Greg Fields

English poet Rupert Brooke (1817-1915) Smart, athletic and extremely attractive, Yeats called him "the handsomest young man in England." As a British soldier, he died on a French hospital ship from blood poisoning he got from an infected mosquito bite on his lip.

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Novelist James Baldwin (1914-87)

"I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain."

"People pay for what they do...very simply; by the lives they lead."

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The International Dublin Writers Festival is an intimate gathering of writers, editors, publishers and readers. There's an emphasis on meeting others, networking and bringing your work forward.

If you've got some time in mid-September, it's worth considering.
internationaldublinwritersfestival.com

He died broke and unknown. In that regard, he's no different from most writers. A truly brilliant and original writer.....

Herman Melville (1819-91) He filled 𝑴𝒐𝒃𝒚 𝑫𝒊𝒄𝒌 with symbolism, philosophy and Shakespearean rhetoric. The public didn't get it and it only sold about 3,000 copies while Melville was alive. When he died the New York Times referred to him as 'Henry Melville'.

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The writer's trance...When it happens, nothing else can penetrate.

Primo Levi (1919-87), Italian Jewish chemist, writer, and Holocaust survivor.

"Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions."

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My Google Machine showed me this when I asked for an image of Emily, but I've always had a hard time distinguishing the Bronte sister.

Emily Bronte (1818-48) She only published one novel - 𝑾𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑯𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔. Critics didn't like it much, finding it too dark. Her health suffered after it was published. She caught a cold at her brother's funeral later that year and died three months later.

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J. R. R. Tolkien published his first volume of 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 series, 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒊𝒏𝒈, in 1954. The book was met with mostly favorable reviews. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 series has been compared to 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒔𝒕 for its cultural significance.

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After the rush comes the calm, and that's hard to reconcile. But then there's the steady build as the work gains traction, and that's a new excitement in itself. And always there's the pride of having done it. Congratulations, and on to the next one.

On this date in 1814 Percy Bysshe Shelley abandoned his wife and ran off with Mary Godwin, who would go on to write 𝑭𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒊𝒏 but was only 16 at the time. The couple caused quite the scandal until they were legally married after Shelley’s wife drowned herself.

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Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) writer of hard-boiled detective fiction.

"Any man who can write a page of living prose adds something to our life, and..is surely the last to resent someone who can do it even better. An artist cannot deny art, nor would he want to."

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Novelist/poet Stephen Vincent Benet (1898-1943), author of the epic poem 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏 𝑩𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏'𝒔 𝑩𝒐𝒅𝒚 which told the tale of the American Civil War.

"Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways."

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I’m not sure he spent much thought to keeping his mother happy, even though Mama Hemingway sounds pretty brutal.

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
Many readers objected to the gritty language of his first novel, 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒖𝒏 𝑨𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝑹𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔, including his own mother: "If I should pick up a book by any other writer with such words in it, I should read no more — but pitch it in the fire."

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Novelist and playwright Cormac McCarthy (1933-2023) - 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝑯𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒔; 𝑵𝒐 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑶𝒍𝒅 𝑴𝒆𝒏, et. al.

"My perfect day is sitting in a room with some blank paper. That’s heaven. That’s gold and anything else is just a waste of time."

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Frank McCourt, Irish-American writer (𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍𝒂'𝒔 𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒔) died this day in 2009.

“The master says it’s a glorious thing to die for the Faith and Dad says it’s a glorious thing to die for Ireland and I wonder if there’s anyone in the world who would like us to live.”

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Journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005) 𝑭𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑳𝒐𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝑳𝒂𝒔 𝑽𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒔

"America… just a nation of used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable."

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Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970) Author of the Perry Mason series. He loved boxing. After passing the bar exam, he was sworn in with two black eyes after a bout.

"Dear Editor: It’s a damn good story. If you have any comments, write them on the back of a check."

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J.D. Salinger's 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒚𝒆 was published on this date in 1951. Despite Salinger’s hesitations about publicity it became a best-seller almost immediately. At one time it was both the most banned book and the most frequently taught book in the country.

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Iris Murdoch (1919-99). She wrote all of her novels in longhand, twice, then delivered the manuscripts to her publisher in a plastic bag.

"Truth can be attained, if at all, only in silence. It is in silence that the human spirit touches the divine."

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There are book reviewers who will post reviews on their sites of submitted titles. Some have immense followings. Most have focused genres. It’ll take a bit of research to find the right ones, but it’s well worth the effort.

All of the above, including review sites, blogs and podcasts targeting the most likely readership, and participation at writers conferences, all of which have had some effect. But none of it is easy, and all of it requires constant attention, which is pretty maddening.

On this date George Gordon, Lord Byron returned to England after a two year trip through the Mediterranean. Shortly after his return he published 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒅'𝒔 𝑷𝒊𝒍𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆, which brought him instant popularity.

“I awoke one morning and found myself famous.”

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Nadine Gordimer, South African writer/activist (1923-2014), died on this day. Gordimer advised Nelson Mandela in writing his most famous speeches. Her works 𝑩𝒖𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝑫𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓 and 𝑱𝒖𝒍𝒚'𝒔 𝑷𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 were banned, but she eventually won the Nobel Prize in 1991.

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Not sure I have. But I try to create space for myself before I even sit down to write - soft music, a quick meditation, maybe a glass of wine. All that helps build a wall against the obligations and distractions.

Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (1904-73), born Neftali Basoalto. When he was 19 he sold all his possessions to publish his first book, changing his name because his father didn't approve. Neruda always wrote in green ink because he believed it was the color of hope.

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E.B. White (1899-1985)
After a young pig he was raising got sick and he failed to save its life, he wrote one of his most famous essays, "Death of a Pig." Then he wrote a his classic children's novel, 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆'𝒔 𝑾𝒆𝒃, in which the pig doesn't have to die.

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Marcel Proust (1871-1922) 𝑰𝒏 𝑺𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝑳𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 (𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝑷𝒂𝒔𝒕).

Seven volumes and almost 1.5 million words. I know of no one who's read the whole thing, although it led Virginia Woolf to exclaim, "Oh, if I could write like that."

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