“Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The key word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for.” Ray Bradbury
The ultimate reference book sits on my desk, within reach, as I work to better my writing each day. It weighs two and a half pounds, and it has 1,059 pages. A dictionary, you might guess. Thesaurus? An out-of-print Columbia Encyclopedia? No, no, and no.
It’s my go-to book for inspiration. It’s titled,
The Stories of Ray Bradbury, and it contains one-hundred stories penned by the ultimate dream-catcher. I like to start my day with a cup coffee and a page of Bradbury ―just one of each―enough to charge my creative batteries. One day I can read about a giant sea creature who falls in love with a lighthouse, the next day a “wonderful white ice cream summer suit! White, white as the August moon!”
Yes, he inspires me. So much so, that when asked in a recent interview, “If you could ask your favorite author one question, who would it be and what would you ask?” My answer came fast, without any thought. “Ray Bradbury,” I said. “I would ask him to come back to us and grace us with more of his brilliance.”
The first time I had the pleasure of seeing the man whose prose read like poetry, was 1997, when he opened the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. He stood before us, bouncing with enthusiasm as he shared precious gems of encouragement with seasoned and novice writer’s alike―each one of us hungry to learn his secrets. I went back many more years, heard him speak again and again, and each time walked away touched by his brilliance, and his love of life.
“The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me. The feeling I have every day is very much the same as it was when I was twelve. In any event, here I am, eighty years old, feeling no different, full of a great sense of joy, and glad for the long life that has been allowed me. I have good plans for the next ten or twenty years, and I hope you’ll come along.” Written by Ray Bradbury on his 80th birthday.
Thinking about the ways this man has sparked my creativity, I began to wonder about the writers that have touched others in the same way. I’d love to know what authors inspire you.
The Clock of Life (2013)
In the small town of Hadlee, Mississippi, during the 1980′s, Jason Lee Rainey struggles to find his way amongst the old, steadfast Southern attitudes about race, while his friendship with a black boy, Samson Johnson, deepens.
By way of stories from others, Jason Lee learns about his larger-than-life father, who was killed in Vietnam. He longs to become that sort of man, but doesn’t believe he has it in him.
In The Clock Of Life he learns lessons from the past, and the realities of inequality. He flourishes with the bond of friendship; endures the pain of senseless death; finds the courage to stand up for what he believes is right; and comes to realize he is his father’s son.
This story explores how two unsettling chapters in American history, the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, affect the fate of a family, a town, and two boyhood friends.
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About Nancy Klann-Moren
Nancy tried her hand at writing short fiction while traveling for work in advertising and marketing, as a creative outlet on long plane rides. That led to signing up for writing classes, writer’s conferences and local workshops. Her goal―to create unique stories told in a distinctive voice. Her short stories are eclectic and poignant, and have garnered awards and publication in anthologies.
Short stories were her primary genre until one morning while in a workshop at The Santa Barbara Writers Conference, she read an excerpt. When finished, the instructor, Sid Stebel, asked what she was doing for the next couple years, because, “What you have written isn’t a short story, it’s a novel.” After a good deal of foot dragging she realized the subject matter was so important she took up the challenge and penned the novel, “The Clock of Life.”
Her collection of short stories is titled “Like The Flies On The Patio.”
Nancy is now working on a new novel loosely based on the time she and a friend found an old diary in an antique shop and took a road trip to find the lady who wrote in the book. The novel will take the girls cross country and into all sorts of trouble.
Favorite Authors: Pat Conroy, T.C. Boyle, Ray Bradbury, Flannery O’Connor, Susan Cisneros, Barbara Kingsolver
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About the Author:
I was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England and have always been a bookworm and enjoyed creative writing at school.
In 1999 I created the Elencheran Chronicles and have been writing ever since. My first novel, Fezariu's Epiphany, was published in May 2011. When not writing I'm a lover of films, games, books and blogging.
I now live in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, with my wife, Donna, and our six cats - Kain, Razz, Buggles, Charlie, Bilbo and Frodo.
David M. Brown – who has written 845 posts on Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave.
