Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature

Often times all of us who enjoy writing have had some moments when we imagine how it would be to write a best-selling novel. We can get ideas about how to proceed from famous authors like Ernest Hemmingway who wrote about the things he experienced and in the end, won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Ernest Hemingway came into this world on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois. The day he was born his father Dr, Clarence Hemingway announced to the world that he had a son by stepping out onto his porch and blowing his cornet.

While in high school Hemingway worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star. When WW I began he signed up to do his patriotic duty. Unfortunately, he had a bad eye and could not do regular military duty so he became an ambulance driver for the Red Cross in Italy. While badly injured he was in a Milan hospital and fell in love with the nurse who took care of him. He wrote about this experience in his novel “A Farewell to Arms” in 1929. With a unique writing style, short and simple sentences he told about his adventures during WW I.

Hemingway lived in Europe for many years and travelled to Spain. It was about his passion for bullfighting in Pamplona, Spain that he wrote his first novel “The Sun Also Rises.” Later having returned to the US and living in Key West, Florida was when he wrote about his experiences during WW I.

In 1937 Hemingway reported on the Spanish Civil War and during thi time gathered material for his next novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls” which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

Hemingway purchased a farm near Havana, Cuba. When the US entered WW II he became a correspondent and was present at all the key moments of the war including the D-Day landing. Then it was in 1951 that he wrote his most memorable book “The Old Man and the Sea.” Finally, he received the Pulitzer Prize.

It was in 1954 that Hemingway was honored with the Nobel Prize in Literature. However, at this time he was living in Idaho and was battling deteriorating mental and physical health. On the morning of July 2, 1961, Hemingway committed suicide in his Ketchum home.

It was an unfortunate end for this well-known author. However, he left his novels to be enjoyed by future generations. For budding authors, his work shows that you can write novels that become bestsellers by writing about your own adventures or about what you know which is usually the best way to write a good book.

Historical Novels

Mary Renault the author of historical novels about ancient civilizations was born on September 4, 1905.

She came into this world in London, England as Eileen Mary Challans using Renault as a pen name. She was only eight years old when she decided she wanted to be a writer, At Oxford University she studied medieval history. Using her knowledge of the era as background she wrote her first novel. Her first attempt was unsuccessful and she trashed it after receiving many rejections.

Working as a nurse during WW I, she continued to write. Finally, she had a published novel in 1939 titled “Promise of Love” based on her nursing experiences. Then came her second novel “Return to Night” about a talented doctor. This novel netted her the $150,000 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Prize. It was her first bestseller in the US but was never turned into a movie.

During WW II Renault chose to write historical fiction. She was very interested in ancient Greece, traveling in Greece she gained knowledge about the region’s history. In 1958 she came out with “The King Must Die” and the sequel “The Bull From the Sea” in 1962. These novels retold the Greek myth of Theseus (mystical king and founder-hero of Athens) from a historically accurate point of view.

She has received great praise for all of her historical novels like “The Alexander Trilogy”, about Alexander the Great. Toward the end of her life, Renault lived in South Africa and died there in 1983.

For those who are interested her books are available on Amazon.

#historical-novels, #mary-renault, #novels

Keeping the Mind Writing Active

One of the most important things for writers is to keep their mind writing active. This means to be able to write at anytime and get new ideas. You have to keep your mind sharp, your imagination dancing, and be able to always come up with ideas that will interest your readers. It also means avoiding writer’s blocks, keeping one step ahead of other writers, and being able to gain more followers who are interested in what you have say.

https://rasmasandra.medium.com/keeping-the-mind-writing-active-fbcafa961e54

Declutter Your Life

As the years go by we accumulate many different things and very often think well someday I will use this or that. As time goes by these things pile up and soon we find that cleaning the house has become a monumental task because of all the things that seem to be everywhere. That is the time to start decluttering room by room. Take a look around you and decide where you would like to start. It does not mean you have to throw everything out but you could donate useful items to some charity or even sell items online.

