The Writing Life: reflections by a working writer.

The Writing Life: reflections by a working writer. The Writing Life

Reflections of a working writer, a university screenwriting professor, and the editor of Oregon Literary Review.

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Charles Deemer

Editor,
Oregon Literary Review

MFA, Playwriting, University of Oregon

Writing faculty, Portland State University (part-time)

Retired playwright and screenwriter.
Active novelist, librettist and teacher.

Email: cdeemer(at)yahoo(dot)com

The eagle flies!

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Literary archive

The Sextant Press

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Electronic screenwriting tutorial

References

Bookstore
Highlights:

Finalist, Oregon Book Award

Practical Screenwriting

Love At Ground Zero

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Blogs by (mostly) creative writers:

"Can We Talk About Me For A Change?"
Playwright Debra Neff Nathans

Inkygirl
Debbie Ridpath Ohi, a weblog for writers (resources)

Silliman's Blog
Ron Silliman, contemporary poetry and poetics

Maud Newton
literary links, amusements, politics, rants

Darren Barefoot
Technical and creative writing, theatre, Dublin

Rob's Writing Pains
Journey of a struggling writer.

Mad, Mad World
Cara Swann, fiction writer, journalist, "reflections on humanity, random news & my life."

Writeright
Random musings on a writer's life and times.

Flaskaland
Barbara Flaska's compilation of the best online articles about music and culture.

Write Of Way
Samantha Blackmon's written musings on writing (composition and rhetoric).

Alexander b. Craghead: blog
Writing, photography, and watercolors.

Rodney's Painted Pen
Rodney Bohen's daily commentary "on the wondrous two legged beast we fondly refer to as mankind." His pen runneth over.

Frustrated Writer
This one named Nicole.

scribble, scribble, scribble
Journalist Dale Keiger teaches nonfiction scribbling to undergraduate and graduate students at Johns Hopkins University.

The Unofficial Dave Barry Blog
The very one.

The Hive
The official blog of science fiction / horror author Terence West.

William Gibson Blog
Famed author of Neuromancer and Johnny Mnemonic: The Screenplay.

The Word Foundry
Joe Clifford Faust's "blog of a working writer: tracking writing projects, musings on the creative process, occasional side trips into music, media, politics, religion, etc."

A Writer's Diary
By Cynthia Harrison, who has the good sense to quote Virginia Woolf: "The truth is that writing is the profound pleasure and being read the superficial."

Bow. James Bow.
The journal of James Bow and his writing.

Ravenlike
Michael Montoure's weblog about writing, primarily horror and speculative fiction.

Globemix
By David Henry, "a poet's weblog from Aberdeen, Scotland."

Modem Noise
By Adrian Bedford, a "fledgling Pro SF Writer, living in Perth, Australia."

boynton
"A wry writerly blog named in honour of a minor character in a minor Shirley Temple film."

Real Writers Bounce
Holly Lisle's blog, "a novelist's roadmap through the art and ordeal of finding the damned words."

2020 Hindsight
By Susan.

downWrite creative
Phil Houtz's notes on the writing life.

Vivid: pieces from a writer's notebook
Blog of Canadian poet Erin Noteboom.

The Literary Saloon
The literary weblog at the complete review.

Rabbit Blog
The rabbit writes on popular culture.

This Girl's Calendar
Momoka writes short stories.

Twists & Turns
Musings by writer Michael Gates.

Plays and Musicals -- A Writer's Introspective
A blog by John D. Nugent - Composer, Playwright, and Artistic Director of the Johnson City Independent Theatre Company

The American Sentimentalist
"Never has any people endured its own tragedy with so little sense of the tragic." Essays by Mark W. Anderson.

Screenwriting By Blog
David C. Daniel writes a screenplay online. "I've decided to publish the process as a way to push myself through it. From concept to completion, it'll be here."

SeanAlonzo.com
Official site of occult fiction author Sean-Alonzo, exploring symbolism, alternative history, philosophy, secret societies and other areas of the esoteric tradition.

Crafty Screenwriting
Maunderings of Alex Epstein, tv scribe, about life, politics, and the tv show I'm co-creating.

Letters From The Home Front
The life of a writer, 21, home schooled, rural living.

Venal Scene
The blog of bite-sized plays inspired by the news (by Dan Trujillo).

'Plaint of the Playwright
Rob Matsushita, a playwright from Wisconsin, "whines a lot."

I Pity Da Fool!
Glenn's adventures in screenwriting.

Time In Tel-Aviv
Hebrew modern literature at its best, by Corinna Hasofferett.

Big Window
Robin Reagler's poetry blog.

John Baker's Blog
Author of the Sam Turner and Stone Lewis novels.

The Writing Life With Dorothy Thompson
What goes on during a writer's busy day?

The Rebel Housewife
Not just a housewife!

Barry's Personal Blog
A running commentary on writing and the writing life.

Bonnie Blog
Maintained by Bonnie Burton of grrl.com.

Writer's Blog.
By easywriter. "From the walls of caves to cyberspace."

