A Writer's Moment: 'Like cracking a safe - when you're in, you're in'

A Writer's Moment: 'Like cracking a safe - when you're in, you're in':   “Writing a nonfiction story is like cracking a safe. It seems impossible at the beginning, but once you're in, you&...

'Like cracking a safe - when you're in, you're in'

 

“Writing a nonfiction story is like cracking a safe. It seems impossible at the beginning, but once you're in, you're in.” – Rich Cohen

  

Born in Lake Forest, IL, on this date in 1968 Cohen is a contributing editor at both Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone magazines, and co-creator with Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger and Terence Winter of the HBO series Vinyl.   His works have been New York Times bestsellers, New York Times Notable Books, and collected in the Best American Essays series.             

 

Sometimes called one of the greatest “cultural and social” historians of the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries, Cohen has won numerous awards – and some criticism – for his works.  But regardless of how his writings are received, they always generate a lot of commentary, whether about people portrayed or the times in which they are set.

 

His most recent book is 2023’s When the Game was War: the NBA's Greatest Season about the 1987 rivalry between NBA greats Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan.  Just 5 years later Johnson, Bird and Jordan would play as teammates on the Olympic “Dream Team.”

 

Sports figures and entertainment stars are often his subjects. “I have long believed that celebrity, the way we worship and package and sell our pop stars, is what filled the need for gods that was once filled by the pictures in stained glass.”    

A Writer's Moment: 'Bit by bit the chemical process unfolds'

A Writer's Moment: 'Bit by bit the chemical process unfolds':   “Something happens between a novel and its reader which is similar to the process of developing photographs, the way th...

'Bit by bit the chemical process unfolds'

 

“Something happens between a novel and its reader which is similar to the process of developing photographs, the way they did it before the digital age.  The photograph, as it was printed in the darkroom, became visible bit by bit.  As you read your way through a novel, the same chemical process takes place.” – Patrick Modiano

 

Born in France on July 30, 1945 Modiano was honored for his life’s work with the 2014 Nobel Prize, and his analogy of the development of the novel “before our eyes” is an apt description of his style.   He is noted for letting the picture slowly unfold, sometimes leaving us startled, sometimes satisfied, sometimes angry, but always interested in what’s coming next.

The winner of almost every major European and French writing award, he was honored for his life’s body of work even prior to winning the Nobel and was – up until that award – one of the few international writers whose work had never been translated into English. But, of course, it has now.

 

Modiano says he writes for a few hours – “every morning” – and that, for him, “getting started” has sometimes been a challenge.  “I quickly realized that it is difficult to get started when writing a novel. You have this dream of what you want to create, but it is like walking around a swimming pool and hesitating to jump in because the water is too cold.”

 

A Writer's Moment: 'Soaring' to greatness

A Writer's Moment: 'Soaring' to greatness:   Chief Dan George, b orn in Canada on July 24, 1899 was chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation in British Columbia.    Both ...

'Soaring' to greatness

 

Chief Dan George, born in Canada on July 24, 1899 was chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation in British Columbia.   Both a writer and actor, he was 71 when he did the movie Little Big Man, a role that earned him numerous acting awards including a “Best Supporting Actor” Academy Award nomination.

 

His famous line in the movie was “My heart soars like a hawk,” based in part on his poem “My heart soars.”  The poem was recited by Donald Sutherland at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.  In honor of this year’s Olympians and for Saturday’s Poem, here is Chief George’s,  

 

My Heart Soars

The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass ... speaks to me.
The summit of the mountain, the thunder of the sky,
The rhythm of the sea ... speaks to me.
The faintness of the stars, the freshness of the morning,
the dewdrop on the flower ... speaks to me.
The strength of the fire, the taste of salmon, the trail of the sun,
and the life that never goes away ... they speak to me.
And my heart soars.

A Writer's Moment: 'Avoiding Tangles; Following the Rules'

A Writer's Moment: 'Avoiding Tangles; Following the Rules':   “So many people think that if you're writing fantasy, it means you can just make everything up as you go. Want to a...

'Avoiding Tangles; Following the Rules'

 

“So many people think that if you're writing fantasy, it means you can just make everything up as you go. Want to add a dragon? Add a dragon! Want some magic? Throw it in. But the thing is, regardless of whether you're dealing with realism or fantasy, every world has rules.” – V. E. Schwab

 

 Born in July of 1987, Victoria Elizabeth Schwab is best known for her novels – 2013’s Vicious and 2020’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, nominated for a Locus Award as Best Fantasy.  The daughter of a British mom and “Beverly Hills” dad, she grew up on both the West Coast and in the Deep South, a lover of fairytales, folklore “and books that make me wonder if the world is really as it seems.”

