A Writers Life - Gay Talese
By Gay Talese C 2005
Alfred A Knopf publisher
excerpts from pages 190-191 hardback
"On those rare occasions when what we did was newsworthy but was also embarrassing to us, we could count on collegial coverage within the media, even from our journalistic rivals and the least discriminate of the tabloid columnists......We were courtiers, wooers, ingratiating negotiators who traded on what we might provide those who dealt with us. We offered voice to the muted, clarification to the misunderstood, exoneration to the maligned. Potentially we were horn blowers for publicity hounds, trial balloonists for political opportunists, lamplighters for theatrical stars and other luminaries. We were invited to Broadway openings,banquets, and other galas. We became accustomed to having our telephone calls returned from important people, and being upgraded as airline passengers through our connections with their public-relations offices, and having our parking tickets fixed through the influence of reporter friends who covered the police department. Whatever we lacked in personal ethics and moral character we might rationalize by telling ourselves that we were the underpaid protectors of the public interest. We exposed greedy landlords, corrupt judges, winders on Wall Street.
'There was nothing more perishable than what we wrote. This bothered me when I first joined the newsroom. As a Catholic, I had been conditioned to think in terms of the hereafter. Once as I sat sweating over a story, fearing that I might miss a deadline, I heard a veteran reporter calling to me from across the room: "C'mon young man, be done with it! you're not writing for posterity, you know." I did not know.... "
5/24/08
ARE YOU STUCK WITH A GENRE ?
As a writer, are you stuck with a genre without meaning to be?
This morning I was thinking about how pleased I am to read obituaries in Publishers Weekly and learn that a particular writer was published in several genre, or moved between Journalism and Novels. Sometimes, but not always, this was accomplished in part by establishing separate identities and names of the plume to write behind. Sometimes the writer left one form of writing behind and never returned to it. Whatever the case, children's book authors have written grants, and grant writers have written novels, and novelists have written poetry and poets have written hard news, and tabloid journalists have written poems. But, I think, once you have arrived on the literary scene with a successful book project, it may be more difficult than ever to become more expansive in range. After all, the wealthiest writers are often not those who spent 10 or 20 years on THE BOOK, but the ones who develop a strong character or characters and take them through adventures book after book with a regular publishing schedule that allows maybe a year to go by between books.
Any experiences or opinions?
This morning I was thinking about how pleased I am to read obituaries in Publishers Weekly and learn that a particular writer was published in several genre, or moved between Journalism and Novels. Sometimes, but not always, this was accomplished in part by establishing separate identities and names of the plume to write behind. Sometimes the writer left one form of writing behind and never returned to it. Whatever the case, children's book authors have written grants, and grant writers have written novels, and novelists have written poetry and poets have written hard news, and tabloid journalists have written poems. But, I think, once you have arrived on the literary scene with a successful book project, it may be more difficult than ever to become more expansive in range. After all, the wealthiest writers are often not those who spent 10 or 20 years on THE BOOK, but the ones who develop a strong character or characters and take them through adventures book after book with a regular publishing schedule that allows maybe a year to go by between books.
Any experiences or opinions?
5/21/08
ALBERT EINSTEIN quote
"I have never belonged wholeheartedly to a country, a state, nor to a circle of friends, nor even to my own family." - Albert Einstein
5/19/08
CAN'T BUY ME LOVE by JONATHAN GOULD : CHRISTINE TRZYNA BOOK EXCERPTS
CAN'T BUY ME LOVE
The Beatles, Britain, and America
Harmony Books, New York Publisher
C Jonathan Gould 2007
Excerpts pages 323-326
"In his efforts to conform to this austerely autobiographical standard of "first-person music," however, Lennon came up against the very limitations that fiction was designed to overcome. Autobiographical writing places inordinate demands on the quality of a writer's experience. And while the cult of celebrity may be based on the person, that fame itself is an exaltation, exposing its beneficiaries to realms of experience and awareness of which ordinary people can only dream, the reality for John Lennon (no less than for other celebrities) had settled into something more mundane. John's increasingly insular existence in Weybridge did not abound in the sort of rich, evocative experiences that cried out to be turned into song. Nor was his nature especially introspective. Since childhood he had masked his sensitivities from himself and others behind an aggressive front, projecting the force of his personality ever outwards onto an appreciative audience that began with his friends and fellow Beatles and had no grown to include his fans, the press, and the public..... Until he took acid that is.....His own ethic of professionalism was such that he never considered performing or recording while under the influence of the drug....
