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A Writer's wit

11/29/2018

I wish the whole day were like breakfast, when people are still connected to their dreams, focused inward, and not yet ready to engage with the world around them. I realized this is how I am all day; for me, unlike other people, there doesn't come a moment after a cup of coffee or a shower or whatever when I suddenly feel alive and awake and connected to the world. If it were always breakfast, I would be fine.
Peter Cameron
Born on November 29, 1959

P. Cameron

NEXT TIME: My Book World, White Rage By C. Anderson

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My Journey of States-31 South Carolina

11/28/2018

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A WRITER'S WIT
The hardest thing to teach young writers is that it's wonderful to tell your truth. And that's what you should do. But it damn well better be beautiful.
Dorothy Allison
Born April 11, 1949
in Greenville, South Carolina

D. Allison

MY JOURNEY OF STATES is a series in which I relate my sixty-year quest to visit all fifty states in the U.S. In each post I tell of my relationship to that state, whether brief or long, highlighting personal events. I include the year of each state's entry into the union and related celebrations. I hope you enjoy my journey as much as I have. This is the thirty-first post of fifty.

South Carolina (1990-1992, 1994)

R. Jespers, Brookgreen G., 1994

Because Ken’s nephew and wife lived in Myrtle Beach, we were able to visit a number of interesting places: Brookgreen Gardens at Murrells Inlet, Myrtle Beach State Park, and an overnighter in Charleston, one of the nation’s oldest cities, where we visited several historical homes being renovated following Hurricane Andrew, in 1992. The specter of slavery still looms large in places: plantations and slaves’ quarters. Then there is the human specter, descendants of those slaves, some of whom still struggle to achieve equality with whites. During those four summer visits, we also spent a great deal of time just enjoying ourselves at places like Barefoot Landing in North Myrtle Beach.

South Carolina is eighth of the thirteen original colonies and also celebrated its bicenquinquagenaryin 2013.

Historical Postcards & Trunk Decals

If you missed earlier My Journey of States posts, please click on a link:
1-Kansas   13. New Jersey 25. Michigan
2-Oklahoma   14. Delaware 26. Wisconsin
3-Texas     15. New York   27. Minnesota
4-Louisiana     16. Connecticut 28. Iowa
5-Missouri 17. Colorado 29. Hawaii
6-Illinois 18. Arkansas 30. Georgia
7-Indiana   19. California
8-Ohio 20. Florida
9-Pennsylvania   21. Mississippi
10-West VA   22. New Mexico
11-Maryland 23. Tennessee
12. Virginia   24. Arizona

NEXT TIME: My Book World, White Rage by C. Anderson

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A Writer's Wit

11/27/2018

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I have let half-decades elapse between books because books have to be written and writing is awful, but if you are the type of person who makes things, there is no profit in worrying about how or why or when the next project will come into being beyond simply acknowledging that it is inevitable that it will be very soon.
David Rakoff
Born on November 27, 1964

D. Rakoff

NEXT TIME: My Journey of States-31 South Carolina

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Rage Exposed and Set Free

11/24/2018

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A WRITER'S WIT
It is the nature of the strong heart, that like the palm tree it strives ever upwards when it is most burdened.
Sir Philip Sidney
Born November 30, 1554

P. Sidney

My Book World

Anderson, Carol. White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of
Our Racial Divide. New York: Bloomsbury, 2016.

Unspoken indeed. Professor Anderson takes readers through the long yet decisive history of White Rage. It is a history that has lain directly beneath the noses of all Americans but one that has been covered up, ignored, or outright distorted, as well. Anderson revives for readers the five primary events in US history which incite and keep alive White Rage.

