Serving 'The only world we have'

 

The natural world is the only one we have. To try to not see the natural world - to put on blinders and avoid seeing it - would for me seem like a form of madness.” - Rick Bass

 

Bass, who was born in Texas in March of 1958, started writing short stories on his lunch breaks while working as a geologist in the petroleum and gas industry.  Eventually he left that field and gravitated toward environmental activism.

 

Among his more than two dozen books are the award-winning Where the Sea Used to Be; his short story collection The Lives of Rocks; and his autobiographical Why I Came West.  Also a noted essayist, his most recent book is With Every Great Breath: New and Selected Essays, 1995-2023.   In addition to writing, he is a noted public speaker, appears often on television, and is a frequent college lecturer.

 

While Bass has authored an equal number of nonfiction and fiction works, he said approaching the latter genre’ is a more delicate proposition.

 

“I think a novelist must be more tender with living or 'real' people,” he said.   “The moral imperative of having been entrusted with their story looms before you every day, in every sentence.”

A Writer's Moment: The 'Normalcy' of writing every day

A Writer's Moment: The 'Normalcy' of writing every day:   “I think we have a great deal of mythology around writing. We believe that only a few people can really do it. I wrote a book called &#39...

The 'Normalcy' of writing every day

 

“I think we have a great deal of mythology around writing. We believe that only a few people can really do it. I wrote a book called 'The Right to Write.' In it, I argued that all of us have the capacity to write. That it's as normal to write as it is to speak.” – Julia Cameron

Cameron, born on this date in 1948, has been a teacher, author, artist, poet, playwright, novelist, filmmaker, composer and journalist.  Led by her best-selling book The Artist's Way, she has written a remarkable 35 nonfiction books, 2 novels, 6 plays and 4 books of poetry.  She also has written many short stories, essays and screenplays.  Her latest book is 2023's Write for Life:  A Toolkit for Writers.

“I grew up (in Chicago) in what you might call a relentlessly creative household,” she said.  “We were given art supplies, music supplies... Our mother knew enough to get us started and then stand back and not meddle. My parents never said to us, 'Don't you think you'll need something to fall back on?' They acted as though creativity was completely normal.”

Her writing career started at the Washington Post before she moved over to Rolling Stone.  She married film director Martin Scorsese but after a fairly   tumultuous marriage, they divorced but maintained a close relationship, including collaborating on several films.

“I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something,” she said about her successful writing and teaching career.  “Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow.“

A Writer's Moment: 'Touching your soul'

A Writer's Moment: 'Touching your soul':   “If I do a poetry reading I want people to walk out and say they feel better for having been there – not because you’ve...

'Touching your soul'

 

“If I do a poetry reading I want people to walk out and say they feel better for having been there – not because you’ve done a comedy performance but because you’re talking about your father dying or having young children, things that touch your soul.” – Roger McGough

 

Born in Liverpool, England in 1937 McGough started on the road to writing success in the 1950s with his best-selling The Mersey Sound.   Since then he’s had a highly successful career as a performance poet, children’s author and playwright.  A broadcaster, too, he long hosted the BBC’s “Poetry Please.”   For Saturday’s Poem, here is McGough’s,

 

                          Sleeping In

Our street is dead lazy
Especially in winter.
Some mornings you wake up
And it’s still lying there
Saying nothing.  Huddled
under its white counterpane.

But soon the lorries arrive
Like angry Mums,
Pull back the blankets
And send it shivering
Off to work.

A Writer's Moment: 'Writing because we can'

A Writer's Moment: 'Writing because we can':   “We write for the same reason that we walk, talk, climb mountains or swim the oceans - because we can. We have some impulse within us tha...

'Writing because we can'

 

“We write for the same reason that we walk, talk, climb mountains or swim the oceans - because we can. We have some impulse within us that makes us want to explain ourselves to other human beings. That's why we paint, that's why we dare to love someone - because we have the impulse to explain who we are.” – Maya Angelou

It was my privilege to meet, talk with and learn from the great Maya Angelou, born in 1928 and an inspiration to all who seek to live the writing life.