 

A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, she studied everything from Physics to Film to Art History and English and held a wide variety of jobs before turning to writing in the 20-teens. 

 

Her work has received critical acclaim, been translated into more than a dozen languages, and been optioned for TV and Film.  She said she loves working in many different genres and writing for all ages.   “I still get rejections - frequently - and my goal isn't to never fail, to never be turned down, but simply to succeed more often than I don't,” she said.   That having been said, her next novel Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil has been accepted for publication in 2025.

 

“I think a lot of writers are tempted to add complexity by over-complicating things, but always remember that most natural rules/laws are, at their core, simple. Start simple and build from there, or you risk getting yourself and your readers tangled.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Raising Questions; Finding Answers'

A Writer's Moment: 'Raising Questions; Finding Answers':   “You can have all the information you want in the world. If you don't have the people raising questions and looking...

'Raising Questions; Finding Answers'

 

“You can have all the information you want in the world. If you don't have the people raising questions and looking beneath the surface, and people being paid to do this, you're not going to find the answers."  – Lowell Bergman

 

Born in New York City on July 24, 1945 Bergman has had one of the most prestigious careers in American journalism, working nearly 6 decades in print and television news and teaching journalism while earning almost every major journalistic award. 

 

A native of New York City, Bergman studied at the University of Wisconsin and UC-San Diego and co-founded the San Diego Free Press.  After stints at the San Francisco Examiner and Rolling Stone, he moved over to TV as a producer, reporter and then executive in charge of investigative reporting at ABC News.  An original producer of 20/20, he joined CBS News as a producer for 60 Minutes, where over the course of 14 years he produced more than 50 stories, many Emmy winners.

 

His investigative story into the tobacco industry was chronicled in the film The Insider, a gripping tale of investigative journalism.   After leaving CBS he worked 10 years as an investigative correspondent for The New York Times, winning a Pulitzer Prize for the series “A Dangerous Business,” which detailed a record of worker safety violations coupled with the systematic violation of environmental laws in the cast-iron sewer and water pipe industry.

 

  Named by the Society of Professional Journalists for its James Madison Freedom of Information Award for Career Achievement, Bergman retired in 2019.

A Writer's Moment: Living up to 'an inner image of yourself'

A Writer's Moment: Living up to 'an inner image of yourself':   “Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner imag...

Living up to 'an inner image of yourself'

 

“Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will.” – John D. MacDonald

Born on this date in 1916, crime/suspense novelist and short story writer MacDonald achieved the highest accolade in his genre, Grandmaster from the Mystery Writers of America shortly before his death in 1986.   A self-proclaimed “accidental writer,” he also was the winner of a National Book Award and is perhaps best known for his popular, critically acclaimed Travis McGee series. 

 

MacDonald began writing in 1945 while in the Army.  Waiting in the Pacific for his ship home, he wrote a short story and mailed it to his wife Dorothy.  She loved it and submitted it to Esquire – which promptly rejected it.  So, she sent it to Story magazine, which accepted it for $25, pretty good pay for the time.

 

MacDonald decided to give writing a further try and after hundreds of rejection slips he finally got an acceptance from Dime Detective, which paid him $40. Ultimately, he would sell more than 500 stories to detective, mystery and adventure magazines.                       

 

His 1957 novel The Executioners put him on the writing map, selling continuously ever since and being the basis of two successful movies.   His character McGee’s first appearance was in The Deep Blue Good-bye, starting a run of 21 bestsellers featuring him and with each title in the series including a color.   

 

“Every day, no matter how you fight it, you learn a little more about yourself,” MacDonald had his character say.  “And all most of it does is teach us humility.” 

A Writer's Moment: 'Anything you can imagine'

A Writer's Moment: 'Anything you can imagine':   “The one thing emphasized in any creative writing course is 'write what you know,' and that automatically drive...

'Anything you can imagine'

 

“The one thing emphasized in any creative writing course is 'write what you know,' and that automatically drives a wooden stake through the heart of imagination. If they really understood the mysterious process of creating fiction, they would say, 'You can write about anything you can imagine.'” – Tom Robbins

Born in North Carolina on July 22, 1932 Robbins grew up (as he puts it) “as a hillbilly,” the grandson of two Baptist preachers who he said were “mightily influential” in his development as a storyteller.

