A Writer's Moment: 'More powerful than observed'

A Writer's Moment: 'More powerful than observed':   The reason that I keep writing is that all my most powerful messages about the fates of wild places that I care about need to have words a...

'More powerful than observed'

 

The reason that I keep writing is that all my most powerful messages about the fates of wild places that I care about need to have words as well as images.” – Galen Rowell

Born in California on this date in 1940, Rowell was a wilderness photographer, climber and writer who devoted his final 30 years to photographing and writing about the world’s wild places.   In the process, he won the Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography and established his own lasting legacy.

 

Also held in high esteem for his writing on photography and on the humanitarian and environmental issues and mountaineering he loved, his remarkable 18 books included In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods about the history of mountaineering on the Himalayan mountain K2, and Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape, one of the bestselling “how-to” photo books of all time.  

 

In addition to his many photo shoots and articles for Life, National Geographic, and Outdoor Photographer, Rowell - who died in August of 2002 - also produced myriad stand-alone shots.  He said recognizing how film sees the world differently than the human eye and adjusting his shooting techniques to fit was probably the secret to his success.  

 

“Sometimes those differences can make a photograph more powerful than what you actually observed,” he said.  “It’s remarkable.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Only emotion endures'

A Writer's Moment: 'Only emotion endures':   “In poetry, only emotion endures.”  – X.J. Kennedy   Born in Dover, NJ on this date in 1929, Kennedy was both a children’s book author...

'Only emotion endures'

 

“In poetry, only emotion endures.” – X.J. Kennedy

 

Born in Dover, NJ on this date in 1929, Kennedy was both a children’s book author and poet who published numerous poetry collections, including Dark Horses: New Poems, and Breaking and Entering. His many works for young audiences included Exploding Gravy: Poems to Make You Laugh. 

 

Kennedy (who died in January, 2026) earned degees from Seton Hall and Columbia and had a 6-decade writing career.  For Saturday’s Poem – from his collection Nude Descending a Staircase (winner of the Lamont Poetry Prize) – here is Kennedy’s,   

                          Nude Descending a Staircase

        Toe after toe, a snowing flesh,
        a gold of lemon, root and rind,
        she sifts in sunlight down the stairs
        with nothing on. Nor on her mind.

        We spy beneath the banister
        a constant thresh of thigh on thigh;
        her lips imprint the swinging air
        that parts to let her parts go by.

 

        One-woman waterfall, she wears
        her slow descent like a long cape
        and pausing on the final stair,
        collects her motions into shape.

A Writer's Moment: 'What if?' - A Key to the Writing Door

A Writer's Moment: 'What if?' - A Key to the Writing Door:   “Whenever I start a novel, I'm always looking for two things: a bit of science that makes me go 'what if?' and a piece of hist...

'What if?' - A Key to the Writing Door

 

“Whenever I start a novel, I'm always looking for two things: a bit of science that makes me go 'what if?' and a piece of history that ends in a question mark.” – James Rollins
 

Born in Chicago on this date in 1961, Rollins is a writer of action-adventure/thriller novels and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, practicing under his “real” name James Paul Czajkowski.   And he is an amateur spelunker and certified scuba diver, great background and settings for some of his tales. 

 

Rollins studied Veterinary Medicine at the University of Missouri and didn’t start writing until 1999. Since then he has penned more than 50 novels, including the wildly successful Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Witch Fire – written under his other pen name James Clemens.  That book was “discovered” as an entry in a contest sponsored by the Maui Writers' Conference. 

 

His most recent books are A Dragon of Black Glass and A Fist of Molten Fire, released in the past two years under his “MoonFall” series.   In his veterinarian career, Rollins stays busy caring for abandoned or abused animals.  But it’s books that remain at the heart of things for him.

  

“Books are keys that open many doors,” Rollins said. “Generally, if you preface a request with, 'I'm an author writing a book,' for some reason, that seems to open a lot of doors.”

A Writer's Moment: 'The foundation for writing structure'

A Writer's Moment: 'The foundation for writing structure': “I think of novels as houses. You live in them over the course of a long period, both as a reader and as a writer.” – Nicole Krauss   Born i...

'The foundation for writing structure'

“I think of novels as houses. You live in them over the course of a long period, both as a reader and as a writer.” – Nicole Krauss

 

Born in New York City on Aug. 18, 1974 Krauss is best known for her novels Man Walks Into a Room and Forest Dark, although her short fiction also has been widely published in everything from The New Yorker to “Best American Short Stories.”  Her most recent collection is How To Be A Man, winner of the Wingate Literary Prize.

