A Writer's Moment: 'It's in the heart of me'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's in the heart of me':   "The three foundations of judgement: Bold Design, Constant Practice, and Frequent Mistakes." –   John Masefield   Born in Ledbur...

'It's in the heart of me'

 

"The three foundations of judgement: Bold Design, Constant Practice, and Frequent Mistakes." –  John Masefield

 

Born in Ledbury, England on June1, 1878 Masefield was longtime Poet Laureate of Great Britain and remains one of those poets who had the uncommon sense to take every ordinary thing and make it shine.   Masefield loved the sea and wrote of it often in both prose and poetry.  His “Sea Fever” with the famous line “I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky” is probably one of the most quoted lines in poetry.   For Saturday’s Poem, here is another of Masefield’s terrific short poems,

The Wanderer

A wind’s in the heart of me, a fire's in my heels, 

I am tired of brick and stone and rumbling wagon-wheels; 

I hunger for the sea's edge, the limit of the land, 

Where the wild old Atlantic is shouting on the sand.

Oh I'll be going, leaving the noises of the street, 

To where a lifting foresail-foot is yanking at the sheet; 

To a windy, tossing anchorage where yawls and ketches ride, 

Oh I'll be going, going, until I meet the tide.

And first I'll hear the sea-wind, the mewing of the gulls, 

The clucking, sucking of the sea about the rusty hulls, 

The songs at the capstan at the hooker warping out, 

And then the heart of me'll know I'm there or thereabout.

Oh I am sick of brick and stone, the heart of me is sick, 

For windy green, unquiet sea, the realm of Moby Dick; 

And I'll be going, going, from the roaring of the wheels, 

For a wind's in the heart of me, a fire's in my heels.

A Writer's Moment: 'Seeing your life in a different way'

A Writer's Moment: 'Seeing your life in a different way':   I wasn't one of those kids who grew up wanting to write or who read a particular book and thought: 'I want to do that!' I alwa...

'Seeing your life in a different way'

 

I wasn't one of those kids who grew up wanting to write or who read a particular book and thought: 'I want to do that!' I always told stories and wrote them down, but I never thought writing was a career path, even though, clearly, someone was writing the books and newspapers and magazines.” – Gayle Forman 

 

Born in Los Angeles on this date in 1970 Forman has authored 14 books led by the YA novel If I Stay, which both topped the New York Times bestseller list and also was made into a popular film.   The story is about a 17-year-old girl named Mia who has been involved in a tragic car accident and lies in a coma fully aware of what is going on around her.  It earned Forman several "book of the year" awards..

 

Forman began her career writing for Seventeen, with most of her articles focusing on young people and social concerns.   For a number of years, in addition to her YA writing, she has been a successful freelance journalist for publications like Glamour, The Nation, and Elle.   Her most recent book is 2025’s After Life.

 

Now a resident of Brooklyn, NY, married and the mother of two girls, Forman said she found her niche in YA writing by zeroing in on themes that give you an in-depth and often wrenching look at her protagonists’ lives.

 

“I think we like movies and books that give us this emotionally moving experience,” she said. “Where you feel like a slightly different person, and you see the world a little different after you finish. It lets you see your own life in a different way, and it actually makes you feel really good.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Control of the final results'

A Writer's Moment: 'Control of the final results':   “ The one thing that makes writing a better pastime than reading is that you can make things turn out the way you want in the end!”  –  Ge...

'Control of the final results'

 

“The one thing that makes writing a better pastime than reading is that you can make things turn out the way you want in the end!” –  Geraldine McCaughrean

 

Born in London on June 6, 1951 McCaughrean has written more than 170 books and been translated into 45 languages.  But despite that success, she may be best known for writing the authorized sequel to Peter Pan.   She believes her books appeal to kids because they empower them.  “The chief thing is to make children feel good about themselves,” she said. “They want to step into the shoes of a hero who is bigger and stronger, to face tremendous dangers and come home safely for tea.”

 

She said her love of writing has been sparked by a desire to escape from an unsatisfactory world and “live” her motto:  Do not write about what you know, write about what you want to know. 

 

Among her dozens of writing prizes are Whitbread Awards for her children’s books A Little Lower Than the Angels, Gold Dust, and Not The End of the World, and Carnegie Medals for her teen book A Pack of Lies and the YA book Where the World Ends.