 

In addition to Even Cowgirls Get The Blues (both a bestseller and a highly popular movie) Robbins is the author of 8 other novels, numerous short stories, many essays and several screenplays.  He still writes every day.  “I show up in my writing room at approximately 10 a.m. every morning without fail.   Sometimes my muse sees fit to join me there and sometimes she doesn't, but she always knows where I'll be.”

 

Among his many awards is the Literary Lifetime Achievement Award (given in 2012) from the prestigious Library of Virginia; being named by Writer’s Digest magazine as “One of the 100 Best Writers of the 20^th Century”; and “King For A Day” this past September (2023) in La Conner, WA, where he has lived since 1970.  That daylong event also raised money for a children's art program at his local library.  

“It’s never too late to have a happy childhood,” Robbins said.

A Writer's Moment: 'Doing every writer a favor'

A Writer's Moment: 'Doing every writer a favor':   “Any writer who gives a reader a pleasurable experience is doing every other writer a favor because it will make the re...

'Doing every writer a favor'

 

“Any writer who gives a reader a pleasurable experience is doing every other writer a favor because it will make the reader want to read other books. I am all for it.” – S.E. Hinton

 

Born in Oklahoma on this date in 1948, Hinton became a household name in her teens when she wrote The Outsiders, her first and most popular novel. She began writing it in 1965 inspired by two rival gangs, the Greasers and the Socs, at Will Rogers High School where she was a senior.  Her desire was to show sympathy toward the Greasers by writing from their point of view.

 

To date, it’s sold more than 14 million copies (still over 100,000 annually), has been made into a movie and is a Tony-winning Broadway play.  Hinton, who is credited with starting the YA genre, has been acclaimed for the realism and attention to the details that Young Adults not only identify with but also embrace.  They say she is a true spokesperson for their points of view and America’s librarians agree.  The American Library Association awarded her its inaugural Margaret A. Edwards Award for her cumulative contribution in writing for teens.  

 

Among Hinton’s other top sellers are That Was Then, This Is Now; Rumble Fish; and Tex, also all adapted into movies.  Hinton is a member of the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame and acclaimed for “books that leave a reader both satisfied and wanting more. 

 

“I love to write ending lines,” she said.  “Usually, I know them first and write toward them, but (even) if I knew how they came to me, I wouldn't tell.”

A Writer's Moment: 'It's a writing condition'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's a writing condition':   “Poets don't have an 'audience'. They're talking to a single person all the time.” –   Robert Graves   ...

'It's a writing condition'

 

“Poets don't have an 'audience'. They're talking to a single person all the time.” –  Robert Graves

 

Born in Wimbledon, England in 1895, Graves was a second generation poet (his father was celebrated Irish poet Alfred Percival Graves).  He wrote more than 140 poetic works and a number of best-selling novels, including I, Claudius.  His 1948 treatise on inspirational poetic writing, The White Goddess, has never been out of print.  

    

 "To be a poet," Graves said, "is a condition rather than a profession."  For Saturday’s Poem here are two of his poems.

 

Symptoms of Love

 

Love is universal migraine,
bright stain on the vision
Blotting out reason.

Symptoms of true love
Are leanness, jealousy,
Laggard dawns;

Are omens and nightmares -
Listening for a knock,
Waiting for a sign:

For a touch of her fingers
In a darkened room,
For a searching look.

Take courage, lover!
Could you endure such pain
At any hand but hers?

  

                             I’d Love To Be A Fairy’s Child

Children born of fairy stock
Never need for shirt or frock,
Never want for food or fire,
Always get their hearts desire:
Jingle pockets full of gold,
Marry when they're seven years old.
Every fairy child may keep
Two ponies and ten sheep;
All have houses, each his own,
Built of brick or granite stone;
They live on cherries, they run wild--
I'd love to be a Fairy's child.

A Writer's Moment: 'It's a gorgeous struggle'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's a gorgeous struggle':   “My cure for writer's block is to step away from the thing I'm stuck on, usually a novel, and write something t...

