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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"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).

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Frustrated Writer
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scribble, scribble, scribble
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The Unofficial Dave Barry Blog
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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."

A Writer's Diary
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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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Hebrew modern literature at its best, by Corinna Hasofferett.

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Writer's Blog.
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The Writing Life
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It Beats Working 9-5
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Stealing Heaven From The Lips Of God
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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)

 
Saturday, April 02, 2005  
Patience
Sometimes it's hard for me to move back from a project just finished -- like the mystery now. I keep wanting to reread it, fine tune, change a word or phrase here, find yet another typo (it's almost magical how they appear after you thought they were all gone). I need to step back from it, let the five readers (2 colleagues, 2 friends, 1 agent) now read it and see what they have to say.

Fortunately, I have the road story to return to -- and once I am back into it, it will be easy enough to forget the mystery. Fickle, fickle. Maybe today. This is why I've always liked working on more than one project at a time, to distract myself from fretting. I'm a perfectionist, I guess. Until I get wrapped up in something else, until I switch my primary creative allegiance. So I hope to do some writing on the road story today. I also hope to finish reviewing four books this weekend, wanting to start Monday with a clean slate, more or less. I am still hopelessly behind on the musical I'm supposed to be doing. This one is like the proverbial albatross.

I think I'll go with the agent who wants to rep me. I can't reject her enthusiasm and her kind words about my work. If it doesn't work out, all I've lost is a little time. And if it does work out, well, I can be one very loyal client, remembering how she found me, not the other way around. This is the first time an agent ever came to me, saying they want to rep me, rather than me going to them, asking if they'd rep me. This strikes me as a difference I can't ignore. And I'm overdue for a good working relationship with an agent again.

Only my morning is free. This afternoon I have to go to a "remembrance," a funeral of sorts, and this evening we have dinner and a concert. I'll miss the basketball semis (men's) but TiVo will tape them. I have prep work to do before Thursday's class -- I'm fine for Tuesday.

It feels like a good time in my career right now. "Retiring" as a playwright was a very wise decision a few years back. I am in the "novelist" time of my life, and writing the mystery was actually a blast, more fun than I expected, and I can see myself doing that, especially if the project gets the green light -- it won't be a chore, as writing more or less for money sometimes can be. As I tell my students, writers are faced with two worlds, the world of commerce and the world of art, and sometimes there is crossover and sometimes not. I spent a lot of time in the world of commerce as a journalist, too much in fact, I abandoned it to write in the world of art, which is much more satisfying to me. What I most like about the agent who wrote me is that she made the offer after being exposed primarily to my literary writing, not my commercial writing. Her reaction when I told her about the mystery I'd just finished was, "What wonderful timing." I very well can see the remainder of my career led by the mystery series, continuing the literary work on the side. And, of course, I also have the opera librettos, which give me a great deal of satisfaction since I'm working with such a talented composer. This might actually be the most important writing I'm doing now, stuff for John to work with.

Let's see if I can get back into the road story today. Onward.

4/02/2005 05:40:00 AM | 0 comments

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