A Writer's Moment: 'Over Perform; Over Achieve'

A Writer's Moment: 'Over Perform; Over Achieve':   “I believe in the concept of ‘over-performing.’  I believe anyone can achieve their goals in life if they over-perform, and that means you...

'Over Perform; Over Achieve'

 

“I believe in the concept of ‘over-performing.’  I believe anyone can achieve their goals in life if they over-perform, and that means you have to work ten times harder than anybody you see.” – Stephen J. Cannell

 

Born in Los Angeles on Feb. 5, 1941 Cannell was one of television’s most successful writers and producers who also became one of the country’s best mystery writers before his death in 2010.  

 

Because he was dyslexic, Cannell learned to do “great dictation,” which led to his scripting more than 450 shows and producing 1,500 separate episodes of the nearly 40 television series he created.  Among his biggest successes were The Rockford Files, 21 Jump Street and The Commish.

 

He began writing mystery novels in 1996 with the best-selling The Plan.  And in 2000, he introduced the character Shane Scully, a streetwise LAPD detective who followed his instincts and played by his own rules to catch criminals.  By the time of his death, Cannell had featured Scully in 10 best-selling novels. 

 

Also an occasional actor, Cannell participated in several “art imitating life” segments on the show Castle, appearing as himself in poker games with the fictional Richard Castle and other real life mystery writers James Patterson and Michael Connelly.  Once, Castle’s detective partner Kate Beckett joined them and “won” their poker showdown, much to the writers’ dismay.

 

Cannell said having a support system of family or fellow writers is a huge asset for anyone wanting to be a writer.  “My parents were always encouraging and told me they were behind me, whether or not I made it.  And my wife (Marcia, his high school sweetheart who was married to him for 46 years) was always there for me –  through successes and failures.”  Although the latter were few and far between. 

A Writer's Moment: 'The smart way versus the fun way'

A Writer's Moment: 'The smart way versus the fun way':   “Often, when you look at history, at least through the lens that many of us have looked at history - high school and college courses - a l...

'The smart way versus the fun way'

 

“Often, when you look at history, at least through the lens that many of us have looked at history - high school and college courses - a lot of the color gets bled out of it. You're left with a time period that does not look as strange and irrational as the time you're actually living through.” – Karen Joy Fowler

 

Born in Indiana in February of 1950, Fowler studied Political Science, then took dance classes with an eye on becoming a classical dancer before trying her hand at writing and realizing that was the right career path.  Although she might be best known for her mega-bestselling novel The Jane Austen Book Club, she started her career with short stories, beginning with the award-winning “Recalling Cinderella.” 

 

After 10 years of short story writing, she published her first novel, Sarah Canary, to critical acclaim, winning the prestigious James Tiptree, Jr. Award in the process.  That literary prize is given for science fiction or fantasy that "expands or explores our understanding of gender."  Sarah Canary focuses on a group of people experiencing a peculiar kind of “first contact.”   Fowler said she wrote the book to "read like a science fiction novel to a science fiction reader" and "like a mainstream novel to a mainstream reader,” leaving it to each individual reader’s interpretation. 

 

Fowler’s career has been marked by her willingness to try several different genres, particularly Science Fiction, Fantasy and Literary Fiction.   “The smart way to build a literary career is you create an identifiable product, then reliably produce that product so people know what they are going to get,” she said.  “That's the smart way to build a career, but not the fun way. Maybe you can think about being less successful and happier. That's an option, too.”

 

 

 

A Writer's Moment: 'In love with language'

A Writer's Moment: 'In love with language':   “A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.”  – W.H. Auden   Born in England in February of ...

'In love with language'

 

“A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.” – W.H. Auden

 

Born in England in February of 1907, Auden was a prolific writer, penning some 400 poems, including seven long poems (two of them book-length), 400-plus essays and reviews, and a number of plays and screenplays, several in partnership with other leading writers of the time.  He also wrote many opera libretti and musical collaborations.    For Saturday’s Poem, here is Auden’s,

 

                                             The More Loving One

                                 Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
                                 That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
                                 But on earth indifference is the least
                                 We have to dread from man or beast.