 

“I never dreamt I could be an author when I grew up,” she said.  “It just didn't occur to me, because I thought you had to be a) academic, so go to university, things like that, and I didn't think I was clever, or b) dead because I just assumed all the authors in the library were dead.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Words are our life'

A Writer's Moment: 'Words are our life':   “Words are our life. We are human because we use language. So I think we are less human when we use less language.” – Carol Shields   ...

'Words are our life'

 

“Words are our life. We are human because we use language. So I think we are less human when we use less language.” – Carol Shields

 

Born in Oak Park, IL on June 2, 1935 Shields grew up in America but spent much of her adult life in Canada.  She was a full-time writing professor, novelist, playwright and short story writer and won both the Pulitzer Prize and Canada’s equivalent, The Governor General’s Award, for her novel The Stone Diaries – the only writer to ever win both awards for the same book.   She died from cancer in 2003.

 

Shields’ short story collections, including Various Miracles and Dressing Up for the Carnival, also were much-honored and are part of the Collected Stories of Carol Shields published after her death.   Her nonfiction book on author Jane Austin also won several major awards.   And her plays, particularly "Departures and Arrivals" and "Thirteen Hands" have been performed countless times by amateur and professional theater companies around the globe.

 

Shields was an advocate of using life experiences in writing, but only selectively.  “There are chapters in every life which are seldom read,” she explained, “and certainly not aloud.”

A Writer's Moment: 'It's what nourishes the imagination'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's what nourishes the imagination':   “You expect far too much of a first sentence. Think of it as analogous to a good country breakfast: what we want is something simple, but ...

'It's what nourishes the imagination'

 

“You expect far too much of a first sentence. Think of it as analogous to a good country breakfast: what we want is something simple, but nourishing to the imagination.” –  Larry McMurtry

 

Born in Wichita Falls, TX on June 3, 1936 McMurtry was considered the consummate writer of “the perfect first sentence,” and readers rewarded him for it with multiple bestselling novels.  Viewers were equally appreciative, flocking to movie adaptations of many of his works. 

 

Among his dozens of bestsellers are such classics as The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment, and Lonesome Dove.  His movies earned a remarkable 26 Academy Award nominations with 10 wins, and the Lonesome Dove television series, earned 18 Emmy nominations with seven wins, plus a Pulitzer Prize for Literature.  And he co-wrote (with Diana Ossana) the Academy Award-winning screenplay for Brokeback Mountain.

 

A rancher’s son, McMurtry got his first taste of storytelling as a boy sitting on his parents’ porch listening to stories from them and their ranch hands.   After studying creative writing at North Texas State, he did graduate work at Rice and Stanford, where he also became a rare-book scout.  Ultimately, in addition to his writing, he became one of America’s most prominent antiquarian booksellers, amassing nearly half-a-million books.  The Larry McMurtry Literary Center, established in Archer City, TX after his death in 2021, maintains an estimated 300,000 volumes from his collection. 

 

“A bookman’s love of books,” McMurtry said, “is a love of books, not merely of the information in them.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Food for thought - and writing'

A Writer's Moment: 'Food for thought - and writing':   “Most memoir writers will tell you that the hardest part of writing a memoir isn't what to include, but what to leave out.”  – Kathlee...

'Food for thought - and writing'

 

“Most memoir writers will tell you that the hardest part of writing a memoir isn't what to include, but what to leave out.” – Kathleen Flinn

Born in Davison, Michigan on this date in 1967, Flinn is a memoirist, journalist and chef, best known for her New York Times bestseller The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry.   After earning a degree in journalism from Columbia College in Chicago, she wrote for newspapers and magazines in a number of states and nationally, including working as an obituary writer in Sarasota, Fla.  That experience was – in a way – her first chance to write “memoirs.”  

 

It was also at that time that she started thinking about attending culinary school at the world-famous Le Cordon Bleu and her book is the first to provide an in-depth look at attending and graduating from the famed school.  To date, it has been translated into nine languages, sold in more than 60 countries and is in production for a television series.

Flinn’s most recent book is Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good, a multi-generational culinary memoir about growing up in Michigan.  A finalist for several book awards, it also has earned a citation from the  International Association of Culinary Professionals.  And her writing success all goes back to her time writing obits in Sarasota.

