The Once-in-a-While
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Five Great Writers
Five Great Writers
1 A-h-h-h-h-h-h-h.
2 That's seven "H's," one for each day of the week.
3 I'll bet some of you counted those. Perhaps more. And even if you didn't, you might now. Especially if you are goofing off from whatever you're supposed to be doing. And to me, you should be right here counting stuff. And you should be doing it RUTBN (Right Under the Boss's Nose!).
Anybody who knows me knows that I am a firm believer in goofing off, especially at work. I once had a club called The
Goof-Off Club, and I was the self-proclaimed flounder of that club.
Anybody who knows me knows that I am a firm believer in goofing off, especially at work. I once had a club called The
Goof-Off Club, and I was the self-proclaimed flounder of that club.
Flounder.
4 As always, I began this nonsense on Monday night, following not only 9/11, but following the official birthday of my beautiful grandchildren, the Mini-Glimmer Twins, Li'l Isla and Li'l Maren.
Isla and Maren at some meaningful hour,
engaged in one of their endless Zen-meditations and
mantrasic chantings, or in this case, enchantings!
mantrasic chantings, or in this case, enchantings!
5 This, by the way, was happening the same time as the very real reports coming in of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey. I found so many people running through my thoughts I almost decided not to tack this one out.
6 Ironically, on Monday night we did a mini-binge of one of my favorite binge-ables, a sweet little series show called The Middle. The Middle has been around since 2009, and it is a jewel. If there were a sixth great writer in all of this, I would have to include Sue Heck from The Middle. I would include Sue Heck because if she had a dream, and these five writers were in it, she would not only emerge star-struck, she would become dutifully obsessed, which is why I love Sue Heck.
7 "Ice cream. French fries."
---Some commercial for a product called Contrave.
8 Pharma. I swear to you. I write with the teevee blaring in the background, bad advice from most professional writers. I have no idea what movie was playing, or that prompted that pharma commercial, because when I write I often draw a curtain around myself. I've been told by professional writers to do that sort of thing. I've also been schooled not to have a teevee blaring when you try to write. But the curtain motif is encouraged by such notables as Stephen King, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Maya Angelou, John Steinbeck, and Amy Tan. Allow me to get off my thesis statement and parachute down with a few quotes for you. Expect mediocrity here, always a plan.
Pennywise, from the 2017 film It.
9 You may notice I write with the teevee on. I consider it carnival music that every now and again makes me sit up and take note.
10 Stephen King draws a curtain, as well as a muzzle around teevee, which he correctly calls TV. Here comes King:
"TV---while working out or anywhere else---really is about the last thing an aspiring writer needs."
Sidebar: I'm glad I'm not aspiring. It would make my armpits wet and besides, it ruins shirts. You now have official permission to groan.
11 Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. also knows how to draw a curtain around oneself while writing. He put it this way:
" Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia."
Buy this book. You'll find the quote inside:
Bagombo Snuff Box by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
12 Anybody lookin'?
13 Shall we move to the distaff side? One of my favorite artists is Maya Angelou. I adore everything about her. A great biography of Maya would be Maya Angelou by L. Patricia Kite. In it, Kite says of Angelou's writing routine:
"Maya is often asked how she designs and writes a book. She explains that each book project begins with a definite idea. The finished concept, however, may turn out to be entirely different. Initially, Maya goes to the small hotel room she rents in order to write without interruption. She begins by writing about her subject in longhand on yellow, lined legal pads. Once this is done and a project begins to take shape, she organizes the material, rewriting it over and over again. Sometimes she reads her work aloud to detect the rhythm of the piece. A finished autobiography may be over 600 handwritten pages, which she sends to her editor. Then, ongoing discussions begin."
Maya Angelou
14 Moving On, Part One: One of my favorite reads ever was John Steinbeck's East of Eden. I read it in college, and remember writing notes on nearly every page. I learned the Bible reading that book, not going to St. Dunstan's Catholic Church.
I had a bazillion quotes about Steinbeck, yet lots of trouble finding one involving the writer's need for absolute privacy. Sometimes, it just becomes as necessary as scratching an itch. I love the brevity of this Steinbeck quote:
"In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable."
15 Yup.
16 Moving On, Part the Second: I saw Amy Tan many years ago at San Jose State University. She made my head swim. A great storyteller, she shared lots of fun moments. As she spoke, I thought of asking her this simple question: Given life's multitude of natural interruptions, how does any writer get the job done? Simple question.
17 It is now years later. I couldn't tell you exactly when I saw Tan. I just remember her talking with genuineness and humor.