Making your home easier to clean and manage will make you feel better about house cleaning. Sometimes not only do items pile up but they also accumulate in pairs. See if you have things that you might have more than one of and get rid of one. Especially look for things you thought you would use and never did because someone might be able to use it. So to make it easier on yourself and to delight others with what you don’t need but they do, start decluttering your living space today.

https://rasmasandra.medium.com/dont-use-it-trash-it-or-give-it-away-f3281a582b5c

#cleaning-up, #decluttering, #giving-stuff-away, #trashing-items

Time To Say Goodbye

Summer is the season that is most difficult for me because it ws in August 2017 that I lost my husband and soul mate Martin. However, after that I looked to find ways to make the transition easier and the grief less hard to bear. I found many helpful sites online that gave me encouragement to go on.

The best thing that has helped me is that I am very sensitive to the world beyond and have a sixth sense so I often find ways to contact with those who have passed on. This sensation was inherited from my whole family because they all had the possibility of contacting with spirits.

After my husband passed on I had the opportunity to contact with him up above. At that time I discovered several things among them even if you wanted to join your mate right away in the afterlife you could not do it because you still have a life path to follow, what we as the living see up above is similar but not totally how those who have passed on see things, life is good up above and there are even the four seasons and many other things we cannot even imagine. For those of you who have pets and wonder about what happens after they leave us I can tell you that you will see them up above as well.

Finally to help others with the transition I wrote an article for Medium about celebrating and remembering the life of a loved one, I have included the link here.

https://rasmasandra.medium.com/celebrating-and-remembering-the-life-of-a-loved-one-a0eb58167445

#afterlife, #celebrating-the-life-of-a-loved-one

Catcher In The Rye

Author J.D. Salinger is an American author best known for his novel “The Cather In The Rye” which was published in 1951. You can read more about this author in my article, following the link I have provided.

Catcher in the Rye

#catcher-in-the-rye, #j-d-salinger

Nobel Prize In Literature

Famous writer John Steinbeck’s first great success came with his novel “Tortilla Flat” which was published on May 28, 1935. It told the story of a group of friends enjoying life and wine at the end of the Great War. It was made into a movie in 1945 starring Spencer Tracey and Hedy Lamarr.

Steinbeck was born in California and later on moved to New York. There he worked as a manual laborer and journalist. During this time he wrote his first two novels. After he got married in 1930 he and his wife moved back to California. Finally financial success came with “Tortilla Flat” describing the adventures of drifters sharing a house in California.

His next novels were “In Dubious Battle” and “Of Mice and Men”. Both were a success. Then Steinbeck came out with his masterpiece in 1938 it was “The Grapes of Wrath”. It told the story of an Oklahoma family who had lost their farm and had become fruit pickers in California. This impressive novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939. I remember struggling with it in my English literature class and was extremely grateful that Hollywood had made a movie out of it starring Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell.

After WWII Steinbeck’s other novels included “Cannery Row” and “The Pearl”. “Cannery Row” became a movie in 1982 starring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger. He is also known for writing some successful films such as “Forgotten Village” and Viva Zapata!” After becoming interested in marine biology Steinbeck published a nonfiction book “The Sea of Cortez” in 1941. For those of you as inquisitive as I am, the Sea of Cortez is also known as the Gulf of California. The writer made a trip across the U.S. in a camper and records his adventure in a travel memoir titled “Travels with Charlie”. Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962. He died in New York City in 1968.

#john-steinbeck, #literature, #nobel-prize-in-literature, #the-grapes-of-wrath

Author Interview

In response to @dancinglightofgrace here are my answers to your questions

1. Actually I did not start out to blog. It was in 2000 when I first realized all the possibilities of wring online and had not fully comprehended the meaning of making money online. I found a site called Buzzel where I could writ about any topic and get my voice heard. So I started expressing myself by writing various articles. It was also the site I firet posted poems on and was happy to get a favorable response. From there I moved onto another site called HubPages where I still writ to this day. Here I was informed I could make some money but I have never made any but have been satisfied anyway because it is a good platform for my poetry. After all of this the light dawned that I could create my own blogs through WordPress and that was when I began blogging. Today on WordPress I have a poetry blog, a armchair travel blog, an animal blog, and on Blogger I have a music blog. I am including a link here to my poetry blog.
   https://nothingbutpoetry.wordpress.com/2021/02/20/wildest-dreams/
   Over the years so many poem have been written that I have two self-published books of poems on Amazon – Poetic Thoughts Fly and On the Wings Of Love and here is a link to my author page which will give you more information about me and my books,
   https://smile.amazon.com/Ms-Rasma-Sandra-Raisters/e/B07BD1YWRW/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
2. Besides blogging I enjoy reading, drawing and coloring, and listening to music. However, there often seems to be less time for the things I really enjoy because I am also hard at work being a content writer and freelancer but I find it helps to listen to music as I work.
3. I think my mission in life is make others happy with my writing and write things that they enjoy reading, Making money with my writing is an added bonus.
4. At present I live in Daytona Beach, Florida,
5. I found Blogger’s World through WordPress and subscribed to the emails and found I enjoyed what others wrote and what I found so I was only more than happy to become a writer on Blogger’s World as well.
6. I enjoy reading series of books like the Lucky series of books by Jackie Collins and also the Bones series of books by Kathy Reichs. I have a wide range of books i enjoy including classics like “Little Women” and “Pride and Prejudice.” Since I am fluent in both English and Latvian I also have some favorite books in Latvian I enjoy reading. At present I am reading a biography about Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury.
   My writing keeps my imagination dancing and I always attempt to keep the child in me alive which provides me with a lot of inspiration for both my writing and poetry. The photo is of me at the age of 3 with my favorite beach ball.

