Monday, December 28, 2009

Craft, Career & Cheer: David L. Harrison

Learn about David L. Harrison.

How do you define artistic success?

Perfection is the goal. Writers see in their imagination what they intend to create--a finished piece without blemish, a stunning accomplishment that holds readers close and thrills them with an astonishing experience. Results rarely match the dream that beckons us on, but some sort of internal scale determines how close we think we came.


The only scale the writer can trust is his own, but only if he's telling himself the truth. Until a writer learns to tell himself the truth, artistic success isn't a likely issue.

However, not every writer measures artistic accomplishment the same way. Some of us come to the pen from the classroom. We were teachers; therefore, we are teachers and will be teachers. What we seek to create may reflect our belief systems about what children need to learn. Does this book encourage fluency? Comprehension? Does it build vocabulary? Phonemic awareness? If I've embedded teachable moments into my work and done it at a high level of artistic achievement, isn't that a success?





Times change, language becomes dated, but somewhere at the core of a classic piece of writing, the author still lives. A voice that speaks across generations draws readers back again and again to sit still for a while to relish and wonder. Which books will last fifty years? Which will disappear like snow by next spring's list? The writer can't know in advance, but the dream of matching reality to vision keeps us trying harder.

How do you define professional success?


First, start thinking and acting like a writer. Write something. It doesn't matter what. The mind can't revise a blank sheet of paper. Until you lay down a track of words, nothing is going to happen. Once you have committed your first thoughts to paper as a conscious act of writing, celebrate your first victory.



Is professional success measured by number of publications? Wilson Rawls decided at an early age to write his way out of poverty. I heard him say how many novels he wrote--dozens as I recall--before one was finally accepted. But one is all you need when it's Where the Red Fern Grows (Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1961). Fifteen years later he published Summer of the Monkeys (Doubleday, 1976), but his reputation was already established.



Professional success develops over time--article by article, story by story, poem by poem. It comes from learning about the craft. It comes from attending meetings, visiting schools, speaking at conferences.

Many an emerging writer has longed for a publisher who loves untested authors, a generous soul with a big heart and a deep wallet who isn't as picky and demanding as those tradition-bound, agent-only, you-have-to-have-been-published publishers.

There is no such publisher. Deep down no one really wants there to be. When you eventually sell something, you'll celebrate, not because a publisher cut you some slack and let you slip by, but because he didn't.

Can you tell us about your latest release?

My latest trade book is Vacation: We're Going to the Ocean, illustrated by Rob Shepperson (Boyds Mills/Wordsong, 2009). Some of you will remember Rob's brilliant work in bugs: poems about creeping things (Boyds Mills/Wordsong, 2007).


Now Rob and I have a new collaboration. In Vacation, we take Sam and his family on a driving vacation to the ocean. Sam describes the trip, often from the back seat, as they drive along. Early in the trip, Sam starts a refrain that's familiar to anyone who has ever traveled with children.

Are We There Yet?

My foot's

my seat
is sore.

You said
"another hour"

You say
"an hour"

are much





Cynsational Notes



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