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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Electronic screenwriting tutorial

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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.

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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)

 
Monday, October 16, 2006  
Sleep
I seem to sleep in four-hour cycles. Having crashed early, I was near the end of one when rain pounding the roof woke me. Got up and did some teacherly things, now ready to return. Monday and Tuesday morning look like clear days for me, not much more to attend to in my teaching hat. Wednesday is always my big day for reading student work.

Still amazed at the talent at auditions yesterday. 20 year-olds too often get a bad press. I admire the hell out of young artists of any discipline who take their art seriously. It's so easy to "talk" being an artist, so much harder to do something about it. As a writing teacher, other than my day-to-day stuff in the classroom and university environment, I love those opportunities when I can boot a talented young writer in the butt and propel them in a direction in which they start taking themselves seriously. The good ones are always better than they think but often not as disciplined as they should be. Many just give up. Discipline, nurturing one's own talent, is hard work that requires patience and dedication. When I see this happening, I can be a great rooting section and now and again maybe help a writer avoid a pitfall. It's part of giving back.

10/16/2006 03:04:00 AM | 2 comments

Comments:
Looking for a class- a teacher- Your quote from Salinger stopped me and your message kept me here.
Was reading "The Laughing Man" in NINE STORIES this weekend. Throughout the story it seemed Salinger was telling more than showing. . . but, then again, he wasn't and I loved how he did it. . . kept making mental notes-- how he said, "I gave the boy sitting on my right a poke in the ribs with my elbow. . ." where I would have written, "I elbowed the boy on my right." His word poke comes along with a motion-- the visual flash and feel of ribs being poked. I realized how badly I need a teacher. . . and then I found you.
Am downloading Screenwright and see you have a class starting in January but my head is jammed so full of stories and ideas and dialogue that I can't shop for groceries for all of the clatter going on in there- my five children are starving and I haven't had ear wax in six months. January may as well be next year and by then my condition may have deteriorated to the point where I haven't a brain left. Who knows about the kids. Very much need a talented teacher with a good solid steel-toed boot to correct my Discipline Deficiency Disease. Don't have access to that where I am on the backside of the Tetons. Am a writer by nature-- not one to ask for help and know curiosity killed the cat but I am not a cat so. . .
Do you have a class starting sooner? My teenage daughters are texting me out of a bank account and now must write for a roof and heat (not worried about food because I can't shop anyway.)

Am not a blogger and don't know much about how this works- but am realizing if I tell you about me I also tell the world. . .
Hi, World.

Advice?

Respectfully,

J.
 
No, my next online class is Jan. not before. However, if you are self-motivated and have SCREENWRIGHT, it is designed as a course and you can take it on your own. Then later, if you choose, you can take the formal class to get feedback from me.

You might also check other online classes which may have a better start date for you. Some are listed at www.writers.com
 
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