'It's a gorgeous struggle'

 

“My cure for writer's block is to step away from the thing I'm stuck on, usually a novel, and write something totally different. Besides fiction, I write poetry, screenplays, essays and journalism. It's usually not the writing itself that I'm stuck on, but the thing I'm trying to write. So I often have four or five things going at once.” –  Jess Walter

 

Born on July 20, 1965 the Spokane, Wash.-based Walter has authored 7 novels, 2 collections of short stories, a non-fiction book and myriad essays.  Published in more than two dozen countries, he is a winner of the Edgar Allen Poe Award for his book Citizen Vince and a finalist for the National Book Award for The Zero.

 

His number one best-seller, Beautiful Ruins, has an interesting premise.  It revolves around the people who surround or interact with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton during the filming of Cleopatra.   And, of course, everything fits into the “What If?” category.   

A frequent speaker, he says the best advice he gives writers is “just do it and don’t worry,” noting that he wrote for 7 years and made a total of $25 before finally breaking through.

 

“Forget being 'discovered.' All you can do is write,” he said.   “If you write well enough, and are stubborn enough to embrace failure, and if you happen to fall into the narrow categories that the book market recognizes, then you might make a little money.   Otherwise, it's a struggle.  (But) A gorgeous struggle.”

A Writer's Moment: Reflecting 'connections between all human beings'

A Writer's Moment: Reflecting 'connections between all human beings':   “When you're watching somebody read your material and they smile and nod, you know you've found that place wher...

Reflecting 'connections between all human beings'

 

“When you're watching somebody read your material and they smile and nod, you know you've found that place where your experience and their experience match, even though they aren't the same exact experience.” –  Chris Crutcher

 

Born in Ohio on July 17, 1946 Crutcher combined a successful career as a family therapist with an equally successful career as a writer for teens, earning the coveted Margaret Edwards Award (recognition for writing for teens) from the American Library Association (ALA) in the process.  

 

Many of his novels concern teenaged athletes who face major problems and get help and support from wise, caring adults.   Despite threats of censorship because of his sometime graphic depictions, Crutcher has tackled issues like abusive parents, racial and religious prejudice, mental and physical disability, and crushing poverty in his 14 YA books – 8 of which have been named in the ALA’s annual “Best Books for Young Adults” category. 

 

His books also have earned awards from the Catholic Library Association and the National Council of Teachers of English, and praise from millions of teenage readers. One of his most honored books is Deadline, the story of a high school senior dying from a rare blood disease who has kept it a secret so he can pack a lifetime of full living into his last year of life.

 

 “What I hope my writing reflects... is a sense of the connections between all human beings... and a different perspective on the true nature of courage,” Crutcher said.   “For me, those are things worth exploring and writing about.”

A Writer's Moment: 'You don't have to get it right the first time'

A Writer's Moment: 'You don't have to get it right the first time':   “The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeo...

'You don't have to get it right the first time'

 

“The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. You can always do it better, find the exact word, the apt phrase, the leaping simile.” – Robert Cormier

 

Born in Massachusetts in 1925, Cormier was known for his brilliantly crafted yet oftentimes downbeat literature. His most popular works continue to resonate with his mostly Young Adult audience 15 years after his death.  I Am The Cheese, After the First Death, We All Fall Down and The Chocolate War all won major awards, and I Am The Cheese is considered one of the best Young Adult novels of the past 80 years.

 

Cormier began his professional writing career scripting radio commercials and went on to become an award-winning journalist and novelist.   In his lifetime (he died in 2000) he wrote 18 bestselling novels and countless short stories.   Six of his books were made into movies.

 

Cormier always kept the Young Adult audience and his local Massachusetts newspaper, the Fitchburg Sentinel, at the forefront of his writing efforts saying that writers should remember their roots.

“I simply write with an intelligent reader in mind,” he once said.  “I don't think about how old they are or where they might live.  And all the stories I'll ever need are right here on Main Street.”  

A Writer's Moment: Exploring an 'Idea Genre'

A Writer's Moment: Exploring an 'Idea Genre':   “To me, fantasy has always been the genre of escape; science fiction the genre of ideas. So if you can escape and have ...

Exploring an 'Idea Genre'

 

“To me, fantasy has always been the genre of escape; science fiction the genre of ideas. So if you can escape and have a little idea as well, maybe you have some kind of a cross-breed between the two.” – Sheri S. Tepper

  

Born in Colorado on this date in 1929, Tepper started writing in her 50s and was noted for her mysteries and science fiction with an eco-feminist slant.  Her novel Grass is considered a classic on this theme.   All told, she authored more than 50 books beginning with children’s books and poetry collections under the pen name Sheri Stewart Eberhart.  Much of her Sci-Fi and Fantasy was written under pen names like A. J. Orde, E. E. Horlak, and B. J. Oliphant.

