novels have been published worldwide.  Secrecy, revelation and obsession are recurrent themes in Hill's novels, which have all been best sellers.  His short stories have won the prestigious International PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award.  And, his poetry has been called “luminous” and “unforgettable.”

When asked what he likes best in his writing life, he said probably poetry because it provides him the biggest challenge.

 “At school, I was never given a sense that poetry was something flowery or light. It's a complex and controlled way of using language,” he said.  “Rhythms and the music of it are very important. But the difficulty is that poetry makes some kind of claim of honesty.”

 

 

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A Writer's Moment: 'Invite Your Readers Home'

A Writer's Moment: 'Invite Your Readers Home':   “As a writer, you have to believe you’re one of the best writers in the world.   To sit down every day at the typewriter filled with self...

'Invite Your Readers Home'

 

“As a writer, you have to believe you’re one of the best writers in the world.  To sit down every day at the typewriter filled with self-doubt is not a good idea.” – Jo Nesbo

If the Norwegian writer and singer Jo Nesbo lacks any of that self-confidence it’s not evident in his work.  He has parlayed it into two highly successful careers.  The first, of course, is for his creative fiction where he writes about Norwegian and international crime solver Harry Hole, a gritty detective known for his ability to not only solve perplexing crimes but also “save the girl,” much to the delight of the legions of Nesbo readers.

 

 

 Jo Nesbo

On his birthday today (3-29-1960), Nesbo also is celebrating that his books have now sold some 50 million worldwide and been translated into 50 languages.  Many of his readers also tune in to hear him sing.  Nesbo has been lead vocalist and songwriter for the rock band DJ Derre.  The personable Nesbo, who grew up in a small town and has not forgotten his roots, says his readers and listeners think of him as “a family member made good.”

As for writing:  “I’ve always said that you can’t visit readers where you think they are, but instead you need to invite them home to where you are,” he said.  “They need to join you in your world.  That’s the art of storytelling.”

 

 

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A Writer's Moment: An Ancient and Honorable Act

A Writer's Moment: An Ancient and Honorable Act:   “Storytelling is an ancient and honorable act. An essential role to play in the community or tribe. It's one that I embrace wholehear...

An Ancient and Honorable Act

 

“Storytelling is an ancient and honorable act. An essential role to play in the community or tribe. It's one that I embrace wholeheartedly and have been fortunate enough to be rewarded for.” –  Russell Banks

Born on this date in 1940, Banks is an American writer of fiction and poetry and perhaps best known for his "detailed accounts of domestic strife and the daily struggles of ordinary often-marginalized characters.”  His stories usually revolve around his own childhood experiences (growing up in poverty), and often reflect "moral themes and personal relationships.”

A winner of the John Dos Passos Award for creative writing, his works have been translated into some 20 languages and earned numerous international awards.  Two of his books – The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction – not only became international best-sellers but also were made into successful feature films.

Banks is a member of the International Parliament of Writers and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

“There are people like me who want to be writers because they love to write,” he said.  “…My life has now been shaped by my writing,”

 

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A Writer's Moment: 'When Thoughts Find Words'

A Writer's Moment: 'When Thoughts Find Words':     Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to ...

'When Thoughts Find Words'

 

 Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.” – Robert Frost
 

Born on this date in 1874, Frost started his writing career in England before catching on in America.   His realistic depictions of rural life, usually set in New England, coupled with his command of American colloquial speech and language easily understood by the average reader, made him one of our all-time most popular writers. 

But it wasn’t just his ability to write in the language of the common man, it was also his ability to use that language to examine complex social and philosophical themes that made him a writing phenomenon.   Frequently honored during his long lifetime (he died in 1963 at age 88), Frost won 4 Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry, was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his life’s work, and was named Poet Laureate of Vermont for his final two years of life.  During that time he also was asked by President John F. Kennedy to create and read a poem for his 1961 inauguration. 

Born and raised in San Francisco,        Frost moved East to attend Dartmouth, later attended Harvard, and became a farmer in New Hampshire while honing and expanding his storied writing career.  There are too many of Frost’s poems to cite here, but his “Road Less Traveled By” and “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” are two of the most beautiful and poignant you ever might read. 

Frost once noted that “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought, and the thought has found words.” I can only say:  Find a book of words by Frost and sit down in a quiet corner somewhere to read them.  You will be transported to his world in an instant and love each and every moment. 

A Writer's Moment: 'Perfect' Mess

A Writer's Moment: 'Perfect' Mess:   “Poetry is for me Eucharistic. You take someone else's suffering into your body, their passion comes into your body, and in doing tha...