 

 “I didn’t realize it at the time," she said, "but writing obituaries was one of best jobs that I've ever had. After all, it's the only time that someone will ever laminate my work and put it in their Bible. Plus, let's be honest, writing obits in Sarasota is a very busy job. The saying was that old people lived in Miami, but their parents lived in Sarasota.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Specialize in the impossible'

A Writer's Moment: 'Specialize in the impossible':   “What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible.” – Theodore Roethke Born in Saginaw, Michigan on May 25, 1908 Roethke ha...

'Specialize in the impossible'

 

“What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible.” – Theodore Roethke

Born in Saginaw, Michigan on May 25, 1908 Roethke has been lauded as one of America’s greatest 20^th century poets.  Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his book The Waking and the National Book Award for Poetry – for Words for the Wind and for The Far Field – Roethke shared his talents both through his writing and as a longtime teacher of aspiring writers.  His legacy, in addition to inspiring and training generations of students, is a diverse and lyrical body of poetry.   For Saturday’s Poem, here is Roethke's,

                                                              The Waking

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

 

We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

 

Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.

 

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

 

Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me, so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

 

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

 

I learn by going where I have to go.

A Writer's Moment: 'Your story, your hero'

A Writer's Moment: 'Your story, your hero':   “Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story.” – John Barth   Born in Maryland on May 27, 1930 Barth is best known for the ...

'Your story, your hero'

 

“Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story.” – John Barth

 

Born in Maryland on May 27, 1930 Barth is best known for the novel The Sot Weed Factor, and for his short story collection Lost in the Funhouse and novella collection Chimera, winner of the National Book Award for Fiction.

 

Barth authored 21 books plus numerous essays and short stories winning a number of major awards including the Lannan Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story. 

 

“The story of your life is not your life,” Barth said.  “It’s your story.” 

A Writer's Moment: 'First be a reader'

A Writer's Moment: 'First be a reader':   “I think the reason I'm a writer is because first, I was a reader. I loved to read. I read a lot of adventure stories and mystery book...

'First be a reader'

 

“I think the reason I'm a writer is because first, I was a reader. I loved to read. I read a lot of adventure stories and mystery books, and I have wonderful memories of my mom reading picture books aloud to me. I learned that words are powerful.” – Andrew Clements

  

Born in Camden, NJ on May 29, 1949 Clements (who died in 2019) wrote more than 80 books, led by his debut novel Frindle, which won multiple awards and has sold 6 million copies worldwide.  The book won 20 state book awards and the Christopher Award given to writing that “affirms the highest values of the human spirit.”  In 2015-16 it was named the Phoenix Award winner for the best book that did not win a major award when it was first published (in 1996).    

 

Clements, who died in 2019, said that in addition to loving to read he had great teachers who nurtured and encouraged his writing.  He started his own career as a teacher, but gravitated back to books, working for publishing houses to help develop quality children's books.  In 1985 he added the first of his own work to the market with a picture book called Bird Delbert. 

“Sometimes kids ask how I've been able to write so many books,” he said.   “The answer is simple: one word at a time. Which is another good lesson, I think. You don't have to do everything at once. You don't have to know how every story is going to end. You just have to take that next step, look for that next idea, write that next word.”

 

A Writer's Moment: 'A secret to writing success'

A Writer's Moment: 'A secret to writing success':   “I regard the writing of humor as a supreme artistic challenge.”  – Herman Wouk   Born in The Bronx, New York on this date in 1915, Wo...

'A secret to writing success'

 

“I regard the writing of humor as a supreme artistic challenge.” – Herman Wouk

 

Born in The Bronx, New York on this date in 1915, Wouk admired those who could write humor and thought about being a humor writer himself.  But after working as a gag writer for comedian Fred Allen, he decided to turn toward historical fiction, ultimately writing such massive bestsellers as The Caine Mutiny and the two-book series The Winds of War and The War and Remembrance (all three also made into popular movies).   Good career move.

Wouk actually was leaning toward business instead of writing when WWII intervened and he signed up for the Navy.  During “off hours” – sometimes between battles where he won numerous battle stars for heroism – he started writing to take his mind off the war.  His first effort, Aurora Dawn, a raucous satire about Manhattan's high-power elite, was released just after the war.  A huge hit, it established Wouk as a major new writer.

 

He followed that book with a string of other bestsellers, including The Caine Mutiny and Marjorie Morningstar often drawing on material from the extensive journals he kept about his personal experiences and the people he met or interacted with.  

