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!

Links:

Literary archive

The Sextant Press

Personal home page

Electronic screenwriting tutorial

References

Bookstore
Highlights:

Finalist, Oregon Book Award

Practical Screenwriting

Love At Ground Zero

More books.

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)

Wednesday, February 04, 2004

Press release: Wayne Morse play
AMERICAN GADFLY: THE STORY OF WAYNE MORSE
A Play by Charles Deemer, Starring Claude Offenbacher,
Directed by Judith "Sparky" Roberts

Lane Community College Performance Hall
February 22, 2004 - Two Shows: 2:30 pm and 7:30 pm,
followed by a panel discussion moderated by
Caroline Forell of the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics,
University of Oregon Law School

Requested donation at the Door: $5-10
Proceeds from will go toward a Wayne Morse Free Speech scholarship.

Lane Community College students will be admitted free with an advance
ticket from the Student Government office, Building 1.
The first 75 University of Oregon students will be admitted Free at
each performance.
***
The Premier production of the one-man play, “American Gadfly: The Story
of Wayne Morse” will be presented, appropriately, in Morse’s home town
of Eugene. Eugene's Federal Building is soon to be named for Wayne
Morse , with a Free Speech Plaza and Morse statue.

After each 40-minute show, a panel of speakers, both pro and con, will
reflect upon the controversial Senator, his career and his ideas.
Support for this program comes from: Lane Community College, The Wayne
Morse Center at U of O, Concerned Faculty for Peace and Justice, and
The Wayne Morse Historical Park Society.

Morse strongly wished for people to be educated. He believed that an
educated citizenry was critical to the defense of liberty.

The producers hope to take the play to campuses and civic groups
state-wide. A contribution may be made through the Lane College
Foundation, toward furthering a tour, or towards a new Wayne Morse
scholarship.

The début performance will be dedicated to the memory of George
Alvergue, recently deceased, a Political Science teacher who also
served on the Board of Directors of both Lane Community College and the
Wayne Morse Historical Society.

Contacts:
Steve Candee (campus advisor)- Tel: 541-463-5188
Laura Olson (information) - Tel: 541-896-3298
Caroline Forell (project advisor) - Tel:
346-3699
Judith Roberts (director) - Tel: 541-686-9781

From Playwright Charles Deemer

What attracted me to Wayne Morse is that he did not enter politics as a
career politician. He was drafted to run for office by Oregon
Republicans when he was Dean of the Law School at the University of
Oregon, the youngest such dean in the country. Thereafter, Oregonians
continued to elect him for a long time, even after he left the
Republicans and became an Independent and later a Democrat.

Morse never compromised his background as a constitutional lawyer,
which made him an important voice in international affairs - more
articulate in behalf of principles of international law than any in
Congress since - a voice especially missed in days like these when so
many crises in foreign affairs challenge us. Morse also spoke strongly
for labor and for education, other areas in trouble today.

But what is missed most is his political courage - he was a man who
stood on principles before party loyalty. He was a rare political bird,
a true maverick. He was just as Socrates described it, a man sent by
the gods to keep the State honest. We desperately need that kind of
gadfly today. Without someone playing this role with clarity and skill,
the government gets away with too much (as now).

http://www.ibiblio.org/cdeemer

From Director Judith “Sparky” Roberts

We live in an age of cynicism about Government. Senator Wayne Morse was
not a cynic - he felt his calling was to serve his country with courage
and integrity. There are still many Oregonians around who can tell you
a lot about Wayne Morse! Even outside of Oregon, all over the country,
Morse was “Everyone’s Senator” - a third senator for independent-minded
people.

Morse wanted to shake up the status quo, even if it meant being
unpopular. "The Tiger of the Senate" could be brassy, and he was often
mocked for his righteous anger. Though some in Congress called him
"unstable," he was actually well-grounded. Morse's home was a small
Oregon farm. As a lawyer, he did labor arbitration, and then
campaigned as a man of the people. He was a wise realist, whose views
were based in his knowledge of Constitutional law.

In Charles Deemer’s play, Morse speaks about big issues that haven’t
gone away, such as: preserving the country’s natural resources;
protecting civil rights; educating everybody in the country;
controlling the power to make war; and finding paths to peace.

Morse’s honest rhetoric is still enlightening, thought-provoking, and
relevant.

These are scary times. Frankly, I just wish everybody had even a
smidgen of Morse’s courageous clarity and his prescient overview, which
he articulated with passion. He was a thoughtful and fair man. He urged
Congress to get off its high horse and start thinking about the next
generation.

2/04/2004 07:08:00 PM | 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