'The first sign of the metamorphosis that was under way in the Beatles' music came on the group's first single of 1966, "Paperback Writer"..... Paul McCartney's "Paperback Writer," was a satire of pop ambition in the style of "Drive My Car," set like its predecessor in a musical context of relentless simplicity...Like it's budding author-narrator, "Paperback Writer," tries to make the most of its meager resources by heaping an elaborate arrangement on its simple harmonic frame....The mangled reference to "a novel by a man named Lear" sounds like a dig at Lennon, whose own paperback writing had drawn comparisons with Edward Lear. But the butt of the joke rests firmly with McCartney himself. He, after all, was the one who wrote the query letters back in the days of the Quarry men and the Silver Beatles, soliciting work for the band in his most affected grammar-school prose. And the tight fit between the singer and his character helps to drain the condescension from the song. When Paul exclaims the words "Paperback Writer," at the end of every verse, he brings the starry-eyed reverence to this dubious occupational title that almost stands up to the punning counterpoint of "Pay-per-back-er" (sung to the tune of Frere Jacques) that John and George (Harrison) provide."
The Beatles, Britain, and America
Harmony Books, New York Publisher
C Jonathan Gould 2007
Excerpts pages 323-326
"In his efforts to conform to this austerely autobiographical standard of "first-person music," however, Lennon came up against the very limitations that fiction was designed to overcome. Autobiographical writing places inordinate demands on the quality of a writer's experience. And while the cult of celebrity may be based on the person, that fame itself is an exaltation, exposing its beneficiaries to realms of experience and awareness of which ordinary people can only dream, the reality for John Lennon (no less than for other celebrities) had settled into something more mundane. John's increasingly insular existence in Weybridge did not abound in the sort of rich, evocative experiences that cried out to be turned into song. Nor was his nature especially introspective. Since childhood he had masked his sensitivities from himself and others behind an aggressive front, projecting the force of his personality ever outwards onto an appreciative audience that began with his friends and fellow Beatles and had no grown to include his fans, the press, and the public..... Until he took acid that is.....His own ethic of professionalism was such that he never considered performing or recording while under the influence of the drug....
'The first sign of the metamorphosis that was under way in the Beatles' music came on the group's first single of 1966, "Paperback Writer"..... Paul McCartney's "Paperback Writer," was a satire of pop ambition in the style of "Drive My Car," set like its predecessor in a musical context of relentless simplicity...Like it's budding author-narrator, "Paperback Writer," tries to make the most of its meager resources by heaping an elaborate arrangement on its simple harmonic frame....The mangled reference to "a novel by a man named Lear" sounds like a dig at Lennon, whose own paperback writing had drawn comparisons with Edward Lear. But the butt of the joke rests firmly with McCartney himself. He, after all, was the one who wrote the query letters back in the days of the Quarry men and the Silver Beatles, soliciting work for the band in his most affected grammar-school prose. And the tight fit between the singer and his character helps to drain the condescension from the song. When Paul exclaims the words "Paperback Writer," at the end of every verse, he brings the starry-eyed reverence to this dubious occupational title that almost stands up to the punning counterpoint of "Pay-per-back-er" (sung to the tune of Frere Jacques) that John and George (Harrison) provide."
5/16/08
GAY TALESE - A WRITER'S LIFE
A Writers Life - Gay Talese
By Gay Taleses C 2005
Alfred A Knopf publisher
EXCERPT:
During the previous month my lovely wife and I had celebrated our fortieth wedding anniversary, and I hope I will not be perceived as unromantic if I suggest that this lengthy relationship has succeeded in part because we have regularly lived and worked apart - I am a researching writer of nonfiction who is often on the road, and she as an editor and publisher who through the years has carefully avoided affiliating herself with firms to which I am contractually connected. But when we are together under the same roof, sharing what I shall take the liberty of calling a harmonious and happy coexistence that began in the mid 1950's with a courtship kindled in a cold-water flat in Greenwhich Village and then moved uptown and expanded with children in a brownstone still owned and occupied by the two of us (two spry senior citizens determined not to die on a cruise ship), I must admit that I have frequently taken advantage of my wife's domestic presence as a literary professional, seeking her opinion not only on what I am thinking of writing but also on what I have written....
By Gay Taleses C 2005
Alfred A Knopf publisher
During the previous month my lovely wife and I had celebrated our fortieth wedding anniversary, and I hope I will not be perceived as unromantic if I suggest that this lengthy relationship has succeeded in part because we have regularly lived and worked apart - I am a researching writer of nonfiction who is often on the road, and she as an editor and publisher who through the years has carefully avoided affiliating herself with firms to which I am contractually connected. But when we are together under the same roof, sharing what I shall take the liberty of calling a harmonious and happy coexistence that began in the mid 1950's with a courtship kindled in a cold-water flat in Greenwhich Village and then moved uptown and expanded with children in a brownstone still owned and occupied by the two of us (two spry senior citizens determined not to die on a cruise ship), I must admit that I have frequently taken advantage of my wife's domestic presence as a literary professional, seeking her opinion not only on what I am thinking of writing but also on what I have written....