 

From age 22-on, Wouk kept at least a journal a year until age 100 (he died at age 103 just 10 days shy of his 104th birthday).  He said he often referred to his journals to check dates and facts and found writing them to be a cathartic experience.  Wouk’s journals, 100 in all, are now housed at the Library of Congress – the first batch given at a 2008 ceremony honoring him with the LC's Lifetime Achievement Award for Fiction. 

 

In addition to his journals, of course, Wouk wrote hundreds of essays, short stories and more than two dozen bestselling novels, “Writing success is simple,” he said. “Write a page a day and it will add up.”

A Writer's Moment: 'The need to make sense of life'

A Writer's Moment: 'The need to make sense of life':   “The need to write comes from the need to make sense of one's life and discover one's usefulness.”  –  John Cheever   Born in ...

'The need to make sense of life'

 

“The need to write comes from the need to make sense of one's life and discover one's usefulness.” –  John Cheever

 

Born in New York City on this date in 1912, novelist and short story writer Cheever was one of the most important short fiction writers of the 20th century.  A high school dropout, he was “a natural writer” and published his first short story while still in his teens.  After being published in prominent magazines like The New Yorker. he joined a number of up-and-coming writers in the Depression-era government program called The Writer’s Project, then enlisted in the Army where he had his first book of short stories published while serving during World War II.

 

Among Cheever’s numerous writing prizes were the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award and a Pulitzer Prize, all for The Stories of John Cheever.

 

 Chronicler of both his times and the people he encountered, Cheever was lauded for his keen, often critical, view of the American middle class.  His stories are characterized by attention to detail, careful writing, and “tales of the extraordinary within the ordinary.”                   

 

Always cognizant of his reading public and what they liked, he once said, “I can't write without a reader. It's precisely like a kiss - you really can't do it alone.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Creating a lasting tale of dreams'

A Writer's Moment: 'Creating a lasting tale of dreams':   “Most people write a lot of autobiography, but when I came to write autobiography I discovered that nothing interesting had ever happened ...

'Creating a lasting tale of dreams'

 

“Most people write a lot of autobiography, but when I came to write autobiography I discovered that nothing interesting had ever happened to me. So I had to take the situation and invent stories to go with it.” –  W. P. Kinsella

 

Born in Edmonton, Alberta on this date in 1935, William Patrick Kinsella was a novelist and short story writer whose tales focused on baseball and Canada’s First Nations people.  For a wonderful read about life on the First Nations’ Reserve in Alberta, check out his short story collection Dance Me Outside, his very first book (released in 1977).  Narrated by a young Cree named Silas Ermineskin, it is a remarkable look at Reserve life, love, sorrow and triumph.

 

But while he writes poignantly and with great detail about the First Nations, it is for his 1982 baseball novel Shoeless Joe that he gained international acclaim and a lasting spot in American vernacular.

                                                                                                                         

Mildly controversial when it was released, Kinsella’s tale uses the reclusive (and still living at the time) author J.D. Salinger as one of its main characters, even though Kinsella had never met him. "I made sure to make him a nice character, though, so that he couldn’t sue me.” Kinsella said.   

 

Primarily set in small town, rural America the story has one of the great literary exchanges when one of Kinsella’s  “spirit” ballplayers – representing players from the early part of the 20^th century – emerges from a cornfield onto a baseball field constructed by a farmer named Ray who has heard a voice saying “build it and they will come.”  Seemingly bewildered, the player asks if this is Heaven?  “No,” Ray answers.  “This is Iowa.”

 

“Most writers are unhappy with film adaptations of their work, and rightly so,” Kinsella said shortly before his death in 2016.  “But Field of Dreams caught the spirit and essence of Shoeless Joe.”   

A Writer's Moment: 'Oh no!' it's that 'heartbreaking' result

A Writer's Moment: 'Oh no!' it's that 'heartbreaking' result:   “The awful thing, as a kid reading, was that you came to the end of the story, and that was it. I mean, it would be heartbreaking that the...

'Oh no!' it's that 'heartbreaking' result

 

“The awful thing, as a kid reading, was that you came to the end of the story, and that was it. I mean, it would be heartbreaking that there was no more of it.” – Robert Creeley

 

Born in Massachusetts in May of 1926, Creeley authored more than 60 books of poems and one novel.   Associated with the Black Mountain Poets, he was widely recognized as one of the most important and influential American poets of the 20th century. The winner of numerous awards, he was named for the prestigious Bollingen Prize and served as New York Poet Laureate.  For Saturday’s Poem, here are two of Creeley’s short poems, 

 

Love Comes Quietly         and                       Oh No !