'Perfect' Mess

 

“Poetry is for me Eucharistic. You take someone else's suffering into your body, their passion comes into your body, and in doing that you commune, you take communion, you make a community with others.” – Mary Karr

American poet, essayist and memoirist Karr rose to fame in 1995 with the publication of her bestselling memoir The Liars' Club, set mostly in 1960s Southeast Texas where she grew up.   

Karr has won a Pushcart Prize for her essays and a Whiting Award, a Pushcart Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship for her poetry.  “Every poem (I write),” she said, “probably has 60 drafts behind it.”   For Saturday’s poem, here is Karr’s,

A Perfect Mess

I read somewhere
that if   pedestrians didn't break traffic laws to cross
Times Square whenever and by whatever means possible,

the whole city
would stop, it would stop.
Cars would back up to Rhode Island,
an epic gridlock not even a cat
could thread through. It's not law but the sprawl
of our separate wills that keeps us all flowing. Today I loved
the unprecedented gall
of the piano movers, shoving a roped-up baby grand
up Ninth Avenue before a thunderstorm.
They were a grim and hefty pair, cynical
as any day laborers. They knew what was coming,
the instrument white lacquered, the sky bulging black
as a bad water balloon and in one pinprick instant
it burst. A downpour like a fire hose.
For a few heartbeats, the whole city stalled,
paused, a heart thump, then it all went staccato.
And it was my pleasure to witness a not
insignificant miracle: in one instant every black
umbrella in Hell's Kitchen opened on cue, everyone
still moving. It was a scene from an unwritten opera,
the sails of some vast armada.
And four old ladies interrupted their own slow progress
to accompany the piano movers.
each holding what might have once been
lace parasols over the grunting men. I passed next
the crowd of pastel ballerinas huddled
under the corner awning,
in line for an open call — stork-limbed, ankles
zigzagged with ribbon, a few passing a lit cigarette
around. The city feeds on beauty, starves
for it, breeds it. Coming home after midnight,
to my deserted block with its famously high
subway-rat count, I heard a tenor exhale pure
longing down the brick canyons, the steaming moon
opened its mouth to drink from on high ...

 

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A Writer's Moment: 'Offered As A Gift'

A Writer's Moment: 'Offered As A Gift':   “Reading should not be presented to children as a chore, a duty. It should be offered as a gift.” –   Kate DiCamillo Born on this da...

'Offered As A Gift'

 

“Reading should not be presented to children as a chore, a duty. It should be offered as a gift.” –  Kate DiCamillo

Born on this date in 1964, DiCamillo is one of the world’s leading writers of fiction for kids at all reading levels.  Her exemplary career has produced two Newbery Medals for The Tale of Despereaux  and Flora and Ulysses, one of just 6 people in the world to win two such awards.  

Her best-known books for young children are the “Mercy Watson” series illustrated by Chris Van Dusen.  She also wrote one of my all-time favorites, Because of Winn Dixie.    In 2014 and 2015 DiCamillo was appointed by the Library of Congress as the U.S. National Ambassador for Young People's Literature.

DiCamillo works full-time in a used bookstore, where she does some writing each weekday.  “I get up. I drink a cup of coffee. I think,” she said.  “The last thing I want to do is write.  Then I go to the computer and write.  My goal is two pages a day, five days a week. I never want to write, but I'm always glad that I have done it. After I write, I go to work at the bookstore.”      

“Every well-written book is a light for me,” she said.  “When you write, you use other writers and their books as guides in the wilderness.” 

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A Writer's Moment: ‘Always A Restorative Process'

A Writer's Moment: ‘Always A Restorative Process':   “Writing is always a restorative process. It's like paddling a kayak. When you're writing, you can't do anything else. You&#...

‘Always A Restorative Process'

 

“Writing is always a restorative process. It's like paddling a kayak. When you're writing, you can't do anything else. You're in the space you're in. So, in that way, it's enormously centering and restorative.” – Tabitha King

While critical reaction to her writing has been mixed, there’s only praise for King’s work on behalf of literacy and the importance of public broadcasting – both of which have occupied much of her time when she’s not writing.  That does not mean that Tabitha, the wife of author Stephen King, has not been devoted to the writing craft as well.  Over the years she has produced many novels, a number of short stories, 6 books of poetry, and 2 nonfiction books.

She and her husband also established the very active Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation  to help fund community-based projects that address the underlying causes of social and environmental problems, as well as those that address the consequences. “We have a strong interest in literacy, community services and the arts."

Tabitha King –whose birthday is today

 – and and her husband Stephen met at the

college library at the U. of Maine where both

were student workers.

