About Louis L’Amour (1908-1988)
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| Louis L'Amour at the typwriter |
The first one I read was “Down the Long Hills” the story of a seven year old boy and a three year old girl who, together with a big red horse, are the only survivors of an Indian attack. I love going back to re-follow their journey through the wilderness pursued by Indians and horse thieves. Soon after that I started in on his Sackett series and the rest of his hundred or so books followed those.
Before his writing career took off L’Amour did just about everything else and went just about everywhere else starting when he was 15. His varied job history included, among many other things, time as a seamen, a prizefighter, a ranch hand, and an elephant handler of all things. He grew up in a house full of books and kept reading when he left home.
L’Amour mostly wrote what is classified as ‘westerns’ but what he thought of as historical fiction. He wrote as accurately as he knew how; "If my book is set in 1600, I write so that someone who lived then would recognize the road I'm describing." Besides his ‘westerns’ he wrote about boxers, poetry, mysteries, and several stories set in WWII.
For more on Louis L’Amour checkout www.louislamour.com
Quotes:
“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
"I start with a character and a situation, but I don't know what's' going to happen until I write it. Sometimes things happen that surprise me."
“One day I was speeding along at the typewriter, and my daughter - who was a child at the time - asked me, "Daddy, why are you writing so fast?" And I replied, "Because I want to see how the story turns out!”
“A writer’s brain is like a magician’s hat. If you’re going to get anything out of it, you have to put something in it first”
“I have read my books by many lights, hoarding their beauty, their wit or wisdom against the dark days when I would have no book, nor a place to read. I have known hunger of the belly kind many times over, but I have known a worse hunger: the need to know and to learn.”
― Education of a Wandering Man
“Often I hear people say they do not have time to read. That's absolute nonsense. In the one year during which I kept that kind of record, I read twenty-five books while waiting for people. In offices, applying for jobs, waiting to see a dentist, waiting in a restaurant for friends, many such places. I read on buses, trains, and plains. If one really wants to learn, one has to decide what is important. Spending an evening on the town? Attending a ball game? Or learning something that can be with you your life long?”
― Education of a Wandering Man
“I have told many, yet when I go down that last trail, I know there will be a thousand stories hammering at my skull, demanding to be told.”
― Education of a Wandering Man
References: http://www.louislamour.com/aboutlouis/smithsonian.htm
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/858.Louis_L_Amour
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