 

A writer since childhood, she said her first “opus” was a book of poems put down in a spiral notebook at age 5 or 6 “handsomely accompanied by crayon illustrations.” Krauss “officially” started writing – mostly poetry – in her teens.  After college - at Stanford University - she had her first novel published in 2001.  Two of her award-winning novels have been adapted into films and been translated into 35 languages.

Of her writing style, she noted, "I'm very interested in structure, how multiple stories are assembled in different ways; that is what memory does as well."

 

A Writer's Moment: 'Because life is ambiguous'

A Writer's Moment: 'Because life is ambiguous':   “Songwriting's a weird game. I never intended to become one - I fell into this by mistake, and I can't get out of it. It fascinate...

'Because life is ambiguous'

 

“Songwriting's a weird game. I never intended to become one - I fell into this by mistake, and I can't get out of it. It fascinates me. I like to point out the rawer points of life.” – Keith Richards

 

Born in the London suburb of Dartford on this date in 1943, Richards started life on the go as his family was temporarily evacuated from their home during the Nazi bombing and rocket campaign of 1944.   In 1951, while attending primary school, Richards first met and befriended Mick Jagger in what would not only become a lifetime friendship but also the start of The Rolling Stones, and eventual enshrinement in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

 

The pair founded The Rolling Stones as a rhythm and blues and jazz group, although it wasn’t until they changed their style to straight rock in 1964 that they really hit their stride, mostly on songs written by Richards, the biggest (and longest-lasting) hit being Satisfaction.   Despite their image as the “anti-Beatles” – a counter to that "other" wildly popular British boy band of the day – “It was a very, very fruitful and great relationship between the Stones and The Beatles. It was very, very friendly,” Richards said.

 

While writing music has been his forte’, Richards also wrote two bestselling books, the memoir Life, and a wonderful children’s tale Gus and Me: The Story of My Grandad and My First Guitar.

 

Whether it be the lyrics for his songs or his books, Richards noted,  “I look for ambiguity when I'm writing,  because life is ambiguous.”

A Writer's Moment: About those characters -- 'Keep in Touch'

A Writer's Moment: About those characters -- 'Keep in Touch':   “The characters I'm most emotionally involved with are like friends you leave behind when you move away. You don't see them regula...

About those characters -- 'Keep in Touch'

 

“The characters I'm most emotionally involved with are like friends you leave behind when you move away. You don't see them regularly anymore, but you still love them and keep in touch.” – Mary Doria Russell

 

Born in Elmhurst, IL on Aug. 19, 1950 Russell has earned acclaim in a couple of genres, including the 1998 Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction for her first book, The Sparrow, which also won her the John Campbell Award as Best New Writer.  

 

Russell, who also is a well-known and much sought after speaker, said she planned to be an anthropologist but got “sidetracked” into a writing career that has been lauded for its meticulous attention to detail and “fine prose.”  

One of the few people to have a high school English Honor Society Chapter (at Lombard, IL) named in her honor, she earned worldwide recognition for what became known as the “Sparrow” series.  Then, branching into historical fiction she wrote two of the best – Doc and Epitaph – about the notorious gunfighter, gambler and dentist John Henry “Doc” Holiday.  Her most recent book is The Women of the Copper Country a novel based on the first unionized strike (in the 19-teens) against the copper industry.

 “Maybe if I'd studied writing instead of anthropology,” she said, “I'd be more sensible. You know - pick a genre, follow the rules, stay in the box.  But let's face it, sensible people don't major in anthropology.”

A Writer's Moment: 'In terms of rhymes'

A Writer's Moment: 'In terms of rhymes':   “Middle age is when you're sitting at home on a Saturday night and the telephone rings and you hope it isn't for you.”  – Ogden Na...

'In terms of rhymes'

 

“Middle age is when you're sitting at home on a Saturday night and the telephone rings and you hope it isn't for you.” – Ogden Nash

         

 Born in Rye, NY in August of 1902, Nash was known for his light verse, of which he wrote over 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyming schemes he was declared by many critics and fellow poets alike as the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry.  "I think in terms of rhyme, and have since I was six years old," he said.  For Saturday’s Poem, here are a few examples of Nash’s poetic musings.

 

    A Word to Husbands

To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.