Their support is aimed primarily at small communities in Maine, the “place” where they work and live, because as a place, Maine has shaped their lives and been their home for decades.  “Places are extremely important when writing a long story,” Tabitha said. “Place shapes a character.”

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A Writer's Moment: 'Don't Let Your Time Run Out On You'

A Writer's Moment: 'Don't Let Your Time Run Out On You':   “Why can’t somebody give us a list of things everybody thinks and nobody says, and another list of the things that everybody says but no...

'Don't Let Your Time Run Out On You'

 

“Why can’t somebody give us a list of things everybody thinks and nobody says, and another list of the things that everybody says but nobody thinks?”—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Now that is an interesting question I hadn’t seen asked by anyone before until perusing the works of American physician, poet, professor, lecturer, and author Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.   Born in 1809 in Boston, Holmes was a member of the Fireside Poets, whose fellow members proclaimed him “one of the best writers and thinkers of our day.” 

Those would probably be throw-away words except for the fact that the other writers doing the proclaiming were Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, John Greenleaf Whittier and James Russell Lowell, all of whom wrote some of the most memorable and thoughtful pieces of American literature and poetry.

One of the most popular poets of the mid-19^th Century, Holmes was encouraging to all who liked his writings and sought his advice, telling them not to hesitate in their creativity.  If you have creative things to say, then say them, he often advised.

“Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so?” he asked.  “Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. And before they know it, time runs out.”

 

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A Writer's Moment: 'Their brains are working'

A Writer's Moment: 'Their brains are working':   One of the nice things about books as opposed to television and movies … is people really do get involved, and they do ...

'Their brains are working'

 

One of the nice things about books as opposed to television and movies … is people really do get involved, and they do create, and they do have their own visions of what different characters look like and what should happen.  It’s great.  It means their brains are working.” – James Patterson

Born this date in 1947, Patterson has become the most prolific author of all time with his phenomenal success as a mystery and children’s writer.  Intending to become a college professor of English, he was a Ph.D. candidate when he decided to try his hand at advertising and, like everything he tries his hand at, succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.  After rising to a top executive position at ad agency J. Walter Thompson in New York, he abruptly retired in 1996 to devote his time to writing.  Good move.

Since 1976 when he first tried his hand at writing books Patterson has sold more than 400 million of them.  He also holds the distinction of having had more books sold as e-books than any other author.   And, as long as we’re talking records, he has had the most consecutive No. 1 books on New York Times bestselling novel list.

 

Since 2005 his novels have sold more copies than those of bestselling authors Stephen King, John Grisham and Dan Brown – combined.  And he is the first author to ever have the Number 1 titles in both adult and children’s categories at the same time.  His awards include the Edgar, the BCA Mystery Guild’s Thriller of the Year, and the International Thriller of the Year.  But, he said, the award he most cherishes is "Author of the Year" from the Children’s Choice Awards.

“This is what I believe is most important:” he said, “Getting good books into the hands of kids – books that will make them want to say, ‘Wow, that was great.  Give me another one to read.’”

 

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A Writer's Moment: 'Without goodwill, society would not endure'

A Writer's Moment: 'Without goodwill, society would not endure':   “The mature man lives quietly, does good privately, takes responsibility for his actions, treats others with friendliness and courtesy, f...

'Without goodwill, society would not endure'

 

“The mature man lives quietly, does good privately, takes responsibility for his actions, treats others with friendliness and courtesy, finds mischief boring and avoids it. Without the hidden conspiracy of goodwill, society would not endure an hour.” – Kenneth Rexroth 

Born in 1905, American poet, translator and critical essayist Rexroth laid the groundwork for what would become the 1950s beat movement.  Dubbed the "Father of the Beats" by Time Magazine, he also was among the first U.S. poets to explore styles like haiku.  He co-created a wonderful anthology of Chinese women poets, titled The Orchid Boat, and he worked tirelessly (until his death in 1982) to promote the work of America's female poets.   For Saturday’s Poem here is Rexroth’s, 

 

Yin and Yang

It is Spring once more in the Coast Range
Warm, perfumed, under the Easter moon.
The flowers are back in their places.
The birds are back in their usual trees.

The winter stars set in the ocean.
The summer stars rise from the mountains.
The air is filled with atoms of quicksilver.
Resurrection envelopes the earth.

Goemetrical, blazing, deathless,
Animals and men march through heaven,
Pacing their secret ceremony.

The Lion gives the moon to the Virgin.
She stands at the crossroads of heaven,
Holding the full moon in her right hand,
A glittering wheat ear in her left.

The climax of the rite of rebirth
Has ascended from the underworld
Is proclaimed in light from the zenith.
In the underworld the sun swims
Between the fish called Yes and No.

 

 

 

 

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