 

Tepper's book The Revenants, written in 1984, firmly established her in the genré and in the 1990s and early 2000s she wrote a couple dozen Sci-Fi books, including the best-selling trilogies – The Marianne Series and The Arbai Trilogy, both multiple award winners.   Her 1991 book, Beauty, won a Locus Award for Best Fantasy.  

 

Shortly before her death in 2016 she was honored with the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement and in accepting she encouraged all writers to explore the Sci-Fi world.  “Science fiction,” she said, “ . . . is an idea genré.”

A Writer's Moment: 'The greatest task is finding reality'

A Writer's Moment: 'The greatest task is finding reality':   “Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck” – Iris Murdoc...

'The greatest task is finding reality'

 

“Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck” – Iris Murdoch

 

Born in Ireland on this date in 1919, Murdoch grew up in London and made her literary name with novels about good and evil, relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious.

 

She published her first novel, Under the Net, in 1954, and was immediately catapulted onto the international literary scene.  The novel was selected by both Time magazine and Modern Library as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.  

 

Murdoch went on to produce 25 more novels and many additional works of philosophy, poetry and drama.  Among her many awards were The Booker Prize, The Whitbread Literary Award for Fiction, and the James Tait Black Award.  Shortly before her death in 1999, she was awarded the Golden PEN Award for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature.”

 

“We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion,” Murdoch wrote.   “The great task in life is to find reality”

 

A Writer's Moment: 'Searching for order'

A Writer's Moment: 'Searching for order': “For me, poetry is always a search for order.” – Elizabeth Jennings     Born on July 18, 1926, Jennings was considere...

'Searching for order'

“For me, poetry is always a search for order.” – Elizabeth Jennings  

 

Born on July 18, 1926, Jennings was considered a “poetic traditionalist” and also one of Great Britain’s most beloved practitioners of the poetic arts.  

Jennings (who died in 2001) started writing in her mid-20s after graduating from Queen Anne’s College. Her first book, simply titled Poems, came out in 1953.  That won her the Arts Council of Great Britain’s award for “Best First Book of Poetry.”  

 

Not one to rest on her laurels, she followed with A Way of Looking, winner of the prestigious Somerset Maugham Award, given to leading writers under age 35.   Known for her lyric poetry and mastery of form, Jennings said of her writing technique, “It’s simple.  I write fast and revise very little.”    For Saturday’s Poem, here is Jennings’,

 

                   Delay

            The radiance of the star that leans on me
            Was shining years ago. The light that now
            Glitters up there my eyes may never see,
            And so the time lag teases me with how

            Love that loves now may not reach me until
            Its first desire is spent. The star's impulse
            Must wait for eyes to claim it beautiful
            And love arrived may find us somewhere else.

A Writer's Moment: 'The only sensible thing to do'

A Writer's Moment: 'The only sensible thing to do':   “I just knew I would be a writer.   It just seemed the only sensible thing to do.” – Jane Gardam    Born on July 1...

'The only sensible thing to do'

 

“I just knew I would be a writer.  It just seemed the only sensible thing to do.” – Jane Gardam 

 

Born on July 11, 1928, Gardam was in her 40s when her first book was published.  “But then, my goodness, I never stopped.”  A writer of both children's and adult fiction, she also wrote reviews for The Spectator and The Telegraph, two of the most prestigious British journals, and for BBC radio. 

 

She is the author of 13 children’s books, beginning in 1971 with A Long Way From Verona, winner of the Phoenix Award in 1991 – recognizing the best children’s book published 20 years earlier that had not already won a major award. 

 

In addition to her children’s novels, Gardam has authored 9 adult novels, 10 short story collections, and a non-fiction book. 

 

Winner of numerous literary awards, including two coveted Whitbreads for The Hollow Land and The Queen of the Tambourine, she also was nominated for the Booker Prize for God on the Rocks.   In 2015 a BBC survey listed her novel Old Filth among the 100 greatest British novels.   

 

“I started to write as a child … when my mother would read me Beatrix Potter at bedtime,” she recalled.  “Writing seemed such a sensible way to live and be happy.”