 

              Celery

             Celery, raw
         Develops the jaw,
       But celery, stewed,
     Is more quietly chewed.

 

                   A Flea and a Fly in a Flue

A flea and a fly in a flue

               Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
                        Said the fly, "let us flee!"
                        "Let us fly!" said the flea.
                So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

 

          Morning Prayer

    Now another day is breaking,
    Sleep was sweet and so is waking.
    Dear Lord, I promised you last night
    Never again to sulk or fight.
    Such vows are easier to keep
    When a child is sound asleep.
    Today, O Lord, for your dear sake,
     I'll try to keep them when awake.

A Writer's Moment: The 'discomfort of labels'

A Writer's Moment: The 'discomfort of labels':   Writers never feel comfortable having labels attached to them, however accurate they are.  – Jonathan Coe   Born in Bromsgrove, Englan...

The 'discomfort of labels'

 

Writers never feel comfortable having labels attached to them, however accurate they are. – Jonathan Coe

 

Born in Bromsgrove, England in August of 1961, Coe has written 17 mostly satirical and politically focused novels, starting with 1987’s The Accidental Woman.  His most recent novel is 2024’s The Proof of My Innocence and his next one Lessons in Harmony, slated for release this November.  His novel Middle England won both the European and Costa book awards.

 

 Coe also has had several nonfiction books, led by Humphrey Bogart: Take It and Like It – one of the best written on the late actor – and his ongoing love of music has led to collaborations with other writers and musicians on a wide range of songs.  And he’s written several children’s books, but no short stories.

 

“I have trouble keeping things out of books, which is why I don't write short stories,” he said.   “They just seem to turn into novels.” 

A Writer's Moment: 'Reluctant writing; successful results'

A Writer's Moment: 'Reluctant writing; successful results':   “One way an author dies a little each day is when his books go out of print.”  – William Goldman   Born in Chicago on this date in 193...

'Reluctant writing; successful results'

 

“One way an author dies a little each day is when his books go out of print.” – William Goldman

 

Born in Chicago on this date in 1931, Goldman wrote the Academy Award-winning screenplays for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men and also wrote two massively bestselling novels – the thriller Marathon Man and the comedy-fantasy The Princess Bride – also adapted into successful films.  He wrote 20 screenplays and adapted or consulted on a dozen more, all critical and box office successes.

 

The prolific Goldman, who died in 2018, studied writing at Oberlin College and authored 16 novels, a children’s book, 9 nonfiction books and numerous short stories to go along with his many screenplays.  But, despite that success, he often referred to himself as “a reluctant writer.”

 

“The easiest thing to do on earth is not write,” he said. “But this is life on earth, you can't have everything.”

A Writer's Moment: 'To hold nothing back'

A Writer's Moment: 'To hold nothing back':   “I love writing. I've pursued it with a passion.”  – Betsy Byars   Born in Charlotte, NC in August of 1928, Byars' passion for...

'To hold nothing back'

 

“I love writing. I've pursued it with a passion.” – Betsy Byars

 

Born in Charlotte, NC in August of 1928, Byars' passion for writing began in high school and led to a degree in English from Queens College in New York.  Her first professional writing was for magazines before she authored the book Clementine in 1962.

 

Listed among the 100 best children’s authors of all time and one of the 10 best writers for children during her lifetime, she wrote more than 50 books and collaborated with two of her daughters on half-a-dozen more.  Byars, who died in 2020, also wrote a bestselling memoir.

 

Her novel Summer of the Swans won a Newbery Medal, and her novel The Night Swimmers earned a National Book Award.  And, to show she also could handle mystery writing, she won the Edgar Prize for the novel Wanted …Mud Blossom.   She created some of the most popular and beloved characters in children’s literature – like Kate Morrison in The Computer Nut and Benjie “Mouse” Fawley in The 18^th Emergency – but presented each of them only once.

 

“Early in my career,” Byars said, “I decided not to do sequels. I know that children enjoy them, but I valued the feeling that this was the only time I would write about these characters. I felt it gave me an added incentive to do my best by them, to tell readers everything I knew, to hold nothing back.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Find the good, and praise it'

A Writer's Moment: 'Find the good, and praise it':   “In my writing, as much as I could, I tried to find the good, and praise it.”  –  Alex Haley   Born in Ithaca, NY on Aug. 11, 1921 Hal...