First, following the Civil War, former Confederates refuse actually to take Reconstruction seriously, and the North ignores the South’s refusal. Two, as a direct result of this action, freed African-Americans migrate north, only to find they are no more welcome there than they have been in the South. In places, rejection is even more hostile, more vitriolic. Three, White Rage is incited with the Brown vs. Topekadecision to integrate American schools, and at least two decades are spent in fighting or rolling back provisions of this decision—making most school districts as segregated as they ever were. Four, the author delineates how Ronald Reagan’s white-rage leadership reverses, insidiously, the Civil Rights gains of the 1960s and 1970s. And last, Anderson reiterates what contemporary readers have witnessed for themselves, how the election of an African-American president, Barack Obama, once again incites White Rage, a backlash that results in the questionable election of Donald Trump.

Anderson’s book reinforces the recent writings of other black authors, Ta-Nehisi Coates, for one. She doesn’t mention reparations, but my thinking is that our country will never be at rest, can never truly hold its head up among nations until it has, in more than a symbolic manner, attempted to make reparations to the descendants of slavery. It won’t be difficult to determine who qualifies. The government will be able to use the same visible trait it used to discriminate, and that is the color of one’s skin. Anyone with African-American lineage should qualify for funding for free education, help with daily living expenses until one is independent. Not only that, but the trillions of dollars that were accrued by this nation during slavery off the backs of black men and women, should be multiplied to, in some manner, make it up to our dark-skinned brethren. Their ancestors were captured on their native soil, mauled, maligned—treated more harshly than work animals—and the surviving generations of victims of White Rage deserve recompense. The one percent will have to pay their fair share to ensure that this happens, along with the rest of us, but it must be done. And it must be done with an amount of good will and love. The fires of White Rage must be quelled forever. Only then can we heal.

NEXT TIME: My Journey of States-32 North Carolina

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The Two Real Lolitas

11/23/2018

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A WRITER'S WIT
Many writers are afraid of writing something bad, so they don't try or give up when their efforts don't lead to a masterpiece right away. If you work at it, you will improve.
Lauren Tarshis
Born November 23, 1963

My Book World

Weinman, Sarah. The Real Lolita: The
Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel
That Scandalized the World. New York:
HarperCollins, 2018.

Weinman takes two narratives—one, the actual kidnapping case of Sally Horner, in 1948, and two, author Vladimir Nabokov’s shaping of his 1950 novel, Lolita—and weaves them into a single, seamless story. About halfway through the Weinman’s book, Sally Horner is rescued by the FBI and returned to her mother. Two years later, Sally dies, at fifteen, in a car accident, and I wonder, In what direction could the author possibly now take this book?

All along, Weinman has woven the saga of how Nabokov writes Lolita with the story of Sally Horner, providing textual proof by way of his notecards and other documents that Nabokov was indeed influenced by Horner’s story. To what degree foments a debate between Nabokov and the literati that Weinman covers extensively. She also develops the idea that Nabokov has long been fascinated by the narrative of pedophiles and the children to whom they are attracted; in Lolita he finally produces the right combination of elements, one of which is the deployment of an unreliable narrator to steer the reader away from what a sinister crime he is actually participating in. Weinman skillfully stitches together these two narratives and provides a long, relaxed denouement tying up all the loose ends: relatives affected by Sally’s premature death, the imprisonment of her captor, a discussion of the abuse of young girls and women, and more.

Because of her unrelenting research and attention paid to detail, Weinman provides a satisfying read combining the genre of true crime with serious literary discussion of Nabokov’s novel. It is one of the few books I’ve read this year that I have not been able to put down once started. It’s that good.

NEXT TIME: My Journey of States-31 South Carolina

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A Writer's Wit

11/22/2018

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Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.
André Gide
Born November 22,1869

A. Gide

NEXT TIME: My Book World, The Real Lolita

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My Journey of States-30 Georgia

11/21/2018

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A WRITER'S WIT
When it comes to memoir, we want to catch the author in a lie. When we read fiction, we want to catch the author telling the truth.
Tayari Jones
Born November 30, 1970
Atlanta, Georgia

T. Jones

MY JOURNEY OF STATES is a series in which I relate my sixty-year quest to visit all fifty states in the U.S. In each post I tell of my relationship to that state, whether brief or long, highlighting personal events. I include the year of each state's entry into the union and related celebrations. I hope you enjoy my journey as much as I have. This is the thirtieth post of fifty.

