A Writer's Moment: 'There never was an uninteresting life'

A Writer's Moment: 'There never was an uninteresting life':   “There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a...

'There never was an uninteresting life'

 

“There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy.   (As writers) We recognize that there are no trivial occurrences in life if we get the right focus on them.” – Mark Twain

 

 When I was a kid I found myself mesmerized by Mark Twain’s writing.  I clearly could become Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn or any of the other characters he brought to life.  I wished not only to be them but to be in the places in which they were living, and when I opened one of his books I was immediately transported from our South Dakota farm to the streets of Hannibal, MO or a raft on the Mississippi River.

 

He was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on this date in 1835, shortly after a visit by Halley’s Comet.  He famously predicted he would "go out with it" too, and he died the day following the comet's subsequent return in April of 1910. 

 

“Anybody can have ideas,” Twain wrote to an author friend.  “The difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Write the book that wants to be written'

A Writer's Moment: 'Write the book that wants to be written':   “A book comes and says, 'Write me.' My job is to try to serve it to the best of my ability, which is never good enough, but all ...

'Write the book that wants to be written'

 

“A book comes and says, 'Write me.' My job is to try to serve it to the best of my ability, which is never good enough, but all I can do is listen to it, do what it tells me and collaborate.” – Madeleine L’Engle

A native of New York City, L’Engle was born this date in 1918 and wrote the Newbery Medal-winning A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels: A Wind in the Door, the National Book Award-winning A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time. 

She was a writer whose works reflected both her Christian faith and her strong interest in modern science – not a “usual” combination, but one that she had no issue with combining.  "Science and religion are not at odds with each other," she said.  "They can be and should be complimentary."

Although she wrote her first story at age 5, she didn’t write A Wrinkle In Time – her first novel – until age 42.  The book was voted by  Library Journal readers as the Number 2 children’s 

book of all time (behind Charlotte’s Web).   Rejected more than 30 times before its acceptance Wrinkle opened the writing floodgates for her and ultimately she authored dozens of books for children and adults.  She died in 2007. 

 

  “You have to write the book that wants to be written,” she said. “And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you simply write it for children.”

A Writer's Moment: 'It's the art of the possible'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's the art of the possible': “Science fiction is any idea that occurs in the head and doesn't exist yet, but soon will, and will change everything for everybody, an...

'It's the art of the possible'

“Science fiction is any idea that occurs in the head and doesn't exist yet, but soon will, and will change everything for everybody, and nothing will ever be the same again. As soon as you have an idea that changes some small part of the world, you are writing science fiction. It is always the art of the possible, never the impossible.” – Ray Bradbury

One of the most celebrated 20th- and 21st-Century Science Fiction writers, Bradbury was born in Illinois in the summer of 1920.  Self-taught as a writer, he won dozens of awards, including the National Medal of Arts, half-a-dozen honorary degrees, induction into at least 4 writing Halls of Fame for lifetime achievement, and a Pulitzer Prize Citation as "an unmatched author of science fiction and fantasty."   

 

Bradbury authored 51 books, led by the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and the coming of age novel Dandelion Wine.  He wrote the series The Martian Chronicles, consulted on dozens of screenplays and television scripts, and authored numerous short stories, comic books and poems.

 

Upon his death in the summer of 2012 The New York Times called Bradbury "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream."

One of our country’s strongest advocates for public libraries, Bradbury said he spent 3 days a week for 10 years educating himself in the public library, “And it's better than college. People should educate themselves - you can get a complete education for no money. At the end of 10 years, I had read every book in the library and I'd written a thousand stories.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Show up every day'

A Writer's Moment: 'Show up every day':   “If you’re doing something, show up every day, and something good might happen – it’s not going to happen if you don’t show up.” - Randy ...

'Show up every day'

 

“If you’re doing something, show up every day, and something good might happen – it’s not going to happen if you don’t show up.” - Randy Newman

Born in New York on Nov. 28, 1943 Newman is a writer who always shows up, especially when it comes to writing songs for movies.  The raspy-voice singer has been nominated for Academy Awards 22 times and won twice for his sometimes quirky and always wonderful songs – for which he writes both the words and music.

Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he wrote the memorable film scores for the Toy Story series and the Monsters, Inc. series and for the stand-alone movies Seabiscuit and Ragtime.