                                 How should we like it were stars to burn
                                 With a passion for us we could not return?
                                 If equal affection cannot be,
                                 Let the more loving one be me.

                                 Admirer as I think I am
                                 Of stars that do not give a damn,
                                 I cannot, now I see them, say
                                 I missed one terribly all day.

                                 Were all stars to disappear or die,
                                 I should learn to look at an empty sky
                                And feel its total dark sublime,
                                Though this might take me a little time.

 

A Writer's Moment: 'An expression of my own life'

A Writer's Moment: 'An expression of my own life':   “I arise full of eagerness and energy, knowing well what achievement lies ahead of me.”  – Zane Grey   Born in Ohio at the end of Janu...

'An expression of my own life'

 

“I arise full of eagerness and energy, knowing well what achievement lies ahead of me.” – Zane Grey

 

Born in Ohio at the end of January 1872, Grey was intrigued by history at an early age and started writing about it while still in college, even though “Writing was like digging coal,” he said about his early efforts.  “I sweat blood. But the spell was on me.”

 

Grey self-published his first novel but when sales exploded, Harper & Row took his next one and the rest, as they say was history – both literally and figuratively.

 

Besides more than 70 Westerns (adapted into 112 films), he wrote 2 hunting books, 6 children’s books, 3 baseball books, and 8 fishing books.   His total book sales – which made him a millionaire many times over – surpassed $40 million (to date since many of the books are still in print).

 

 A star baseball player in college and a frequent brawler as a young man, his writing depicting both athleticism and fistfights were often cited by his readers when talking about the "realism" brought out in his books.  

 

“Well, what is writing,” he responded, “but an expression of my own life?”

A Writer's Moment: Searching for answers; opening doors

A Writer's Moment: Searching for answers; opening doors:   “We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.”  – Lloyd Alexander ...

Searching for answers; opening doors

 “We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.” – Lloyd Alexander

 

Born in Philadelphia on this date in 1924, Alexander authored more than 40 books, primarily fantasy novels for children and young adults. His most famous work The High King, part of his “Chronicles of Prydain” series, won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature.    He also was awarded two U.S. National Book Awards.

Alexander grew up with a deep love of reading, particularly adventures and classics.  “Shakespeare, Dickens, Mark Twain, and so many others were my dearest friends and greatest teachers,” he said.   While he never finished college, his writing eventually earned him several “writer-in-residence” opportunities at colleges and universities – an experience he said was like being a favorite uncle who comes in and spoils the kids and then leaves them to their parents at days’ end.

 

A World War II veteran, Alexander – who died in 2007 – spent time in Wales late in the war and the landscape and history he discovered there shaped a number of his fantasy novels.   Enamored with adventures and tales of knights and dragons, he went into the army to get a taste of adventure for himself.  

 

“I decided,” he said, “that my own adventure was the best way to learn about writing.”

A Writer's Moment: 'To hold the reader's attention'

A Writer's Moment: 'To hold the reader's attention':   “Books are humanity in print.  Books are carriers of civilization.  Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, t...

'To hold the reader's attention'

 

“Books are humanity in print.  Books are carriers of civilization.  Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.” – Barbara Tuchman 

Historian, journalist and author, Tuchman – who was born in New York City on Jan. 30, 1912, was a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for  1962’s The Guns of August (a prelude to and first month of World War I), and the 1970 biography on World War II General Joseph –  Stilwell and the American Experience in China.  
 

But she is perhaps best known for her insightful 1978 book A Distant Mirror about the calamitous 14^th Century but considered reflective of the 20^th Century, especially about the horrors of war.  That book, too, was a finalist for the Pulitzer and led the New York Times bestseller list for most of a year.

 

Tuchman dedicated herself to historical research and writing, turning out a new book approximately every four years.  She provided eloquent explanatory narratives in her writing and was called “a layperson's historian who made the past interesting to millions of readers.”

 

The author of 20 books, the last coming out less than a year before her death in 1989, Tuchman said all writing styles are acceptable in the sharing of history. 