Georgia (1990, 1991, 1992, 1994)

The first trip of four that Ken and I made to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, we flew into Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta airport was touted as being one of the world’s busiest, and I had no argument with anyone about that, as we busted our rears to get to our gate. Our fourth trip we motored from Texas and drove through a bustling Atlanta, a city I would like to see more of. I would like to visit Savanah. I would like to see where author Flannery O’Connor lived. I would like to see free and fair elections in Georgia before my life ends. That's when I may return to Georgia.

Georgia is fourth of the original thirteen colonies and celebrated its bicenquinquagenary in 2013.

Historical Postcards

If you missed earlier My Journey of States posts, please click on a link:
1-Kansas   13. New Jersey 25. Michigan
2-Oklahoma   14. Delaware 26. Wisconsin
3-Texas     15. New York   27. Minnesota
4-Louisiana     16. Connecticut 28. Iowa
5-Missouri 17. Colorado 29. Hawaii
6-Illinois 18. Arkansas
7-Indiana   19. California
8-Ohio 20. Florida
9-Pennsylvania   21. Mississippi
10-West VA   22. New Mexico
11-Maryland 23. Tennessee
12. Virginia   24. Arizona

NEXT TIME: My Book World, The Real Lolita

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A Writer's wit

11/20/2018

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Nothing on earth can make up for the loss of one who has loved you.
Selma Lagerlöf
Born on November 20, 1858

S. Lagerlöf

NEXT TIME: My Journey of States-30 Georgia

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A Writer's Wit

11/15/2018

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It is my belief that I have informed myself of nearly all works of art in the known world . . . . I have heard most of the music of the world, and seen nearly all the paintings.
Sacheverell Sitwell
Born on November 15, 1897

S. Sitwell

NEXT TIME: My Journey of States-30 Georgia

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My Journey of States-29 Hawaii

11/14/2018

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A WRITER'S WIT
Behold not with anger the sins of man, but forgive and cleanse.
Lili’uokalani
Born September 2, 1838 Honolulu
Died November 11, 1917 Honolulu

Queen Lili'uokalani

MY JOURNEY OF STATES is a series in which I relate my sixty-year quest to visit all fifty states in the U.S. In each post I tell of my relationship to that state, whether brief or long, highlighting personal events. I include the year of each state's entry into the union and related celebrations. I hope you enjoy my journey as much as I have. This is the twenty-ninth post of fifty.

Hawaii (1977, 1996)

I first visited Hawaii in 1977, my most momentous journey since I’d begun teaching in 1974, the ten-day vacation being the first I’d ever spent alone. I borrowed $750 from the credit union, and I figured I would do a lot of sightseeing and reading at the beach. On the third day, however, I met a number of young men at a bar, Hula’s, and we palled around for the remainder of the trip.

The second time, in 1996, Ken and I celebrated our twentieth year together by taking a cruise among the islands. The now defunct cruise line had purchased the SS Independence and SS Constitution. The Independence held about six hundred passengers, a crew of three hundred. It may have been the most carefree trip we’d ever taken in our lives. Once aboard the ship, you had few worries, few decisions to make. You could stay on board during all the stops, or you could take excursions. At the end of both trips, I felt as if I never wanted to go home. I imagine that many visitors and residents never want to leave, as well.

Hawaii became the fiftieth state in 1959, when I was eleven years old.

Historical Postcard

If you missed earlier My Journey of States posts, please click on a link:
1-Kansas   13. New Jersey 25. Michigan
2-Oklahoma   14. Delaware 26. Wisconsin
3-Texas     15. New York   27. Minnesota
4-Louisiana     16. Connecticut 28. Iowa
5-Missouri 17. Colorado
6-Illinois 18. Arkansas
7-Indiana   19. California
8-Ohio 20. Florida
9-Pennsylvania   21. Mississippi
10-West VA   22. New Mexico
11-Maryland 23. Tennessee
12. Virginia   24. Arizona