 

 Randy Newman

Newman, who cites Ray Charles as his greatest influence during his “growing up” years, has been a professional songwriter since age 17.    

Perhaps his two best-known songs are “It’s a Jungle out there,” the Emmy winning theme song for the long-running TV series Monk, and "You've Got A Friend In Me" from the Toy Story movie series and recorded by dozens of other artists as well.  

 

"I don't ever remember having writer's block," Newman said with his tongue firmly in cheek about the malady that often strikes writers.  "If I sit there for four hours, I usually have something."

A Writer's Moment: A 'Cold Moon' looms

A Writer's Moment: A 'Cold Moon' looms: Today, snow is falling steadily in Colorado, a precursor to December’s “Cold Moon” and winter's formal arrival.      As we leave Thanksg...

A 'Cold Moon' looms

Today, snow is falling steadily in Colorado, a precursor to December’s “Cold Moon” and winter's formal arrival.    

As we leave Thanksgiving Day and Autumn behind under a blanket of newfallen snow, here for Saturday’s Poem is prolific New England writer May Sarton’s,

                                December Moon

                                    Before going to bed
                                    After a fall of snow
                                    I look out on the field
                                    Shining there in the moonlight
                                    So calm, untouched and white
                                    Snow silence fills my head
                                    After I leave the window.

                                    Hours later near dawn
                                    When I look down again
                                    The whole landscape has changed
                                    The perfect surface gone
                                    Criss-crossed and written on
                                    Where the wild creatures ranged
                                    While the moon rose and shone.

                                    Why did my dog not bark?
                                    Why did I hear no sound
                                    There on the snow-locked ground
                                    In the tumultuous dark?

                                    How much can come, how much can go
                                    When the December moon is bright,
                                    What worlds of play we'll never know
                                    Sleeping away the cold white night
                                    After a fall of snow.

A Writer's Moment: 'It's the best part . . . the creative part'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's the best part . . . the creative part':   “The best part of one’s life is the working part, the creative part.   Believe me, I love to succeed…however, the real spiritual and emot...

'It's the best part . . . the creative part'

 

“The best part of one’s life is the working part, the creative part.  Believe me, I love to succeed…however, the real spiritual and emotional excitement is in the doing.” - Garson Kanin

Kanin, born in Rochester, NY on this date in 1912, was a prolific writer and noted Broadway director.  Among his many hit Broadway shows were The Diary of Anne Frank, Funny Girl and Born Yesterday, which he started writing while serving as a soldier and filmmaker in World War II.

 

As a military filmmaker, he documented Gen. Dwight Eisenhower’s official record of the D-Day and ongoing Allied invasion of Europe.  His resulting film, The True Glory, won him an Academy Award for Documentary Feature.   A novelist, too, he wrote the bestseller Smash, also the basis for a hit television series. 

Kanin's most famous line from Born Yesterday - perhaps his best Broadway show - is enshrined on a New York City Public Library plaque.  It was delivered by character Paul Verrall (a journalist in the play) who says: "I want everyone to be smart. As smart as they can be. A world of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in."

  

Garson Kanin

“When your work speaks for itself," Kanin said, "don’t interrupt.” 

A Writer's Moment: 'It's never too late to achieve'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's never too late to achieve':   “It’s never too late to be who you might have been.” – George Eliot Mary Ann Evans said that if she was going to be taken seriously ...

'It's never too late to achieve'

 

“It’s never too late to be who you might have been.” – George Eliot

Mary Ann Evans said that if she was going to be taken seriously as a novelist she needed to change her identity.  So, she became – George Eliot.  As George, this English journalist and translator became the novelist she longed to be, ultimately regarded as one of the best of the 19^th Century.

Born on this date in 1819, she authored 7 novels – including the terrific Mill on the Floss and Silas Marner – known for their realism and psychological insights.

Women did write under their own names during her lifetime, but she said she used a male pen name to escape the stereotype of women only writing lighthearted romances.  And she wished to have her fiction judged separately from her already extensive and widely known work as an editor and critic. 

   

A self-taught writer, in 1850 she became the first female writer hired by The Westminster Review.   By the time she started writing novels in 1858 she was pretty much running the prestigious magazine.  Despite the acclaim she earned as a journalist, she wanted to write creatively and in a style rarely taken by women.   Thus, George Eliot was born.    

 

Always anxious to achieve, she noted:  “The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.”