A Writer's Moment: To hear 'we just need to listen'

A Writer's Moment: To hear 'we just need to listen':    "The earth is a place of beauty, and we must cherish it.  Nature speaks in whispers; we just need to listen." - Amy Clampitt Bo...

To hear 'we just need to listen'

 

 "The earth is a place of beauty, and we must cherish it.  Nature speaks in whispers; we just need to listen." - Amy Clampitt

Born in New Providence, Iowa on June 15, 1920 Clampitt was a librarian at the Audubon Society in New York City when her first poem was published in 1978.  She went on to write 3 nonfiction books and 9 poetry collections, led by.The Kingfisher in 1983.   So transformative was her poetry that she was awarded a MacArthur (Genius) Grant in 1992.  She used that “no strings attached” grant to work on her final collection, A Silence Opens, published in 1994 (the same year as her death from cancer).  For Saturday’s Poem here is Clampitt’s,

 

Beach Glass 

While you walk the water's edge,
turning over concepts
I can't envision, the honking buoy
serves notice that at any time
the wind may change,
the reef-bell clatters
its treble monotone, deaf as Cassandra
to any note but warning. The ocean,
cumbered by no business more urgent
than keeping open old accounts
that never balanced,
goes on shuffling its millenniums
of quartz, granite, and basalt.
It behaves
toward the permutations of novelty—
driftwood and shipwreck, last night's
beer cans, spilt oil, the coughed-up
residue of plastic—with random
impartiality, playing catch or tag
or touch-last like a terrier,
turning the same thing over and over,
over and over. For the ocean, nothing
is beneath consideration.
The houses
of so many mussels and periwinkles
have been abandoned here, it's hopeless
to know which to salvage. Instead
I keep a lookout for beach glass—
amber of Budweiser, chrysoprase
of Almadén and Gallo, lapis
by way of (no getting around it,
I'm afraid) Phillips'
Milk of Magnesia, with now and then a rare
translucent turquoise or blurred amethyst
of no known origin.
The process
goes on forever: they came from sand,
they go back to gravel,
along with treasuries
of Murano, the buttressed
astonishments of Chartres,
which even now are readying
for being turned over and over as gravely
and gradually as an intellect
engaged in the hazardous
redefinition of structures
no one has yet looked at.

A Writer's Moment: 'How to have more of what you love'

A Writer's Moment: 'How to have more of what you love':   "Take something you love, tell people about it, bring together people who share your love, and help make it better. Ultimately, you...

'How to have more of what you love'

 

"Take something you love, tell people about it, bring together people who share your love, and help make it better. Ultimately, you'll have more of whatever you love for yourself … and for the world." – Julius Schwartz

Born in The Bronx, NY on this date in 1915, Schwartz was DC Comics' primary editor for stories about the company's flagship superheroes Superman and Batman and is credited with helping found the iconic comic book hero group known as The Justice League of America. 

 

He single-handedly helped expand the reach and love for science fiction by organizing the first World Science Fiction Convention in 1939 and then worked to make it a “must attend” annual event.   Inducted into the comics' industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame, he also was honored by the Science Fiction Writers Association with its lifetime contributions award.

 

In addition to his editing work, Schwartz wrote the bestselling Man of Two Worlds: My Life In Science Fiction and Comics and was a much sought-after literary agent, representing a “who’s who” of science and comic writers, including Alfred Bester, Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury and H.P. Lovecraft.

 

Schwartz won numerous awards for his editing, including Best Editor several times before his death in 2004.  Inscribed on his tombstone is a statement reflecting what nearly every writer and editor strive to achieve: “He met the deadline.”

A Writer's Moment: 'It's something you can't wear out'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's something you can't wear out':   “Honesty is something you can't wear out.”  – Waylon Jennings   Born in Littlefield, TX on June 15, 1937 Jennings learned how to pl...

'It's something you can't wear out'

 

“Honesty is something you can't wear out.” – Waylon Jennings
 

Born in Littlefield, TX on June 15, 1937 Jennings learned how to play guitar by the time he was 8 and started in the entertainment business at age 12 – working as a DJ at a local radio station.   In 1954 he befriended rising star Buddy Holly who also became his mentor, collaborating with him on songs and helping produce Waylon’s first record that year.  Among his "most played" hits were Lonesome and Luckenbach, Texas.  He recorded hundreds of songs and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and given Country's "Lifetime Achievement Award" before his relatively early death at age 64.

  

Jennings also became a fill-in player for Holly’s group The Crickets and was with him in Iowa on his final tour in the winter of 1959, ending in Holly’s death in a plane crash.  Jennings was supposed to be on that plane with Holly but at the last minute gave up his seat to The Big Bopper because the latter was suffering from a bad cold.

 

Ultimately, Jennings became one of the great songwriters and singers of country, country rock, and a new genre – founded with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Jessi Coulter – called “Outlaw Country.”   He, Willie, Johnny Cash and Kristofferson also formed a group known as The Highwaymen and had recorded several hit songs together before he died in 2002 of complications from diabetes.