 

“The writer’s object is – or should be – to hold the reader’s attention.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Tackle that crazy idea'

A Writer's Moment: 'Tackle that crazy idea':   “If you sell yourself short before you even start, you'll never know how far you could have gone. Ambition is a wonderful thing and ha...

'Tackle that crazy idea'

 

“If you sell yourself short before you even start, you'll never know how far you could have gone. Ambition is a wonderful thing and has gotten me farther than I ever thought I'd go.” – Carrie Vaughn

 

Born in Sacramento, CA on this date in 1973, Vaughan has written dozens of novels, many novellas, and more than 60 short stories, most in the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Young Adult genres, including her popular YA “Kitty Norville” series.  Her most recent book – just out in November – is The Naturalist Society, and a sequel The Glass Slide World will be out this coming fall.   And, she is part of the writing team for the “Wild Card” Sci-Fi Superhero books, edited by George R.R. Martin and Melinda Snodgrass.   

 

A graduate of Occidental College (California, Vaughan earned her Master’s in English Literature from The University of Colorado and has continued to make her home in Boulder. 

 

Her advice to writers is to do what she did and take risks. "Go ahead and tackle that crazy idea that you think will never fly, because that may be the one that makes you stand out from the crowd,” she advises.  “Keep pushing the envelope.”

 

A Writer's Moment: 'Any road can get you there'

A Writer's Moment: 'Any road can get you there':   “Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – Lewis Carroll      Born in Daresbury, England on this ...

'Any road can get you there'

 

“Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – Lewis Carroll   

 

Born in Daresbury, England on this date in 1832, Carroll – the pseudonym for Charles Dodson – was the eldest in a family of 11 children and grew adept at entertaining his siblings with his storytelling ability.

 

It was something he continued doing into his 20s and 30s, including for the children of good friend Henry Liddell.   It was Henry's daughter Alice who can be credited with Carroll's pinnacle inspiration. On a picnic outing with the Liddell family, Caroll told Alice and her sisters an amazing tale of a dream world called Wonderland.  Alice was so enamored she insisted Carroll write the story down so she could both relive it and share it with her friends.

 

Ultimately, the story fell into the hands of novelist Henry Kingsley, and in 1865 he urged Carroll to publish it.  That year the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was born.  It would become the most popular children’s book in England, then America, and then throughout the world by the time of Carroll’s death in 1898.

 

How did a professional mathematician and photographer spin such a yarn?  Perhaps two of his lasting quotes will suffice: “Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop.”  And, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road can get you there.”

 

A Writer's Moment: The 'beautiful noise' of life

A Writer's Moment: The 'beautiful noise' of life:   "I never really chose songwriting.   It just absorbed me and became more and more important in my life.” – Neil Diamond   Born in ...

The 'beautiful noise' of life

 

"I never really chose songwriting.  It just absorbed me and became more and more important in my life.” – Neil Diamond 

Born in Brooklyn, NY on Jan. 24, 1941 Diamond began writing poems while still in high school.  After learning the guitar, he started combining his poetic skills with his musical compositions but didn’t immediately turn to those skills as a career.

But after studying pre-med at New York University – where he was a member of the NCAA Championship Fencing team – he took up songwriting full time in the early 1960s.  His many dozens of songs since have included 10 Number One hits and more than 130 million sales, making him one of the best-selling singer-songwriters in history.  Inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame, he also is a Kennedy Center Honoree and subject of the Broadway Musical “A Beautiful Noise.”   For Saturday’s Poem, here is Diamond’s,

 

                                          Beautiful Noise

                                                What a beautiful noise
                                                Comin' up from the street
                                                Got a beautiful sound
                                                It's got a beautiful beat

                                                It's a beautiful noise
                                                Goin' on ev'rywhere
                                                Like the clickety-clack
                                                Of a train on a track
                                                It's got rhythm to spare

                                                It's a beautiful noise
                                                And it's a sound that I love
                                                And it fits me as well
                                                As a hand in a glove               

                                               What a beautiful noise
                                               Comin' up from the park
                                               It's the song of the kids
                                               And it plays until dark