'Find the good, and praise it'

 

“In my writing, as much as I could, I tried to find the good, and praise it.” –  Alex Haley

 

Born in Ithaca, NY on Aug. 11, 1921 Haley authored 4 award-winning books, anchored by Roots: The Saga of an American Family, continuously in print since its appearance in 1976.  A television series based on the book also set a record-breaking audience of over 130 million viewers.

 

A Coast Guard veteran from both World War II and the Korean War, Haley was self-taught as a writer in order to “report” on things to folks back home, writing both for individuals and for his community newspapers.  After his Coast Guard career, he expanded his reportorial efforts, which eventually led him to his biographical writing.  Haley's first book, which catapulted him onto the national scene, was The Autobiography of Malcolm X.   

 

In addition to his books, he authored 3 story collections and several screenplays before his death from a heart attack in 1992.    Roots raised public awareness of African American history and also inspired a broad interest in genealogy and family history for all races.   Haley said that was one of his proudest accomplishments.  

”In every conceivable manner," he said, "the family is link to our past; bridge to our future.”   

A Writer's Moment: First 'doing the living'

A Writer's Moment: First 'doing the living':   “Life has a practice of living you, if you don't live it.”  – Philip Larkin Born in Coventry on Aug. 9, 1922, Larkin was one of post...

First 'doing the living'

 

“Life has a practice of living you, if you don't live it.” – Philip Larkin

Born in Coventry on Aug. 9, 1922, Larkin was one of post-war England’s most famous poets and was commonly referred to as “England’s other Poet Laureate” until his death in 1985.  His best-known and most popular collections – The Less Deceived, The Whitsun Weddings, and High Windows – present “a poetry from which even people who distrust poetry . . . can take comfort and delight.”  For Saturday’s poem, here is Larkin’s,

        Summer is fading
The leaves fall in ones and twos
From trees bordering
The new recreation ground.
In the hollows of afternoons
Young mothers assemble
At swing and sandpit
Setting free their children.

Behind them, at intervals,
Stand husbands in skilled trades,
An estateful of washing,
And the albums, lettered
Our Wedding, lying
Near the television:
Before them, the wind
Is ruining their courting-places

That are still courting-places
(But the lovers are all in school),
And their children, so intent on
Finding more unripe acorns,
Expect to be taken home.
Their beauty has thickened.
Something is pushing them
To the side of their own lives.

A Writer's Moment: 'Seeing what you meant'

A Writer's Moment: 'Seeing what you meant':   “How do I know what I think until I see what I say?”  – E.M. Forster   Born in London in 1879, Forster, best known for his novels A Ro...

'Seeing what you meant'

 

“How do I know what I think until I see what I say?” – E.M. Forster

 

Born in London in 1879, Forster, is best known for his novels A Room With a View, Howards End and A Passage to India – all also made into successful films after his death in 1970.

 

A prolific notetaker, he became the author of numerous short stories, essays, speeches and plays despite the fact that he intended his career to be a historian or classicist, studying both disciplines at Cambridge University.   But writing "got in the way" and his voluminous career in that profession followed. 

 

Following the success of his bestselling novels and short stories – Forster went to work for the BBC and in the 1930s and 1940s and became one of Great Britain’s most notable broadcasters, also producing and narrating a popular weekly book review program. 

 

"We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned,” Forster said, “so as to have the life that is waiting for us."

A Writer's Moment: 'Words working their magic'

A Writer's Moment: 'Words working their magic':   “There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spide...

'Words working their magic'

 

“There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic.” ― Diane Setterfield

 

Born in Great Britain in August of 1964, Setterfield started her career as a teacher before diving headfirst into writing with The Thirteenth Tale, a New York Times No. 1 best-seller translated into 40 languages.    The book, also made into a movie, has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

 

Since winning the 2007 Quill Award as Debut Author of the Year, she has authored several more bestsellers, including her latest The Right Sort of Man^.   

 

Setterfield says she’s constantly oscillating between writing and putting herself inside the head of the reader, asking herself questions such as:  How effective is this to my reader? and Have I achieved what I set out to?  But reading, something she advises every author to do, is at the heart of her days.

 

“If I cannot escape for an hour or two every day by reading for pleasure,” she said, “then small problems seem to grow large, and I begin to feel enormously burdened.”

A Writer's Moment: It's how to reach 'the center of life'

A Writer's Moment: It's how to reach 'the center of life':   “Writing is a way of getting at the things most people would prefer to escape.   Writing takes me to the center of life.   That’s my invit...