 

Known for his support of many social issues and causes, Jennings said that was an easy choice.  “A lot of times people don't want to hear it.  But you know, if some good is done to you, you should pass it on.”

A Writer's Moment: Opening those 'magic portals'

A Writer's Moment: Opening those 'magic portals':   “All of us create our own versions of an event, of our lives, even, not because we're liars, necessarily, but because we can only see ...

Opening those 'magic portals'

 

“All of us create our own versions of an event, of our lives, even, not because we're liars, necessarily, but because we can only see and understand the truth from our own viewpoint, and a shifting viewpoint at that.” – Deb Caletti

 

Born in California on June 16, 1963 Caletti is an award-winning writer, primarily of young adult fiction, although she has several adult novels to her credit as well.   Caletti studied journalism at the University of Washington, received some recognition for playwriting, but always wanted to try novels.  "When my son was two,” she said, “I got serious about writing. I didn’t want to be one of those people who talked about their dream but never did anything about it.” 

 

All of her works are set in the Pacific Northwest and her YA books are noted for tackling difficult issues related to relationship dynamics, family (including stepfamilies), change and resilience, and  connections between human and animal nature.

 

A National Book Award finalist (for Honey, Baby, Sweetheart), and a Michael L. Printz Honor Book medalist (for her most recent book A Heart in a Body in the World), she said she’s been a passionate reader and writer from an early age and speaks glowingly about libraries.  

 

“I understood right from the start that every set of library doors were the sort of magic portals that lead to other lands,” she said.  “My God, right within reach there were dinosaurs and planets and presidents and girl detectives!“

A Writer's Moment: An action that's 'worthy of reaching for'

A Writer's Moment: An action that's 'worthy of reaching for':   "I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection.  Excellence I can reach for; perfection is God's business." -  Mic...

An action that's 'worthy of reaching for'

 "I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection.  Excellence I can reach for; perfection is God's business." -  Michael J. Fox

Born in Edmonton, Alberta on June 9, 1961 Fox is staying exceptionally busy despite his ongoing battle with Parkinson's Disease, working on causes ranging from finding a cure for the illness to eradicating hunger and housing shortages.

Probably one of the most iconic faces in acting, especially for the two roles for which he always will be remembered - the young Republican Alex Keaton on Family Ties and teen adventurer extraordinaire Marty McFly in the Back to the Future movies - Fox also is a gifted writer.  Using his writing skills to do essays and bio pieces about the disease from which he suffers, he exudes optimism that with enough attention and support a cure can be found.

His book Lucky Man, about dealing with the disease, is a must read for those interested in how to overcome the deepest of odds.  His newest book (out in 2025) is Future Boy:  Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum.

Fox's acting career almost got sidelined from the start.  The director of Family Ties wanted him for the Alex role, but producer Brandon Tartikoff felt Keaton was "too short" (he's 5-foot-4) and not the kind of face you'd like to see on your kid's lunchbox."  But they tried him in the pilot and he was so well-received that he went on to be the key figure in the show, winning three Emmy Awards for his acting.

At the series' end, he presented Tartikoff with a lunchbox emblazoned with his face on the cover.

"I like to encourage people to realize that any action is a good action," Fox said, "IF it's proactive and there is a positive intent behind it."

A Writer's Moment: Who makes for good friends?

A Writer's Moment: Who makes for good friends?:   “Poetry and music are very good friends. Like mommies and daddies and strawberries and cream - they go together.”  –  Nikki Giovanni   ...

Who makes for good friends?

 

“Poetry and music are very good friends. Like mommies and daddies and strawberries and cream - they go together.” –  Nikki Giovanni

 

Born in Knoxville, Tenn., in June of 1943, Giovanni was a poet, writer, commentator, activist and educator.   One of the world’s best-known African American poets, her work covered topics ranging from race and social issues to children's literature.  Giovanni, who died in 2024, won numerous awards, including the Langston Hughes Medal and NAACP Image Award.   

 

Her poetry has ranged from the somber, such as the chant-poem she delivered at the memorial for the Virginia Tech shooting victims, to thoughtful, to whimsical.  For Saturday’s Poem here is Giovanni’s  

I wrote a good omelet

I wrote a good omelet...and ate
a hot poem... after loving you
Buttoned my car...and drove my
coat home...in the rain...
after loving you
I goed on red...and stopped on
green...floating somewhere in between...
being here and being there...
after loving you
I rolled my bed...turned down
my hair...slightly
confused but...I don't care...
Laid out my teeth...and gargled my
gown...then I stood
...and laid me down...
To sleep...
after loving you.

A Writer's Moment: Start with 'a great appetite for the curious'

A Writer's Moment: Start with 'a great appetite for the curious':   “One of the most adventurous things left us is to go to bed. For no one can lay a hand on our dreams.”  – E. V. Lucas   Born in Eltham...

