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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Finalist, Oregon Book Award

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Playwright Debra Neff Nathans

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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.

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Write Of Way
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scribble, scribble, scribble
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The official blog of science fiction / horror author Terence West.

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

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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."

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

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The Writing Life
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It Beats Working 9-5
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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)

 
Friday, March 14, 2003  
On second thought ...
Naturally I am beginning to see more to fix in the script than I thought at first ... but mostly it is character stuff, and cranking stuff up, rather than redesigning the strategy of the story, all of which is pretty easy to fix in a screenplay, though they will be more complicated to address in the novel. It is still an exceptionally clean draft, at least for me.

Felt great to get a full day of (re)writing in, especially with that tall stack of student scripts waiting for me. I got enough done today to get me through the long weekend of reading (and, when I'm not reading, watching basketball).

Got a phone call this morning from the oldest son of my best body, who died a few years ago. I've graduated from being an unofficial uncle (I've known the two boys since they were toddlers, and the oldest is now in his 40s) to a kind of surrogate dad. We made a bet on the UCLA-Oregon game, as we always do (he got his BA at Oregon), and I took UCLA (our traditional bet). Since he owes me five bucks from an earlier bet, it was double or nothing. Brad's doing great, keeping his father's small mortgage business alive, raising a great family, expressing his considerable blues harmonica talents in a band. His brother, unfortunately, is not doing too well and is back in jail on a parole violation -- drug problem. Dick felt a lot of guilt about the younger son, what did he do wrong etc, and he died before any of this came close to being resolved. I don't know if the younger son will ever get it together.

I make a trip to northern Idaho every summer, to visit the older son in Moscow and to visit Dick's mom in Orofino, who is very much alive and kicking. This summer won't be an exception ... we'll likely make a short camping trip of it.

3/14/2003 03:12:00 PM | 0 comments

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