                                               It's the song of the cars
                                               On their furious flights
                                               But there's even romance
                                               In the way that they dance
                                               To the beat of the lights

                                               It's a beautiful noise
                                               And it's a sound that I love
                                               And it makes me feel good
                                               Like a hand in a glove
                                               Yes it does, yes it does
                                               What a beautiful noise

                                                It's a beautiful noise

                                                Made of joy and of strife
                                                Like a symphony played
                                                By the passing parade

                                                It's the music of life       

                                               What a beautiful noise
                                               Comin' into my room
                                               And it's beggin' for me
                                               Just to give it a tune

A Writer's Moment: 'The candle . . . or the mirror'

A Writer's Moment: 'The candle . . . or the mirror':   “There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” – Edith Wharton   Wise words from one of th...

'The candle . . . or the mirror'

 

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” – Edith Wharton

 

Wise words from one of the greatest writers in history, who was born on this date in 1862.  Raised in New York City, Wharton began writing poetry and fiction as a young girl and even attempted to write a novel at age 11.  Her first published work came at age 15.

 

Despite that, her “Upper Crust Society” family discouraged her from writing and publishing because they didn’t think it was either “ladylike” or worthwhile.   But after marrying, she pursued it anyway and went on to publish 16 novels, dozens of novellas, 85 short stories, 3 books of poetry, and 9 nonfiction books.  In 1921 she won the Pulitzer Prize for The Age of Innocence, and in 1927, 1928 and 1930 she was a finalist for the Nobel Prize.

 

Her novella Ethan Frome and her novel House of Mirth are widely studied in American literature classes in both high schools and colleges and universities around the world, lauded for their realism and portrayal of the times and places in which she lived.

 

Wharton loved life and writing about it and said it kept her young and vibrant.  “Life is always a tightrope or a feather bed,” she said.   “Give me the tightrope.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Reflecting reality . . . is rarely simple'

A Writer's Moment: 'Reflecting reality . . . is rarely simple':   “Every published writer suffers through that first draft because most of the time, that's a disappointment.”  – Rebecca Stead     ...

'Reflecting reality . . . is rarely simple'

 

“Every published writer suffers through that first draft because most of the time, that's a disappointment.” – Rebecca Stead  

 

Stead, born in Manhattan in January of 1978, must write great “second” drafts because her works have all been winners.  Her novel When You Reach Me won the Newbery Medal, the oldest award in children's literature.  She won the Guardian Prize for best children's book released in Great Britain for her book Liar & Spy; and her most recent book, The List of Things That Will Not Change, has enjoyed great reviews and worldwide success.

 

Stead, who grew up in New York City and still makes her home there, said she enjoyed writing as a child but later felt that it was "impractical.”  So, she studied law instead.  But after the birth of her two children, she returned to writing, authoring First Light, a book written to entertain her oldest son.   

 

“I asked myself what it was that I wanted from writing and where my connection with books began,” she said. “And the answer to that question was definitely in childhood, because that's where my connection with reading began.”

 

Her second book, When You Reach Me. has been ranked the 11^th best children’s novel of all time in a survey done by the School Library Journal, and the Newbery judges noted, "Every scene, every nuance, every word is vital both to character development and the progression of the mystery that really is going to engage young readers and satisfy them.”

 

“A lot of my ideas for books come from newspaper articles,” she said. “But I don't like to be actively looking for ideas.  I do try to write in ways that reflect reality, and I think that reality is rarely simple.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Unfolding a gripping plot'

A Writer's Moment: 'Unfolding a gripping plot':   “Once the world has been created, the fantasy author still has to bring the story's characters to life and unfold a gripping plot. Tha...

'Unfolding a gripping plot'

 

“Once the world has been created, the fantasy author still has to bring the story's characters to life and unfold a gripping plot. That's why good fantasy is such a hard act to bring off.” – Tony Bradman

 

Born in a suburb of London on this date in 1954, Bradman gravitated to reading fantasies while still in primary school; started writing while still a student at Queens’ College, Cambridge (where he earned his Master of Arts degree); and became a full-time writer of children’s lit. and fantasy books in the 1980s.