 

Love comes quietly,                                 If you wander far enough                           
finally, drops                                              you will come to it
about me, on me,                                      and when you get there
in the old ways.                                         they will give you a place to sit    

What did I know                                       for yourself only, in a nice chair.
thinking myself                                         And all your friends will be there
able to go                                                     with smiles on their faces,

alone all the way.                                     they will likewise all have places.

 

A Writer's Moment: 'Great characters; great tale'

A Writer's Moment: 'Great characters; great tale':   “The characters are always the focal point of a book for me, whether I'm writing or reading. I may enjoy a book that has an intriguing...

'Great characters; great tale'

 

“The characters are always the focal point of a book for me, whether I'm writing or reading. I may enjoy a book that has an intriguing mystery or a good plot, but . . . it has to have great characters.” – Candace Camp

 

Born in Amarillo, Texas on this date in 1949, Camp is the maiden name of Candace Hopcus, who started her prolific writing career while simultaneously earning a law degree in the 1970s.  She said writing just seemed to come naturally and she wrote to relax.  The majority of her works are in the Romance genre where she’s published a remarkable 70-plus novels under the names Lisa Gregory, Kristin James, Sharon Stevens and, of course, Camp. 

 

Her first book Bonds of Love came out as Lisa Gregory and her most recent, The Marrying Season, as Camp, her author’s title of choice for most of her books.

 

The winner of a number of awards, including a Romantic Times’ Lifetime Achievement Award, Camp is the daughter of a writer (journalist Lula Mae Irons Camp) and mother to one (Young Adult novelist Anastasia Hopcus).  She lists her mother as a great role model.

 

“She had the best memory of anyone I know,”Camp said, “and she could really tell a tale.” 

A Writer's Moment: 'It's an obvious fact'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's an obvious fact':   “A man should keep his brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-roo...

'It's an obvious fact'

 

“A man should keep his brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his brain library, where he can get it if he wants it.” –Arthur Conan Doyle

 

Born in Scotland on this date in 1859, Doyle created one of the iconic figures in literary history - the detective Sherlock Holmes.   Noted for his to-the-point comments while solving mysteries, Holmes once pointed out that, “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.” Doyle wrote his first Holmes book, A Study in Scarlet, in 1887, the first of just four novels he wrote about Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson, but further enhanced by 58 short stories featuring the famous duo.  

 

Widely considered milestones in the field of crime fiction, the Holmes' stories spawned dozens (if not more) uses of Holmes by other writers as well as many movies and television programs.  And they brought Deerstalker hats and Meerschaum pipes into vogue.  

The prolific Doyle - in addition to the Holmes' tales - wrote more than 200 stories and articles, four volumes of poetry, and a number of works for the stage, ranging from fantasy and science fiction to romance.  He also wrote a number of nonfiction books and seven historical novels, led by the bestselling Sir Nigel and The White Company.   For his contributions to writing, he was knighted in 1902 becoming “Sir” Arthur Conan Doyle, a title to which he is often referred. 

 

“Once you eliminate the impossible," he had his famous detective say, "whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”  

A Writer's Moment: 'indefatigable optimism' and writing power

A Writer's Moment: 'indefatigable optimism' and writing power:   “The optimism of a healthy mind is indefatigable.”  – Margery Allingham   Allingham was – as the old saying goes – “bo...

'indefatigable optimism' and writing power

 

“The optimism of a healthy mind is indefatigable.” – Margery Allingham   Allingham was – as the old saying goes – “born with ink in her blood” writing everything from plays to novels to screenplays, novellas and short stories, over 100 total works in all.   Born in London on this date in 1904, she wrote steadily from age 5 until her death in 1966.  As the daughter of two well-established newspaper columnists, she learned to write early and had her first plays performed on stage before the age of 10.   Although she wrote in almost every genre Allingham ultimately focused on crime and mystery, creating one of the most well-known crime detectives of the mid-20th Century, the sleuth Albert Campion.  Ironically, Campion was put into her novel The Crime at Black Dudley almost as an afterthought, but he was such an optimistic and interesting character that her publishers demanded more stories that would focus on him.     With that encouragement and her creative and imaginative mind, Allingham wrote 18 novels and some three dozen short stories and novellas with Campion (who many thought to be her alter-ego) at the heart of the action.  Among them was one of her most famous novels, The Tiger in the Smoke.   Allingham died from breast cancer at age 62, but ever the optimist she laid out ideas for several more novels “just in case they’re wrong and I’m not really dying,” and bugging everyone around her to keep the faith and help her keep writing.  As she noted just a few days before her death, “If one cannot command attention by one’s admirable qualities, one can at least be a nuisance.”