An Artist Inspires

I have always thought that poetry and art go hand in hand. The artist paints what he sees on his canvas and the poet paints what he sees with his words. I was inspired by the Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent Willem van Gogh to write a poem dedicated to him. Afterward, I also wrote about this artist and have included a link to my article here. A tribute to this artist would not be complete without the wonderful composition by Don McLean “Vincent.”

Beauty In Art

An artist not always understood,
painting by candlelight you knew,
there was inspiration to be had,
in that golden glow.
The world never understood you,
breaking your fragile heart and soul,
madness was a pattern,
a way to hide away,
when you were misunderstood.
It was a strange thing,
to be living yet have a tombstone with your name,
all these things were but a game,
it was your art that made you what you were
and art that saved you from fading away.
You may have lived in your own world,
but your paintings uncovered what was beneath,
you left the world as quickly as you came,
but left behind your lovely inner self,
in the paintings that were to be admired.
And yes, Vincent perhaps you were too beautiful for the world,
that you lived in,
but each starry, starry night,
I can raise my glass of wine
and express my admiration,
for the art that now adorns many a wall.

©R.Raisters

The Awesome Work of Van Gogh

#art, #artists, #vincent-van-gogh

Nobel Prize For Literature

On September 5, 1958 the romantic novel “Dr. Zhivago” by Boris Pasternak was published in the U.S. The book had been banned in the Soviet Union but still won the Nobel Prize for Literature that same year.

Boris Pasternak was born in Russia in 1890 and by the time the Russian Revolution broke out he had become a well-known avant-garde poet. His work was frowned upon during the 1920s and 1930s when under the communist regime Joseph Stalin put strict censorship on Russian art and literature. It was during this time that Pasternak made a living as a translator.

The novel that would make Pasternak known the world over was completed in 1956. “Dr. Zhivago” is an epic love story set during the time of the Russian Revolution and WW I. Soviet officials were angered by the novel stating that it romanticized the pre-Revolution Russian upper class and degraded peasants and workers who fought against the czarist regime. When the official Soviet press refused to publish the novel Pasternak found admirers who were willing to secretly smuggle the manuscript out of Russia bit by bit.

By 1958 “Dr. Zhivago” had been published and translations began appearing all around the world. The novel became an instant classic. When it came time for Pasternak to receive the Nobel Prize the Soviet government wouldn’t allow him to do it and banished him from the Soviet Writers’ Union. This action ended the writing career of Pasternak. He died of cancer and heart disease in May 1960.

However by leaving behind his novel “Dr. Zhivago” he left behind something wonderful and worthwhile for future generations. In 1965 Hollywood took over and created a hit movie from the novel starring Omar Sharif as Dr. Zhivago. The movie has many scenes that are rather hard to take but with the romance woven into it, it is very memorable. We all know that the world has gone through numerous wars but the one thing that has never died even when times were tough was romance. The movie itself depicts the wonderful romance of Dr. Zhivago and his love Lara. It also brought into the world the memorable song and music of “Somewhere My Love”.

In 1987 when Mikhail Gorbachev began democratic reforms, the long deceased Pasternak was readmitted to the writers’ union and the novel was finally published in Russia.

#authors, #boris-pasternak, #dr-zhivago, #novel-prize-for-literature