 

He started his professional writing career as a music writer and children’s book reviewer before writing The Bad Babies’ Counting Book in 1984.  He has now written over 50 books for young people, most wildly successful and led by his Dilly the Dinosaur series, which has sold over 2 million copies alone.

 

Bradman said he first “discovered” books and stories reading Thomas the Tank Engine stories before gravitating to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.  “That,” he said, “really got me hooked.”    

 

 “I love the feeling of being drawn into a story, the delicious sense of tension that comes from wanting to know what is going to happen next and almost being afraid to find out,” he said.  “That happens when you read the best stories – and as I found out, it can happen when you write a story of your own, too.”

A Writer's Moment: 'The feel of the book in your hands'

A Writer's Moment: 'The feel of the book in your hands':   “If your reading habits are anything like mine, then you can remember the exact moment that certain books came into your life. You remembe...

'The feel of the book in your hands'

 

“If your reading habits are anything like mine, then you can remember the exact moment that certain books came into your life. You remember where you were standing and whom you were with. You remember the feel of the book in your hands and the cover, that exact cover, even if the art has changed over the years.” – Alethea Kontis

 

Born in Vermont in January of 1976, Kontis is a writer of Teen & Young Adult Books and short stories about Fantasy, Romance and Science Fiction.  Primarily known for her book Enchanted, also made into a top-grossing movie, she is a prolific writer in several genres. She has new works out as children’s books, in anthologies, and as short story collections, and has completed a new novel, The Thieftess. 

 

Although she labels herself an introvert, she makes dozens of writing and speaking appearances annually and maintains a blog.     

 

Her own favorite reads are “really dense, complicated stories with lots of layers, tons of obscure literary references, and a plethora of inside jokes.”  She also enjoys dressing up as characters – either those she is reading about or those she is writing about – for appearances at writing events.  

 

“It took me a long time to learn how to be brave enough to put myself out there and try everything, no matter how strange or silly,” she said.  “If I can impart that same wisdom to other folks - no matter what age - it would be an honor.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Long threads of history and culture'

A Writer's Moment: 'Long threads of history and culture':   “Whenever you're writing a book or creating a movie or a game, your first task is to get the reader/audience/player to suspend disbeli...

'Long threads of history and culture'

 

“Whenever you're writing a book or creating a movie or a game, your first task is to get the reader/audience/player to suspend disbelief, to buy into the logic and boundaries of your world, even though those boundaries might include things like dragons and magic. To do that, you need long threads - of history and culture.” – R.A. Salvatore

 

Born in Massachusetts on this date in 1959, Salvatore has authored 22 New York Times bestselling books, led by The DemonWars Saga and Forgotten Realms novels.  He also has been highly successful writing the backstories and text for a number of popular science fiction-type video games.

 

The youngest of a family of seven, he credited his high school English teacher with his initial development as a writer. Then as a student at Fitchburg State College in Virginia, he became interested in fantasy after reading J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, given to him as a Christmas gift.  He quickly changed his major from Computer Science to Journalism/Media and took up writing fantasy.  

 

Just before becoming a full-time writer in the early 1980s, he worked as a nightclub bouncer and attributes his fierce, vividly described battle scenes to that experience – a tribute to the "Always write what you know" mantra.

 

“I never intended to be a professional writer,” he said.  “As the story (for my first novel Echoes of the Fourth Magic) developed, the one thing I had in my hopes was that this would be something tangible to separate me from the nameless, numbered masses.  I loved the world of imagination.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Just being there'

A Writer's Moment: 'Just being there':   “You don't need many words if you already know what you're talking about.” – William Stafford   Born on Jan. 17, 1914 Stafford...