A Writer's Moment: 'How to judge a heart'

A Writer's Moment: 'How to judge a heart':   “Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present state of civilization.” – L. Frank Baum   Born in Chittenango, N...

'How to judge a heart'

 

“Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present state of civilization.” – L. Frank Baum

 

Born in Chittenango, NY on May 15, 1856 Baum’s writing imagination not only led to the creation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz but 60 more novels, 83 short stories, 200 poems and countless scripts for the stage and fledgling movie industry.  A strong advocate for women’s rights and women’s suffrage, Baum wrote many books about and for women and girls, including a popular 10-book series Aunt Jane’s Nieces, which depicted teenage girls and young women as leaders and heroines. 

 

A newspaper editor for several years, Baum was working at the Saturday Evening Pioneer, in Aberdeen, SD, when he started writing his Wonderful Wizard books.  He credited his experiences on the prairies of drought-stricken South Dakota (and not Kansas, as in his tales) for his setting at the beginning of Dorothy’s journey to Oz.  Baum died from a stroke in May of 1919, just months before the release of his final novel Glinda of Oz, about the powerful “good witch” in Oz – made even more “knowable” by today’s popular “Wicked” movies.

 

Among his contributions to the lexicon – in addition to the idea that a magical land called Oz could be found “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” – were the names Dorothy, Toto The Emerald City, Glinda and the phrase ‘I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” one of the most recognizable in the English language.  Baum also created a thoughtful line about empathy in the Wizard’s advice to the Tin Man, who was seeking a heart so that he could feel emotion.

 

“A heart,” he said, “is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.”

A Writer's Moment: 'These make humanity'

A Writer's Moment: 'These make humanity':   “Love, hope, fear, faith - these make humanity. These are its sign and note and character.” – Robert Browning   Love can be a major in...

'These make humanity'

 

“Love, hope, fear, faith - these make humanity. These are its sign and note and character.” – Robert Browning

 

Love can be a major influence on writers’ works, but for Browning (born in May of 1812) and Elizabeth Barrett (born in May of 1806), love fired both their personal relationship and their writing.  Their love story and marriage led to some of the most important poems by both including her famous love sonnets, highlighted by “Sonnet 43” known by its popular name “How do I love thee?"  

 

For Saturday’s Poem here is, 

 

              How Do I Love Thee?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee with a passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

A Writer's Moment: 'Where to find your writing ideas'

A Writer's Moment: 'Where to find your writing ideas':   “The first time I can remember thinking that I would like to be a writer came in sixth grade, when our teacher Mrs. Crandall gave us an ex...

'Where to find your writing ideas'

 

“The first time I can remember thinking that I would like to be a writer came in sixth grade, when our teacher Mrs. Crandall gave us an extended period of time to write a long story. I loved doing it. I started working seriously at becoming a writer when I was 17.” –  Bruce Coville

 

Born in Syracuse, NY on May 16, 1950 Coville has authored more than 100 Children’s and Young Adult books.  But like every versatile writer, he tried his hand at a number of things – including toymaking, gravedigging, assembly line worker and then teaching elementary school – before turning to writing.

 

“I loved teaching,” he said.  And for a time he thought that was going to be his life’s work.   But writing was still on his mind, so he talked to his students about what they wanted to read, and it sounded a lot like what he also liked to read when he was a kid. “I read books that made me laugh but also made me shiver in terror. I wanted to make books that made other people feel the same way.”

After a few “false starts” he published his first children’s book The Foolish Giant, illustrated by his wife Catherine.  Translated into over a dozen languages, it is still popular among readers everywhere.  Many of his novels – led by multiple-award winners like My Teacher Glows in the Dark and I Was a 6th Grade Alien – have earned awards, and he has been honored with the Empire State Award for Excellence in Literature for Young People, given by the New York Library Association for his life’s work.

