The last post concentrated on those authors who have influenced my writing. Now, I must give credit to someone who has had a marked influence on my life.
For many years, especially when we lived in Germany, my wife and I sought a simpler life -- a life not driven by material things, a life more centered on family, the environment, and doing more with less. Not having access to the Internet at the time and seeing American papers and other media only occasionally, we did not know there was a movement toward those same things in which we were interested.
Generically known as "simple living", this movement helps people understand how to simplify their lives without sacrificing those things that are important to them. It is as easy to simplify one's life in a big city as it is in the country, although the methods may differ drastically. Although we did not know the term when we returned to the United States, we still felt a yearning to do more with less, reduce our footprint on the earth, and find more time for family, especially our daughter.
One morning while eating breakfast, we turned on the television which was already set to a public station. The show pictured a woman sitting on a hillside. She was looking out toward gently rolling mountains that definitely looked the Appalachians to us. She was doing a voice-over describing how she had turned to a simpler lifestyle and had dramatically improved her quality of life. This was our introduction to Wanda Urbanska of Mount Airy, North Carolina, an accomplished author and acknowledged expert on simple living.
Through four seasons of her show Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska, telephone calls, and emails, Wanda showed us we were not alone in looking for a different life style. We discovered there are many people making small or large changes in their lives as they find their own personal path to simplicity. See Wanda's website at http://www.simplelivingtv.net/.
For us as we currently live in the Washington DC suburbs, it has meant being less of a consumer, being more environmentally conscious, and being more aware of the demands on our time. We reduced the time we spent running here and there and discovered more time for classical music concerts, art galleries, family, and friends. We have no space to grow a vegetable garden, but we now know where the farm markets are. We discovered that one television and one computer were enough, although we have not broken the need for cell phones. We still have two cars because we go in different directions each day and there is no public transportation. However, one car is a hybrid, so that helps a little.
In our current situation, we cannot grow our own food, heat our house with wood from downed trees, or even save the water coming from the gutters to use on the gardens. However, that is okay. Wanda taught us that simple living is mostly an exercise in trying different things and doing as much as you can.
Thank you, Wanda, for showing us the light. We will be eternally grateful.
In Peace, Frank
Quaker Hill Press
Fine Literature for Gentle Readers
www.quakerhillpress.com
Friday, January 1, 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
An Author's Influences
One year is ending, another soon to start and although I don't like New Year's resolutions, I must do more with this blog. The best place to start may be with those authors who influenced my own writing. I write to help people relax, to help them find respite from our hurried world, and to weave a story unlike most of those on the front tables of the chain bookstores. One reviewer said that I write in a "plain-spoken" honest style. That's fine with me; I'm no Shakespeare, but then why reinvent a style that was worked for hundreds of years? I want to write well, but in a straight-forward, simple style, in line with the simplicity, peace, and serenity of my characters and settings. In no particular order, then, I present the authors who have influenced me in my own writing:
Earl Hamner: Best known as the creative genius behind the successful television show, The Walton's, Earl Hamner writes of simple people doing simple, everyday things. He showed us that honoring family, faith, and community were good things. He showed us that caring for those less fortunate, even when you have little yourself, is important. He showed us that loving family members could face major impediments, disagree, and move on to an even better relationship. He showed us that small town values and the needs of the community sometimes outweigh personal needs. Earl showed us that common, everyday people can be glorified in word and on screen. He showed us that ordinary can be extraordinary.
Philip Gulley: Quaker minister in Indiana and best-selling author of novels loosely grouped into the Harmony series and non-fiction books often called the porch tales, Phil takes us deep into the stories of his youth and experiences in small town America. He also shows us that ordinary is extraordinary and that everyday life in a fictional small town in middle America can grab readers and keep them asking for more. Phil also writes in a simple, straight-forward style, never using ten words when one will do. His characters are so ordinary: an insurance salesman and lifelong Quaker who doesn't understand Quakers are supposed to be peaceful and loving, a lawyer turned coffee shop owner, a car dealer, etc., etc. All the people who make up a small town are brought to the light of day. Such characters will never be famous, rich, powerful, or be part of the jet-set. However, Phil understands better than most that ordinary people are real people and deserve a chance to stand in the spotlight.
Jan Karon: Creator of the small town of Mitford, North Carolina, and its most famous citizen, an Episcopal priest named Father Tim, Jan continues the celebration of the ordinary people who live and work in an ordinary small town. Cynthia, Father Tim's wife, breaks the mold of small-town ordinary by being a world-famous author and illustrator, but such a character adds salt to the stew of everyday characters mixing and mingling in the small mountain town. Jan reminds us that there is value in everyone, even those who appear to be the dregs of society or those, like the children Father Tim and the local doctor rescue, who have slipped through the safety nets set up for their protection. Jan also reminds us to find beauty and inspiration in the first blossoms of spring, the sun rising over a mountain, and the comfort known by those who are married to their best friend.