'Just being there'

 

“You don't need many words if you already know what you're talking about.” – William Stafford
 

Born on Jan. 17, 1914 Stafford taught poetry and writing at Lewis & Clark College for more than 30 years before his first poetry collection, Traveling Through the Dark, was published.      Winner of the National Book Award for that book, Stafford went on to publish more than 60 volumes of poetry and prose and win numerous honors and awards, including serving as U.S. Poet Laureate before his death in 1993.  For Saturday’s Poem, here is Stafford’s,

 

                                             Just Thinking

                             Got up on a cool morning. Leaned out a window.
                             No cloud, no wind. Air that flowers held
                             for awhile.  Some dove somewhere.

                            Been on probation most of my life.  And
                            the rest of my life been condemned.  So these moments
                            count for a lot -- peace, you know.

                            Let the bucket of memory down into the well,
                            bring it up. Cool, cool minutes.  No one
                            stirring, no plans.  Just being there.

                             This is what the whole thing is about.

 

A Writer's Moment: Remember to 'Mine for the details'

A Writer's Moment: Remember to 'Mine for the details': "As a kid, I liked to write, but I didn't think that was a viable career choice.  My dream, actually, was to be a white girl rapper...

Remember to 'Mine for the details'

"As a kid, I liked to write, but I didn't think that was a viable career choice.  My dream, actually, was to be a white girl rapper and join Salt-N-Pepa – which obviously was a much more viable career choice."  -  Abbott Kahler

Born in Philadelphia in January of 1973, Kahler -- who also writes as Karen Abbott -- has authored several historical nonfiction bestsellers, including Sin in the Second City and Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy.   Her newest book (published in 2024) is the novel Where You End.

Starting her writing career in college, she chose journalism as her focus, first writing for newspapers and magazines in the Philadelphia area.  That led to her interest in writing about history and historical events and ultimately to writing Sin in the Second City, set in Chicago in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.            While she now resides in New York City, where she is working on more books, she continues to write journalistically as a contributor to Smithsonian Magazine, the New York Times, The New Yorker and the Wall Street Journal.

“I think the most important thing journalism taught me is to mine for details,” she said.  “The details are key. You can't try to be funny or strange or poignant; you have to let the details be funny or strange or poignant for you.”

A Writer's Moment: Taking readers 'an extra two steps'

A Writer's Moment: Taking readers 'an extra two steps': "I've read up on magic, and I think it sets you free, and it gives you hope.  You can explore worlds you didn't know existed.  ...

Taking readers 'an extra two steps'

"I've read up on magic, and I think it sets you free, and it gives you hope.  You can explore worlds you didn't know existed.  It stretches your imagination . . . and gives you a sense of wonder." -  Jenny Nimmo 

Born in Windsor, England on this date in 1944, Nimmo has stretched kids’ imaginations for 60 years, writing dozens of fantasy and magical adventure novels.   Her two major series:  The Magician Trilogy and Children of the Red King, have been published in 9 languages around the globe.

Nimmo has lived in Wales for most of her writing life and many of her books are based in Welsh myth.  An only child, her father died when she was 5 and she escaped her grief by becoming first a voracious reader and then a devoted writer. 

  

Writing first for herself, she soon realized she had the talent to also entertain others with her words, and she’s been doing so since age 15.   She said she gravitated toward writing fantasy because she always thought a magical world would be, for most kids, a special place to think about visiting.

“Every book that you pick up takes you a step away from your real world,” she said, “but if you read a book about magic, it takes you an extra two steps.”

A Writer's Moment: 'And now, let there be dance'

A Writer's Moment: 'And now, let there be dance':   "All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the...

'And now, let there be dance'

 

"All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing." – Moliere

 

Born in France on this date in 1622, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, who acted and wrote as Moliere, was a playwright considered one of the great masters of comedy in Western literature.  Among his best-known works are The Misanthrope, Tartuffe and The Miser.  He was one of the first theatrical writers to combine words with music and dance – a precursor to today’s musical theater.

 

Moliere died in 1673 while performing the last play he had written – ironically titled The Imaginary Invalid.   Playing the role of a hypochondriac, he had a severe coughing fit and collapsed during the last act; many in the audience thinking it was part of the show.  True to the old saying “The show must go on,” he insisted on finishing the performance and died on stage after the final curtain fell.