5/10/08
WHAT REMAINS by CAROLE RADZIWILL quote
What Remains
A Memoir of Fate, Friendship, and Love
by Carole Radziwill C 2005
Scribner Publishers
page 135
(This is one of the bravest honesties of a book. It's about what it really is to deal with a loved one's cancer treatment and their death, what it is to be "the healthy one." It defies the PR of the advertisers pushing the pink ribbon brigades to put on a happy face. Carole's husband Anthony Radziwill died of a high grade sarcoma that metathesized in a predictable fashion despite fight and optimism.)
"One of the myths about cancer is that it triggers bravery and heroism and larger-than-life qualities amplified against the bleak backdrop. But bravery can be confused with denial. A patient can deny what is happeneing and then go on about his business - live life to the fullest - but that is not the same as being brave. A patient's wife can sit hours at a bedside, memorize lists of medicines, and spend countless nights on a hospital cot, but that is an entirely different thing from being staunch or devoted. it is what the bewildered do, stunned in the head-lights, unable to come up with anything else."
A Memoir of Fate, Friendship, and Love
by Carole Radziwill C 2005
Scribner Publishers
page 135
(This is one of the bravest honesties of a book. It's about what it really is to deal with a loved one's cancer treatment and their death, what it is to be "the healthy one." It defies the PR of the advertisers pushing the pink ribbon brigades to put on a happy face. Carole's husband Anthony Radziwill died of a high grade sarcoma that metathesized in a predictable fashion despite fight and optimism.)
"One of the myths about cancer is that it triggers bravery and heroism and larger-than-life qualities amplified against the bleak backdrop. But bravery can be confused with denial. A patient can deny what is happeneing and then go on about his business - live life to the fullest - but that is not the same as being brave. A patient's wife can sit hours at a bedside, memorize lists of medicines, and spend countless nights on a hospital cot, but that is an entirely different thing from being staunch or devoted. it is what the bewildered do, stunned in the head-lights, unable to come up with anything else."
5/6/08
FRONT ROW - ANNA WINTOUR: The Cool Life and Hot Times of Vogue's Editor in Chief by JERRY OPPENHEIMER
front row
Anna Wintour: The Cool Life and Hot Times of Vogue's Editor in Chief
by Jerry Oppenheimer C 2005
St Martin's Press
EXCERPT
pages 268-269: On what Anna (Nuclear Wintour) did at House and Garden circa 1987 upon becoming editor...
..."Other editors ran out to get new, hipper looking wardrobes in the hopes of placating Anna and making her think they had a youthful image and attitude - and save their jobs, even if their hair was turning a bit gray. "Everyone had to shorten their skirts," recalls one editor.
A few who didn't pass muster, but whom Conde Nast wanted to keep around because (Alex) Liberman liked them, were sent to the fourteenth floor, known in the parlance of Conde Nast as "the elephants graveyard," where they would serve out their time and retire, some with full pay and medical benefits.
Veteran staffers who weren't fired were kept around because Anna didn't know the shelter business like she knew the fashion business, and she needed experienced editors and writers who had covered that scene for years for House and Garden to take her to the showrooms and introduce her to the industry. They were treated shabbily before finally getting the boot..."
Anna Wintour: The Cool Life and Hot Times of Vogue's Editor in Chief
by Jerry Oppenheimer C 2005
St Martin's Press
pages 268-269: On what Anna (Nuclear Wintour) did at House and Garden circa 1987 upon becoming editor...
..."Other editors ran out to get new, hipper looking wardrobes in the hopes of placating Anna and making her think they had a youthful image and attitude - and save their jobs, even if their hair was turning a bit gray. "Everyone had to shorten their skirts," recalls one editor.
A few who didn't pass muster, but whom Conde Nast wanted to keep around because (Alex) Liberman liked them, were sent to the fourteenth floor, known in the parlance of Conde Nast as "the elephants graveyard," where they would serve out their time and retire, some with full pay and medical benefits.
Veteran staffers who weren't fired were kept around because Anna didn't know the shelter business like she knew the fashion business, and she needed experienced editors and writers who had covered that scene for years for House and Garden to take her to the showrooms and introduce her to the industry. They were treated shabbily before finally getting the boot..."