Garrison Keillor: Literally the voice of small town America, Garrison has brought us the stories of Lake Woebegone for more than thirty years on A Prairie Home Companion on public radio. He let us know that there is life in small towns, humor in the actions of ordinary people, and value in the lives of everyone. We've laughed and cried and chuckled over his characters and stories, more than a few of which are probably true.
Tracy Kidder: The only true non-fiction author on this list, Tracy does the same in non-fiction that the others do in their fictional small towns. Tracy takes us inside the lives of often ordinary people and writes a story that reads like a novel. A quartet of men building a house and the family that will occupy the finished product, a fifth-grade school teacher, two men and their friends in a nursing home, a group of men and women designing a new computer. All ordinary people, some with exceptional skills maybe, but all ordinary working people doing the things that keep small and large towns humming. Tracy routinely spends a year or more with each subject, seeing how they live and work and interact with others and then reports to us in a style that could be a novel. His work is magnificent.
All of these and many others have influenced me, showing me that the ordinary can be extraordinary, that small town values are important, and that there is a market for the type of books that do not always make it to the front tables in the chain bookstores. All of these authors have proven that front-table books need not follow the patterns preferred by the industry. All have been there, all will probably be there again, and all of them give me hope that I will join them on those tables.
Until I have a contract with a major publishing house, I will continue to write and publish myself through www.quakerhillpress.com, my own company. I will continue to follow my promise to my readers: fine literature for gentle readers.
Happy New Year! Keep reading in 2010!
Frank Comstock
Author of Charlie's Gift and When Past and Future Meet
Short stories published in several venues, including Types and Shadows.
Earl Hamner: Best known as the creative genius behind the successful television show, The Walton's, Earl Hamner writes of simple people doing simple, everyday things. He showed us that honoring family, faith, and community were good things. He showed us that caring for those less fortunate, even when you have little yourself, is important. He showed us that loving family members could face major impediments, disagree, and move on to an even better relationship. He showed us that small town values and the needs of the community sometimes outweigh personal needs. Earl showed us that common, everyday people can be glorified in word and on screen. He showed us that ordinary can be extraordinary.
Philip Gulley: Quaker minister in Indiana and best-selling author of novels loosely grouped into the Harmony series and non-fiction books often called the porch tales, Phil takes us deep into the stories of his youth and experiences in small town America. He also shows us that ordinary is extraordinary and that everyday life in a fictional small town in middle America can grab readers and keep them asking for more. Phil also writes in a simple, straight-forward style, never using ten words when one will do. His characters are so ordinary: an insurance salesman and lifelong Quaker who doesn't understand Quakers are supposed to be peaceful and loving, a lawyer turned coffee shop owner, a car dealer, etc., etc. All the people who make up a small town are brought to the light of day. Such characters will never be famous, rich, powerful, or be part of the jet-set. However, Phil understands better than most that ordinary people are real people and deserve a chance to stand in the spotlight.
Jan Karon: Creator of the small town of Mitford, North Carolina, and its most famous citizen, an Episcopal priest named Father Tim, Jan continues the celebration of the ordinary people who live and work in an ordinary small town. Cynthia, Father Tim's wife, breaks the mold of small-town ordinary by being a world-famous author and illustrator, but such a character adds salt to the stew of everyday characters mixing and mingling in the small mountain town. Jan reminds us that there is value in everyone, even those who appear to be the dregs of society or those, like the children Father Tim and the local doctor rescue, who have slipped through the safety nets set up for their protection. Jan also reminds us to find beauty and inspiration in the first blossoms of spring, the sun rising over a mountain, and the comfort known by those who are married to their best friend.
Garrison Keillor: Literally the voice of small town America, Garrison has brought us the stories of Lake Woebegone for more than thirty years on A Prairie Home Companion on public radio. He let us know that there is life in small towns, humor in the actions of ordinary people, and value in the lives of everyone. We've laughed and cried and chuckled over his characters and stories, more than a few of which are probably true.
Tracy Kidder: The only true non-fiction author on this list, Tracy does the same in non-fiction that the others do in their fictional small towns. Tracy takes us inside the lives of often ordinary people and writes a story that reads like a novel. A quartet of men building a house and the family that will occupy the finished product, a fifth-grade school teacher, two men and their friends in a nursing home, a group of men and women designing a new computer. All ordinary people, some with exceptional skills maybe, but all ordinary working people doing the things that keep small and large towns humming. Tracy routinely spends a year or more with each subject, seeing how they live and work and interact with others and then reports to us in a style that could be a novel. His work is magnificent.
All of these and many others have influenced me, showing me that the ordinary can be extraordinary, that small town values are important, and that there is a market for the type of books that do not always make it to the front tables in the chain bookstores. All of these authors have proven that front-table books need not follow the patterns preferred by the industry. All have been there, all will probably be there again, and all of them give me hope that I will join them on those tables.
Until I have a contract with a major publishing house, I will continue to write and publish myself through www.quakerhillpress.com, my own company. I will continue to follow my promise to my readers: fine literature for gentle readers.
Happy New Year! Keep reading in 2010!
Frank Comstock
Author of Charlie's Gift and When Past and Future Meet
Short stories published in several venues, including Types and Shadows.
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