 

His works continue to resonate, being performed around the world.   As his quote above notes, he was a patron of and supporter of the dance, which he said would keep people so preoccupied and in good spirits that they wouldn’t have time for mischief and misdeeds. He felt equally strong about using comedy, both to entertain and “skewer.”

 

“The duty of comedy,” the playwright added, “is to correct men by amusing them.”

A Writer's Moment: 'The work of a generation'

A Writer's Moment: 'The work of a generation':   “If there is a special ‘Hell’ for writers it would probably be the forced contemplation of their own works.”  – John Dos Passos   Born...

'The work of a generation'

 

“If there is a special ‘Hell’ for writers it would probably be the forced contemplation of their own works.” – John Dos Passos

 

Born in Chicago on this date in 1896, Dos Passos’ mark on literature came primarily through writing about issues of social justice. 

 

Well-educated (private schools and a university degree from Harvard) and well-traveled, he visited Europe and the Middle East to study literature, art and architecture, experiences he balanced against time serving as an ambulance driver during World War I.  Both experiences, he said, shaped his views and his writings about “fairness and justice.” 

 

Both a gifted writer and artist (he did covers for Life magazine, for example) he is best known for his USA Trilogy, which consists of The 42^nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money – a trio of novels that has been rated in the top 25 of The 100 Best English Language novels of the 20^th Century.  He became part of the so-called “Lost Generation” of American writers living in Paris in the 1920s, his friendships with Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and F. Scott Fitzgerald also having an influence on his writings.

 

Near the end of his long life – he died at age 84 in 1970 – Dos Passos reflected on his life’s work and said: “The creation of a world view is the work of a generation rather than of an individual, but we, each of us, for better or worse, add our brick to the edifice.”

A Writer's Moment: It's 'the things that arise spontaneously'

A Writer's Moment: It's 'the things that arise spontaneously':   “I envy those writers who outline their novels, who know where they’re going, but I find writing is a process of discovery.” – Jay McIner...

It's 'the things that arise spontaneously'

 

“I envy those writers who outline their novels, who know where they’re going, but I find writing is a process of discovery.” – Jay McInerney

 

Born in Hartford, CT on this date in 1955, John Barrett “Jay” McInerney is author of 7 novels, led by the award-winning Bright Lights, Big City (also made into a successful movie).  He also is the author of 3 nonfiction books and 2 collections of short stories.  The first of those, How It Ended: New and Collected Stories, has earned accolades as one of the best books of short stories by an American writer in the past 20 years.  

 

Friends with a number of other famous writers, he holds the interesting distinction of having one of his characters – Alison Poole – taken from his novel Story of My Life and used as a regular character in the writings of Bret Easton Ellis, including in Easton’s award-winning book and movie American Psycho, of which McInerney said he is a big fan. 

 

As for his own writings,  McInerney noted: “The most interesting things that happen in my books are usually the things that arise spontaneously; the things that surprise me.”

A Writer's Moment: 'A surprising visitor'

A Writer's Moment: 'A surprising visitor':   “Inspiration is always a surprising visitor.”  – John O’Donohue   Born in Ireland on Jan. 14, 1956 O’Donohue was a poet, author and ph...

'A surprising visitor'

 

“Inspiration is always a surprising visitor.” – John O’Donohue

 

Born in Ireland on Jan. 14, 1956 O’Donohue was a poet, author and philosopher.   Both an author and much sought-after speaker and teacher, he devoted much of his energy to environmental activism before dying suddenly (and unexplainedly) in 2008.   “I would love to live like a river flows,” he said. “Carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.”

 

 For Saturday’s Poem, here is O’Donohue’s,

 

                                               Your Soul Knows

                                                  Your soul knows

                                                  the geography of

                                                  your destiny.  Your

                                                  soul alone has the

                                                  map of your future,

                                                  therefore you can

                                                  trust this

                                                  indirect, oblique

                                                  side of yourself.  If

                                                  you do, it will

                                                  take you where you

                                                  need to go, but

                                                  more important

                                                  it will teach you a

                                                  kindness of rhythm

                                                  in your journey.