5/5/08
"MOODS" AND "MOMENTS"
"MOODS" AND "MOMENTS"
I was reading Carlos Castaneda. I realized that he was using the term "mood" to mean something other than moody or emotional. Rather, it seemed that a new "mood" could mean something such as a new trend, or instinct, or way of thinking, being, or doing. A mood implies a change, a way of perceiving that an old way is past. A mood could occur as a decision or a perception of having changed. It could register with impact or barely, though to be cognitive of a mood one must sense it. Sensing mood might suggest that the understanding of it is not exactly cognitive but instinctual or intuitive. I've also heard people using the term "moment" to mean something other than a smidgen of time. For instance a couple who met, made love, and decided against a relationship, can be said to have had their "moment." (A moment is a more romantic notion than "hooking up" for sure.) People can have their "moment" in fame, career success (or failure), or on a night out that lasts beyond the five minutes of fame Andy Warhol saw as a guaranteed moment for everyone in the future. (Perhaps this is what SOCIAL NETWORKING is all about, a self propelled moment of fame!) It is understood that as you read my blog you are having a moment with me and certainly I hope you pick up on my mood and yours is a bit altered for the experience!
Christine Trzyna C 2008 All Rights Reserved
5/1/08
BILL ZEHME / FRANK SINATRA AND THE LOST ART OF LIVIN'
Frank Sinatra and The Lost Art of Livin'
By Bill Zehme C 1997
HarperCollins Publishers, New York
from page 35 and page 38
Navigational tips for the uninitiated: "A GAS IS A GOOD SITUATION," the Leader (of the Rat Pack) once translated for Art Buckwald, in an unprecedented act of decoding. "An evening can be a wonderful gas. Or you can have a gas of a weekend." Therefore, a GASSER was one who installed such delight: "Applies to a person. He's a big leaguer, the best. He can hit the ball right out of the park." (More BROADS were gassers than were guys, understandably so. Should a gasser do something wonderful, she would be rewarded with the exclamation, CRAZY! or maybe COO-COO! When pleased by a pally, meanwhile, Frank showed approval by remarking, YOU CRAZY BASTARD!) On the other hand, a BUNTER would be "the opposite of a gasser.... a NOWHERE. He can never get to first base." Likewise, there was HARVEY:"A square. Harvey, or Harv, is the typical tourist who goes into a French restaurant and says, "What's ready?" CLYDE was no better, for clydes were DULLSVILLE personified, were instructed to SCRAMSVILLE, lest they render an evening ENDSVILLE. Otherwise, clyde was an all-purpose noun employed when words, wit, or memory failed. Explained Frank:"If I want someone to pass the salt, I say, Pass the Clyde.' 'I don't like her clyde, might mean 'I don't like her voice.' 'I have to go to the clyde might mean 'I have to go to the party.' "
If said party cooked, which is to say, was MOTHERY, which is to say, was wild and wicked, then all present would bear witness to a RING-A-DING-DING time, after which couples might pair off to make a LITTLE HEY-HEY. Unless a FINK had infiltrated the scene to queer the odds. "A fink is a loser," said Frank......
By Bill Zehme C 1997
HarperCollins Publishers, New York
from page 35 and page 38
Navigational tips for the uninitiated: "A GAS IS A GOOD SITUATION," the Leader (of the Rat Pack) once translated for Art Buckwald, in an unprecedented act of decoding. "An evening can be a wonderful gas. Or you can have a gas of a weekend." Therefore, a GASSER was one who installed such delight: "Applies to a person. He's a big leaguer, the best. He can hit the ball right out of the park." (More BROADS were gassers than were guys, understandably so. Should a gasser do something wonderful, she would be rewarded with the exclamation, CRAZY! or maybe COO-COO! When pleased by a pally, meanwhile, Frank showed approval by remarking, YOU CRAZY BASTARD!) On the other hand, a BUNTER would be "the opposite of a gasser.... a NOWHERE. He can never get to first base." Likewise, there was HARVEY:"A square. Harvey, or Harv, is the typical tourist who goes into a French restaurant and says, "What's ready?" CLYDE was no better, for clydes were DULLSVILLE personified, were instructed to SCRAMSVILLE, lest they render an evening ENDSVILLE. Otherwise, clyde was an all-purpose noun employed when words, wit, or memory failed. Explained Frank:"If I want someone to pass the salt, I say, Pass the Clyde.' 'I don't like her clyde, might mean 'I don't like her voice.' 'I have to go to the clyde might mean 'I have to go to the party.' "
If said party cooked, which is to say, was MOTHERY, which is to say, was wild and wicked, then all present would bear witness to a RING-A-DING-DING time, after which couples might pair off to make a LITTLE HEY-HEY. Unless a FINK had infiltrated the scene to queer the odds. "A fink is a loser," said Frank......
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