Start with 'a great appetite for the curious'

 

“One of the most adventurous things left us is to go to bed. For no one can lay a hand on our dreams.” – E. V. Lucas

 

Born in Eltham, England on this date in 1868, Lucas was a humorist, essayist, playwright, biographer, publisher, poet, novelist, short story writer and editor.  Despite that massive resumé, he achieved  most acclaim as editor of the works (and biographer) of Charles Lamb, and for his  decades-long contributions to the British humor magazine Punch.

 

Considered one of the greatest humorists of the first half of the 20^th century, Lucas “. . . had a great appetite for the curious, the human, and the ridiculous,” said fellow wrier Frank Swinnerton.  “If he were offered a story, an incident or an absurdity, his mind instantly shaped it with wit and form.”  

 

His 150-plus titles include Life of Charles Lamb, considered the seminal work on the author; several novels, biographies and plays; 30 collections of light essays; and dozens of travel books and books about painters.   Of the last he said, “I know very little about pictures, but I like to write about them for the benefit of those who know less.”

 

“The art of life is to show your hand,” Lucas said.  “There is no diplomacy like candor. You may lose by it now and then, but it will be a loss well gained if you do.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Falling into the right hands'

A Writer's Moment: 'Falling into the right hands':   “A novel is balanced between a few true impressions and the multitude of false ones that make up most of what we call life. With a novelis...

'Falling into the right hands'

 

“A novel is balanced between a few true impressions and the multitude of false ones that make up most of what we call life. With a novelist, like a surgeon, you have to get a feeling that you've fallen into good hands - someone from whom you can accept the anesthetic with confidence.” – Saul Bellow

 

Born in Canada on June 10, 1915 Bellow became a naturalized U.S. citizen after attending the University of Chicago and Northwestern University where he studied writing and English and earned degrees in sociology and anthropology.  The fact that he was an anthropologist probably is not a surprise for his readers who find anthropological references sprinkled throughout his many award-winning books.  

  

He may be best known for his Adventures of Augie March, often labeled “The 20^th Century Don Quixote.”   Bellow won every major writing award, including the Nobel Prize and is the only writer to win the National Book Award for Fiction 3 times.  He also was honored with the Lifetime Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the National Medal of Arts, and 2 Pulitzer Prizes.

  

"The backbone of 20th-century American literature has been provided by two novelists—William Faulkner and Saul Bellow,” noted novelist Philip Roth.  “Together they are the Melville, Hawthorne, and Twain of the 20th century." 

Well-liked for his wry sense of humor, he once noted “You know, you never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write down.” 

A Writer's Moment: A champion for social justice and human rights

A Writer's Moment: A champion for social justice and human rights:   “I've always loved writing, and the impulse for me is storytelling. I don't sit down and think: 'What political message can I ...

A champion for social justice and human rights

 

“I've always loved writing, and the impulse for me is storytelling. I don't sit down and think: 'What political message can I sell?' I love the creativity of it.” – Randa Abdel-Fattah

 

Born in Sydney, Australia in June of 1979, Abdel-Fattah is of Palestinian-Egyptian heritage, bringing an interesting cultural mix to her writing.  She had her first short story published at age 11, wrote numerous short stories as a teenager, and completed the first draft of her debut novel Does My Head Look Big in This? at age 18.   The story about life choices, bias and abiding friendships, the book also spawned a play and both versions were winner of numerous awards.

 

In addition to her writing, Abdel-Fattah is an attorney and champion for social justice and human rights issues.  A frequent speaker and regular broadcast commentator on those topics, she has continued to produce short stories and essays and (to date) a dozen books.  Her most recent is 2025’s Discipline.

 

Abdel-Fattah's writing also touches on celebratory events from all cultures and religions. 

 

“Religious celebrations,” she said, “and the good will, high spirits and generosity that mark them, are wonderful occasions for understanding the potential of 'everyday multiculturalism,’ and how people from diverse faiths can connect and show they care, rather than go down parallel, sometimes hostile, roads.”

A Writer's Moment: 'The task of a writer'

A Writer's Moment: 'The task of a writer':   “The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.”  – Thomas Mann   Born in Lubeck, Germany on June 6, 18...

'The task of a writer'

 

“The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.” – Thomas Mann

 

Born in Lubeck, Germany on June 6, 1875 Mann was a journalist, novelist, short story writer, philanthropist and essayist who started writing in the mid-1890s while living in Munich.   Winner of the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature, he was one of the most outspoken critics of Adolph Hitler, ultimately having to flee to Czechoslovakia and then the United States where he became a naturalized American citizen and lived until shortly before his death in 1955.

 

His successful creative writing career, which began with his novel Buddonbrooks – about a merchant family and reflective of his own childhood roots – was marked primarily by his short stories, which were popular throughout his lifetime and continue to be studied in writing classes today. 

 

"In books we never find anything but ourselves,” Mann said.  “Strangely enough, that always gives us great pleasure, and (yet) we say the author is a genius."

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.”