NEXT TIME: My Journey of States-30 Georgia

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A Writer's Wit

11/13/2018

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Society has a hyper emphasis on thin, and that trend comes from the consumers—it does not come from the fashion industry. The fashion industry needs to make money; that's what we do. If people said, “We want a 300 pound purple person,” the first industry to do it would be fashion.
Kelly Cutrone
Born on November 13, 1965

K. Cutrone

NEXT TIME: My Journey of States-29 Hawaii

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How Editors Work

11/9/2018

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A WRITER'S WIT
Thinking it was easy to take a chance on things if you had nothing to lose—politics, ideas, almost anything in fact; from the bottom of the ladder you could safely risk a fall, but the higher that you climbed the more cautious you must be.
Martin Flavin
Born November 2, 1883

M. Flavin

My Book World

Ginna, Peter, ed. What Editors Do: The Art,
Craft, and Business of Book Editing.
Chicago: U of Chicago, 2017.

Ginna has amassed a large number of essays by editors and agents, or those who used to be one or the other. He organizes their pieces around broad topics such as acquisition, editing process, and publication. But he also includes a section concerning memoir and one about careers in publishing. Writers have heard ad infinitum what editors want when they attend workshops, but somehow, when one is suddenly on the other side of the desk peering through the eyes of those editors one begins to understand. One begins to change how one might structure one’s book or write a book proposal. One suddenly sees what is important. One sees what editors do not want to see. I found three essays to be particularly helpful to me, but I imagine that each reader of this book may find others more attractive precisely because they have different priorities than I do.

1. “The Other Side of the Desk: What I learned about Editing
   When I Became a Literary Agent,” by Susan Rabiner.

“It’s the value added by the author to what is essentially a set of facts, stories, and commentary in search of a larger meaning. To conceptualize is to link these facts, stories, and commentary to a compelling point. A successful book proposal offers to take the reader on a journey. It may be one he has taken, in some form, many times before. An author’s concept for the book is her promise [is] that with the benefit of new research, new stories, new insights, and her authorial guiding vision, the reader will see new things on the journey and arrive at a new destination—and even, at the end, be changed by the experience” (77).

2. “The Half-Open Door: Independent Publishing and
   Community,” by Jeff Shotts.

“There is now, as a result, a vast commercial enterprise around book publishing, where annual profits are valued above cultural currency, books are spoken of in terms of ‘units,’ and readers are sorted by algorithm into categories by which they can be told with increasing accuracy just what it is they want. Commercial values have conflated quantity with quality, and commercial publishers are forced to create the appearance of quality, if there is none, in service of quantity. High advances and movie deals make the news, as do celebrity authors and their book parties and television appearances” (142).

3. “Marginalia: On Editing General Nonfiction,” by Matt
Weiland.

“I also remind the reader that clarity is king. ‘There is nothing that requires more precision, and purity of express, than to write in a familiar style,’ as the great English essayist William Hazlitt put it nearly two hundred years ago. ‘To write as anyone would speak in common conversation who had a thorough command and choice of words, or who could discourse with ease, force,and perspicuity. . .’ To me these are the cardinal virtues of strong, convincing English prose. (Hazlitt’s last term, meaning ‘clarity,’ is now, alas, an antique word)” (173).

These essays are ones that I shall refer to again and again as I attempt to maintain a writing and a publishing life. Perhaps the reader might like them, as well.

NEXT TIME: My Journey of States-29 Hawaii

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A Writer's Wit

11/8/2018

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Why do people talk of the horrors of old age? It's great. I feel like a fine old car with the parts gradually wearing out, but I'm not complaining . . . . Those who find growing old terrible are people who haven't done what they wanted with their lives.
Martha Gellhorn
Born on November 8, 1908

M. Gellhorn

NEXT TIME: My Book World, What Editors Do by Peter Ginna

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My Journey of States-28 Iowa