It's how to reach 'the center of life'

 

“Writing is a way of getting at the things most people would prefer to escape.  Writing takes me to the center of life.  That’s my invitation to my readers as well.” – Steven Millhauser

 

Born in New York City on Aug. 3, 1943 Millhauser is the author of 4 novels, 3 novellas and 7 collections of short stories, winning a Pulitzer Prize for his novel Martin Dressler and The Story Prize for his collection We Others.    His most recent book is 2023’s Disruptions: Stories.

 

A resident of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. where he taught writing at Skidmore for 30 years, Millhauser has earned numerous accolades for his stories.  And his tale Eisenheim the Illusionist was made into the critically acclaimed movie The Illusionist.   Among his published essays, is “The Ambition of the Short Story” in the New York Times Book Review.   

                        

 “I like the way something small can expand into something large.” 

A Writer's Moment: 'Removing those other possibilities'

A Writer's Moment: 'Removing those other possibilities':   “The best thing that can happen to people entering creative professions is the dwindling of all other possibilities.”  –  Dennis Lehane ...

'Removing those other possibilities'

 

“The best thing that can happen to people entering creative professions is the dwindling of all other possibilities.” –  Dennis Lehane

'Born in Boston on this date in 1965, Lehane has had striking success with both his novels (15) and screenplays (more than two dozen, including for hit series like The Wire and Boardwalk Empire).  His most recent success is the 2025 Apple TV series Smoke.  Many of his own novels also have been made into successful films, led by the multiple award-winning Gone, Baby, Gone and Mystic River. 

 

Lehane said his initial plan was not to be a writer, “But from the moment I took my first writing workshop, I was a writer,” he said.  Since achieving literary success he also has taught writing, including being a writer-in-residence at Eckerd College (Florida) where he has co-directed the Writers in Paradise Conference.  

 

“I love to write,” he said, “so it rarely seems like work - even when it gets arduous.”

A Writer's Moment: Writing 'Across the Generations'

A Writer's Moment: Writing 'Across the Generations':   “Writing basically breaks down to relationships between people and that is what you write about.”  – Leon Uris   Born in Baltimore on ...

Writing 'Across the Generations'

 

“Writing basically breaks down to relationships between people and that is what you write about.” – Leon Uris

 

Born in Baltimore on this date in 1924, Uris started reading at age 3, writing by age 4, and writing creatively by age 8.  But it wasn’t until after he came out of World War II (he enlisted at age 17 and spent 4 years in the Marines) that he started his successful career, working for newspapers and also writing short stories before publication of his first novel Battle Cry in 1951.   The book also was made into a popular 1955 movie.  

 

Known for his deep research, Uris wrote a dozen bestselling historical novels, including the mega-bestsellers Exodus, The Haj and Topaz, all made into successful movies.  And he wrote several historical and political nonfiction works, often to provide deeper context for the historical events depicted in his novels.

 

Uris wrote continuously for 50 years until he was struck down by kidney failure in 2003.  He said he always was proud that what he wrote in 1950 was just as much read as the writing he produced 30 or 40 years later.   

 

“You can try to reach an audience, but you just write what comes out of you and hope that it is accepted,” he said.   “You do not – and should not – write specifically to a generation.” 

A Writer's Moment: 'The old remember; the young listen'

A Writer's Moment: 'The old remember; the young listen':   “If the very old will remember, the very young will listen.” – Chief Dan George    Born in British Columbia in the last week of July in 1...

'The old remember; the young listen'

 

“If the very old will remember, the very young will listen.” – Chief Dan George

 

 Born in British Columbia in the last week of July in 1899, First Nation actor, poet and author George is perhaps best-known for his semi-autobiographical book My Heart Soars, a line he also frequently uttered in the movie Little Big Man.   George authored many books, poems and songs, and for Saturday's Poem, here is his thoughtful,

                                      To A Grandchild

Heed the days
when the rain flows freely,
in their greyness
lies the seed of much thought
The sky hangs low
and paints new colors
on the earth.
 
After the rain
the grass will shed its moisture,
the fog will lift from the trees,
a new light will brighten the sky
and play in the drops
that hang on all things.
Your heart will beat out
a new gladness
- if you let it happen.
 
In the midst of a land
without silence
you have to make a place for yourself.
Those who have worn out
their shoes many times
know where to step.
It is not their shoes
you can wear
only their footsteps
you may follow,
- if you let it happen.