Flogging the Quill
Pursuing the art and craft of compelling storytelling, by an editor, Ray Rhamey.

Man Bytes Hollywood
Sharing tools, strategies and resources for the screenwriter's journey.

Mad for the smell of paper
A writing journal.

The Writing Life
A blog by Katey Schultz.

It Beats Working 9-5
A screenwriting blog by a young Canadian screenwriter.

Stealing Heaven From The Lips Of God
Writer & Artist, Dee Rimbaud reflects upon politics, religion, art, poetry, the meaning of life, the nature of God and why toast always lands butter side down on carpets.

Robert Peake
Heart and Mind, Fully Engage ... a poet's website.

Sidestepping Real
By Ren Powell, poet, children’s writer, essayist and editor.

Suggest a writer's blog

The Writing Life...

"An artist's only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else's."
J.D. Salinger

"All my best friends are writers and are dead."
A friend over beer, Berkeley, winter, 1959

"And it came to pass that all the stars in the firmament had ceased to shine. But how was anyone to know?"
The Half-Life Conspiracy

After October 31, 2006,
new posts are published at

The Writing Life II

(Posts archived here are from 01/10/03 - 10/31/06)

Monday, January 27, 2003

Writing and teaching
Many writers teach writing. Writers with a literary (as opposed to commercial) bent are particularly drawn to this source of income, which has advantages and disadvantages. A good many poets, for example, end up in University writing departments.

I never really set out to teach writing. Through much of my career, my primary income came from journalism, for a while as a staff writer or editor, for a while as a freelance writer, surely the hardest, most stressful work a writer can do. Now and again I might dabble in teaching by doing a workshop at a writer's conference but that was about it.

With the Internet, I started teaching writing online -- I believe I was one of the first writers to start teaching online, beginning in the mid-1990s. I liked, and still like, the flexibility of teaching online and the maturity of the typical online student, who often has another career and is branching out into writing. From the start I preferred teaching screenwriting to other forms in which I write, such as playwriting and fiction writing. This is because I consider screenwriting the "most teachable" of the narrative forms because of its heavy reliance on storytelling skills, i.e. dramatic structure. Screenwriting is more "left brained" than other forms of writing.

Shortly after I began teaching screenwriting online, Portland State University expanded its graduate writing department to offer a new Masters degree in professional writing with a variety of concentrations, one of which was screenwriting. They started looking around for a qualified screenwriting teacher, and a faculty member familiar with my online website for screenwriters suggested me. I was asked if I would be interested, said sure, and got hired. It's been a dream teaching job ever since.

It's a dream for several reasons. I get to pick my hours, which means I can leave my mornings free for my own writing. It's a popular class, always full with a waiting list, which gives me some job security in a state in which education is in crisis (though I was wondering if I'd get a contract this year, and now wonder if I'll get one next). I have a wonderful on-campus office. I am well paid. I'm a happy camper at the University.

So I teach one class at the University and one workshop online, each fall, winter and spring term. I usually don't teach during the summer, though summer of 2003 I am. I make about half my income teaching now and about half from royalties of past work and very little from new work. My new work is literary with little commercial appeal, and I'm happy because I only write what I want to write.

Teaching in a University classroom and online are very different experiences. Interestingly enough, I typically feel like I know my online students better. This is because I deal with them more on a one-on-one basis, via email. There are exceptions. At the University I often continue working with a few of my better students (usually graduate students) with writing-and-conference sessions, as I mentor them into writing careers. This is the most satisfying teaching I do.

I need a few good writers each term to keep teaching interesting. This usually happens. However, a term last year was so bad I just about retired. Who needs this? I thought. My students were lazy and not very motivated, and I couldn't seem to do anything to inspire them. Who needs this? I had the summer to think about retiring, decided to try one more term -- and it ended up being one of the better terms I've had. So here I am, still teaching. Since I can retire any time now, I go contract to contract, and as soon as teaching stops being fun, I'll stop.

Teaching doesn't interfere with my own work. I wouldn't do it if it did. As a working writer, I think I have things to offer students that more academically focused writing teachers cannot offer, and I always try to teach in an environment that is aware of the realities of the writing world, particularly in screenwriting, which is not a writer-friendly world. I try to prepare screenwriters for reality.

Now and again a student has a difficult time with my teaching style because my feedback tends to be blunt. Part of this has to do with my nature and part with my goal of preparing writers for the real world. On the other end of the spectrum, I can be very energetic in my praise when I see work I think is first rate. Screenwriting is a very odd form of writing that many otherwise "good writers" don't take to naturally, and these students often have a hard time. They are used to being praised for their language skills, and it takes a while for them to understand that storytelling skills are more important in screenwriting.

This year of teaching has started out well. Had great fall classes and the winter classes look great as well. As I said, I'll keep doing this for as long as it's fun.

1/27/2003 06:11:00 AM | 0 comments

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Sketch says, "Happiness is sunshine and a bone."

__The Writing Life

After October 31, 2006, new posts are published at

The Writing Life II

After October 31, 2006,
new posts are published at