11/7/2018

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R. Wallace

A WRITER'S WIT
Snow Joke
So now I remember why I like the snow:
after a winter of over one hundred inches
(a record, at least) that threatens to make us go
crazy (or to Florida) with the cranes and finches
and herons and swans and all the rest of those
summer visitors— enters all, no long-term
leases here, no home-owners, no rash purchases
over budget, no mortgages or sub-prime loans--
snow remains the best excuse for sloth,
for staying warm inside and hunkering down,
ambition and commitment heading south.
Spring! The sun and every flower's a clown
noodgying us back to life: Get to work!
On every tree a bud, a leaf, a smirk.
Ronald Wallace
Born Cedar Rapids, Iowa 1945

MY JOURNEY OF STATES is a series in which I relate my sixty-year quest to visit all fifty states in the U.S. In each post I tell of my relationship to that state, whether brief or long, highlighting personal events. I include the year of each state's entry into the union and related celebrations. I hope you enjoy my journey as much as I have. This is the twenty-eighth post of fifty.

Iowa (1976, 2000, 2001)

My more memorable trips to Iowa came in the summers of 2000 and 2001, when I attended the Iowa Summer Writing Festival at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. For me those two sessions provided a resuscitation of my writing career. I was in my early fifties, and I felt if I were going to make anything of myself I needed to take the skills I’d acquired in my thirties and hone them further. Exposing my work to many who were younger than myself, I workshopped short stories in both classes and made great connections. Both instructors were fairly recent graduates of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and provided me with meaningful feedback on my writing.

I drove the first time, and I recall the verdant, rolling hills of Iowa farmland, such a contrast to the flat, sometimes desolate landscape of West Texas. In Iowa City, I lodged at a hotel on the edge of the IU campus. I was impressed with the pedestrian mall, where one could purchase almost anything, impressed with a triplex theater, where, one night, I postponed my required reading of manuscripts by attending a showing of The Golden Bowl, a film based on Henry James’s novel, screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. I didn’t regret it.

Iowa became the twenty-ninth state in 1846. It celebrated its sesquicentennial in 1996.

Historical Postcards

If you missed earlier My Journey of States posts, please click on a link:
1-Kansas   13. New Jersey 25. Michigan
2-Oklahoma   14. Delaware 26. Wisconsin
3-Texas     15. New York 27. Minnesota
4-Louisiana     16. Connecticut
5-Missouri 17. Colorado
6-Illinois 18. Arkansas
7-Indiana   19. California
8-Ohio 20. Florida
9-Pennsylvania   21. Mississippi
10-West VA   22. New Mexico
11-Maryland 23. Tennessee
12. Virginia   24. Arizona

NEXT TIME: My Book World, What Editors Do by Peter Ginna

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A Writer's Wit

11/6/2018

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Progress would be wonderful—if only it would stop.
Robert Musil
Born on November 6, 1880

R. Musil

NEXT TIME: My Journey of States-28 Iowa

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A Writer's Wit

11/1/2018

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These stupid peasants, who, throughout the world, hold potentates on their thrones, make statesmen illustrious, provide generals with lasting victories, all with ignorance, indifference, or half-witted hatred, moving the world with the strength of their arms, and getting their heads knocked together in the name of God, the king, or the stock exchange-immortal, dreaming, hopeless asses, who surrender their reason to the care of a shining puppet, and persuade some toy to carry their lives in his purse.
Stephen Crane
Born November 1, 1871

S. Crane

NEXT TIME: My Journey of States-28 Iowa

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A Writer's wit

My Journey of States-31 South Carolina

South Carolina (1990-1992, 1994)

Historical Postcards & Trunk Decals

A Writer's Wit

Rage Exposed and Set Free

My Book World

The Two Real Lolitas

My Book World

A Writer's Wit

My Journey of States-30 Georgia

Georgia (1990, 1991, 1992, 1994)

Historical Postcards

A Writer's wit

A Writer's Wit

My Journey of States-29 Hawaii

Hawaii (1977, 1996)

Historical Postcard

A Writer's Wit

How Editors Work

My Book World

A Writer's Wit

My Journey of States-28 Iowa

Iowa (1976, 2000, 2001)

Historical Postcards

A Writer's Wit

A Writer's Wit

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