 

Keep looking everywhere for ideas is his writing advice.  “Ideas are all around you - everything gives you ideas,” he said.  “But the real source is the part of your brain that dreams.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Looking out to a rich, wonderful universe'

A Writer's Moment: 'Looking out to a rich, wonderful universe':   “Books were the window from which I looked out of a rather meager and decidedly narrow room onto a rich and wonderful universe. I loved th...

'Looking out to a rich, wonderful universe'

 

“Books were the window from which I looked out of a rather meager and decidedly narrow room onto a rich and wonderful universe. I loved the look and feel of books, even the smell... Libraries were treasure houses. I always entered them with a slight thrill of disbelief that all their endless riches were mine for the borrowing.” –  Zilpha Keatley Snyder

 

Born in California in May of 1927, Snyder primarily wrote books for children and young adults – at a rate of nearly one per year during the height of her writing prowess.  She won three Newbery Awards along the way for The Egypt Game, The Headless Cupid and The Witches of Worm.  Often a blend of realism and the supernatural, her books feature thoughtful, courageous girls or young women as the protagonists.

 

A graduate of Whittier College, Snyder was an elementary and middle school teacher before she began writing fiction in the 1960s, starting with short stories.  Her 1964 debut novel Season of Ponies made several bestseller lists, and she was soon writing full time, completing 46 books between 1964 and 2011.  She died in 2014.

  

Snyder said even though she was a teacher first, she always dreamed of writing and couldn’t imagine any other profession.  

 

“It grew from the dreams I always had as a child,” she said. “I think writing is an extension of a childhood habit - the habit of entertaining oneself by taking interesting bits of reality and building upon them.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Once hooked, always involved'

A Writer's Moment: 'Once hooked, always involved':   “The thing about reading is that if you are hooked, you're not going to stop just because one series is over; you're going to go a...

'Once hooked, always involved'

 

“The thing about reading is that if you are hooked, you're not going to stop just because one series is over; you're going to go and find something else.” – Eoin Colfer

Born in Ireland in May of 1965 Colfer, whose first name is pronounced Owen, is best known for his Artemis Fowl children’s book series, although he also gained considerable fame as the author of the 6^th edition of the popular Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series – titled And Another Thing.

 

Colfer was a teacher of Middle Schoolers before writing a standalone book called Benny and Omar, which his students loved.  Encouraged by their response, he then wrote Artemis Fowl, about a 12-year-old criminal mastermind.  His many Fowl tales since have been wildly popular and are now out in 44 languages, also spinning off into graphic novels and movie productions. 

 

His books have earned numerous awards, including the British Children’s Book of the Year, The Irish Book Awards ‘Children’s Book of the Year,’ and The German Children’s Book of the Year.   His most recent titles are 2025’s Firefox Moon and the 2023 children’s picture book Three Tasks for a Dragon (written with P.J. Lynch).

 

Ever a teacher, Cofer is a popular speaker at writing conferences and workshops for aspiring writers, where he encourages persistence as a key to success.

 

“I often meet frustrated young writers who say they've only got so far and just can't finish a book,” he said.  “Even if you don't happen to use what you've worked on that day, it has taught you something and you'll be amazed when you might come back to it and use it again.”

A Writer's Moment: 'A reason to continue'

A Writer's Moment: 'A reason to continue':   “ I think what gets a poem going is an initiating line. Sometimes a first line will occur, and it goes nowhere; but other times - and this...

'A reason to continue'

 

“I think what gets a poem going is an initiating line. Sometimes a first line will occur, and it goes nowhere; but other times - and this, I think, is a sense you develop - I can tell that the line wants to continue. If it does, I can feel a sense of momentum - the poem finds a reason for continuing.” – Billy Collins

 

Born in New York City in 1941, Collins is a former U.S. Poet Laureate, internationally acclaimed author of dozens of collections of poetry, and recipient of several international prizes for his contributions to the field of literature and letters.  For Saturday’s Poem, here is Collins’, 

                                                Morning

Why do we bother with the rest of the day,
the swale of the afternoon,
the sudden dip into evening,

then night with his notorious perfumes,
his many-pointed stars?

This is the best—
throwing off the light covers,
feet on the cold floor,
and buzzing around the house on espresso—

maybe a splash of water on the face,
a palmful of vitamins—
but mostly buzzing around the house on espresso,

dictionary and atlas open on the rug,
the typewriter waiting for the key of the head,
a cello on the radio,

and, if necessary, the windows—
trees fifty, a hundred years old
out there,
heavy clouds on the way
and the lawn steaming like a horse

A Writer's Moment: It's a discipline 'you have to love'

A Writer's Moment: It's a discipline 'you have to love':   “ Writing is sweat and drudgery most of the time. And you have to love it in order to endure the solitude and the discipline.”  – Peter Be...