18 Here are Tan's words on how she got going on The Valley of Amazement. I retrieved it from writer Cindy Adams, who credited this quote to the link below:
" I wrote into the late hours in hotel rooms, planes, my home, others' houses. Except for 4 p.m. dog walks, I went nowhere except to use the bathroom. I learned just put something down, don't worry about the next sentence. Revise later. Keep going. Something will click eventually."
19 I vaguely remember Tan, who was an American housewife at the time, speaking of her first published book, The Joy Luck Club. She had an agent who completely enjoyed the beginnings of the book, originally titled Endgame. She went to China to visit her mother, who was dying. Meanwhile, her agent had sent her book to Putnam's, who gave her an advance of $50,000.
20 I had to cop the specifics of this from this NY Times article, since my memory is less than it should be:
New York Times (4 July 1989)
21 What I DO remember was Tan telling that exact story, and then looking out over the college audience. She then said words to the effect of, "And I was walking through a bookstore one afternoon, and I saw this."
I had a bazillion quotes about Steinbeck, yet lots of trouble finding one involving the writer's need for absolute privacy. Sometimes, it just becomes as necessary as scratching an itch. I love the brevity of this Steinbeck quote:
The elusive John Steinbeck.
"In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable."
- New York Times (2 June 1969)
15 Yup.
16 Moving On, Part the Second: I saw Amy Tan many years ago at San Jose State University. She made my head swim. A great storyteller, she shared lots of fun moments. As she spoke, I thought of asking her this simple question: Given life's multitude of natural interruptions, how does any writer get the job done? Simple question.
17 It is now years later. I couldn't tell you exactly when I saw Tan. I just remember her talking with genuineness and humor.
18 Here are Tan's words on how she got going on The Valley of Amazement. I retrieved it from writer Cindy Adams, who credited this quote to the link below:
" I wrote into the late hours in hotel rooms, planes, my home, others' houses. Except for 4 p.m. dog walks, I went nowhere except to use the bathroom. I learned just put something down, don't worry about the next sentence. Revise later. Keep going. Something will click eventually."
The amazing Amy Tan in 2017.
19 I vaguely remember Tan, who was an American housewife at the time, speaking of her first published book, The Joy Luck Club. She had an agent who completely enjoyed the beginnings of the book, originally titled Endgame. She went to China to visit her mother, who was dying. Meanwhile, her agent had sent her book to Putnam's, who gave her an advance of $50,000.
20 I had to cop the specifics of this from this NY Times article, since my memory is less than it should be:
21 What I DO remember was Tan telling that exact story, and then looking out over the college audience. She then said words to the effect of, "And I was walking through a bookstore one afternoon, and I saw this."
She reached into the podium and slowly brought up a small pamphlet, yellow and black. As the audience began to catch on, laughter and then applause filled the building.
22 She had presented the audience with the Cliff's Notes to The Joy Luck Club.
23 She said that she looked through some of the literary questions in the back of the Notes. One question asked, "Trace Tan's use of the number four throughout the novel."
24 She looked up just as perplexed as anyone trying to figure out the answer to any essay prompt. She gave a bit of a goofy look and shook her head.
25 Amy Tan was stumped, and clearly had no answer.
26 It was a glorious moment for me.
27 I'm pretty sure that question has been removed from the notes.
28 I prefer my foggy memory rather than look through those notes. All I remember is that she was a magnificent presence, and a great listen.
29 I gottago.
30 Monday turned into last night at around 1 a.m.
32 Hope you enjoyed this little piece about writing and inspiration and all.
33 Anyway, we'll see you again.
34 Have a GREAT day.
35 Live life.
36 Love life.
37 Peace.
22 She had presented the audience with the Cliff's Notes to The Joy Luck Club.
23 She said that she looked through some of the literary questions in the back of the Notes. One question asked, "Trace Tan's use of the number four throughout the novel."
24 She looked up just as perplexed as anyone trying to figure out the answer to any essay prompt. She gave a bit of a goofy look and shook her head.
25 Amy Tan was stumped, and clearly had no answer.
26 It was a glorious moment for me.
27 I'm pretty sure that question has been removed from the notes.
28 I prefer my foggy memory rather than look through those notes. All I remember is that she was a magnificent presence, and a great listen.
29 I gottago.
30 Monday turned into last night at around 1 a.m.
32 Hope you enjoyed this little piece about writing and inspiration and all.
33 Anyway, we'll see you again.
34 Have a GREAT day.
35 Live life.
36 Love life.
37 Peace.
~H~
fin.
fin.
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