It's a discipline 'you have to love'

 

“Writing is sweat and drudgery most of the time. And you have to love it in order to endure the solitude and the discipline.” – Peter Benchley

 

Born in New York City on May 8, 1940 Benchley (who died in 2006) wrote the novel Jaws, subsequently made into a blockbuster movie by Steven Spielberg, who said he initially found many of the characters unsympathetic and actually wanted the shark to win. 

 

Benchley came from a writing legacy, his grandfather Robert being one of the founders of the famed writing group known as the Algonquin Round Table.  But Peter struggled to get his own foot in the publishing door and nearly decided against it.  He had little early success and was just doing part-time freelance writing when he pitched the idea for Jaws as “one final attempt to stay alive as a writer.” And the rest, as the saying goes . . .

Released in 1974, Jaws was at or near the top of the New York Times bestseller list for 44 weeks and has been continuously in print ever since.   While he wrote a couple more bestselling novels, including The Deep (also adapted as a movie), he had more success as a screenwriter (11 movie adaptations) and writing about conservation.   His book Ocean Planet: Writings and Images of the Sea is considered one of the definitive works on the topic.  Today, the annual Peter Benchley Ocean Awards are awarded to recognize conservation efforts on behalf of the world's oceans.  

 

“The ocean is the only alien and potentially hostile environment on the planet into which we tend to venture without thinking about the animals that live there, how they behave, how they support themselves, and how they perceive us,” he said.  “Without the oceans, there would be no life on earth.”

A Writer's Moment: 'The keys to writing success'

A Writer's Moment: 'The keys to writing success':   “If you have a craftsman's command of the language and basic writing techniques you'll be able to write - as long as you know what...

'The keys to writing success'

 

“If you have a craftsman's command of the language and basic writing techniques you'll be able to write - as long as you know what you want to say” – Jeffery Deaver

 

Born in Glen Elyn, Illinois on this date in 1950 Deaver is one of America’s premiere mystery/crime writers having earned most of the top awards in the genre and making almost every major bestseller list around the globe.  A lawyer, too (he graduated from Fordham Law and was in the profession before writing), he’s written 50 novels and 5 collections of short stories.  His “Colter Shaw” stories – the latest being 2025’s South of Nowhere – are the basis for the hit TV series Tracker.

 

Among his many awards are a Nero Wolfe and three Ellery Queen Reader's Awards for Best Short Story and Best Novel of the Year.  And Colter Shaw notwithstanding, Deaver's most popular books feature Lincoln Rhyme, a quadriplegic detective, and NYPD Detective Amelia Sachs.  His books The Devil’s Teardrop, which first introduced Rhyme, and The Bone Collector, first in the Rhyme series, also were popular television movies.  His newest The Collateral Heart is just out in both text and audio versions

 

“My books are primarily plot driven,” he said, “but the best plot in the world is useless if you don’t populate them with characters that readers can care about.” 

A Writer's Moment: 'It's the real art of writing success'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's the real art of writing success':   “The real art is not to come up with extraordinary clever words but to make ordinary simple words do extraordinary things. To use the lang...

'It's the real art of writing success'

 

“The real art is not to come up with extraordinary clever words but to make ordinary simple words do extraordinary things. To use the language that we all use and to make amazing things occur.” –  Graham Swift

 

Born on this date in London in 1949, Swift is considered one of the most important contemporary British writers.  His first novel, The Sweet Shop Owner, was published in 1980, and his subsequent works have won much praise and many awards. Waterland, in particular, was one of the finalists for the prestigious Booker Prize.   He’s had three books – Waterland, Last Orders, and Mothering Sunday – made into well-received movies (both at the box office and by critics). 

 

He’s now authored 11 novels, 1 nonfiction book and 3 collections of short stories, the most recent 2025’s Twelve Postwar Tales.

 

A meticulous and deliberate writer, Swift decries those who say he writes too slow.

 

“It can be dismaying . . . for a novelist to compare the slowness of the writing with the speed of the reading,” he said.  “Novels are read in a matter of days, even hours.  A writer may labor for weeks over a particular passage that will have its effect on a reader for an instant - and that effect may be subliminal or barely noticed.”