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| Paul (Photo courtesy same) |
“Trust
your talent. Develop your craft. Develop writing instincts.” This is one of
many useful tried and true lessons the 2011 Oregon Book Award winner and
Corvallis resident Paul VanDevelder passed on to students at LBCC earlier this
month. Indeed, Paul has much which he can impart to a new generation of writers
and photographers.
Paul is a well-respected journalist and an accomplished
novelist with over thirty years in the field both home and abroad and was a
welcomed voice at campus. Speaking largely on what it takes to “deliver the
goods” as Paul puts it, the focus of his time with students was in explaining
how it was he found his niche in the writing game and the amount of work it has
taken him to stay there. During his
talk, no matter what the course of his musings, Paul spoke of his time as a
journalist fondly and warmly with a devil may care sincerity that kept his
listeners rapt with attention.
“It’s surprising sometimes what
choices are made” remarked Paul “Never take yourself too seriously. You never
know where life’s going to go.” Imparting many such bits of his own gathered wisdom
on listeners along the way, we heard of his adventurous investigative
journalism days. Paul spoke to the
students of the worst of days and of the best. He told humorous antidotes of
inner office antics and touching stories of friends made along the way. There
were captivating tales of sailing clippers into foreign waters under duress of
war. More of traveling for days overland by pack and fording treacherous rivers
while furtively sorting through the debris of scattered stories which were lost
to whispers and rumor and always one more lead out of reach. Paul, and many
like him, often endured these trials and tribulations in their pursuit of their
next story; all the while still snapping photos and scrawling away in notebooks
delivering the “Goods” back home to meet press deadlines and deliver that next
big story.
Born fortunate in the field of
writing to a father who was a hermeneutical scholar and a mother who was a
well-loved literature teacher; Paul’s early life was one filled with books and
knowledge in his village home in Bolivia. Paul began as a young man writing
daily to near prodigious levels till at the age of twenty five he made his
first real success in writing in the form of an award from the National Endowment of the Arts for a piece known as “Crysallis.” After this first
accomplishment it would be ten years before Paul would once again be able to
establish his name in the world of writing as a journalist. In Paul’s own words
“The celebratory hangover lasted 10 years. I wanted so badly to write, but just
as strong was the silent conviction in me that I didn't have anything momentous
to report to the world. Either I had nothing to say, or I didn't know how to
say it. I wasn't ready.”
A decade after his award for
Crysallis an uncertain Paul received a visit from Nathaniel Blumberg, the Dean
of the School of Journalism at the University of Montana. After this fateful
meeting Paul would set out upon his new goal of becoming a journalist and there
at college would develop a new passion for cameras that has stayed with him for
life.
Over the next twelve years Paul worked as a
journalist and burned through over half a million rolls of film covering every
conflict, campaign, disaster, or holocaust possible until what he did became
second nature in many ways. During his talk at LBCC Paul put some of his
experience into words for the students saying “Black and white is a tactile
medium, much like sculpting. It takes passion and emotion. You have to get
inside and underneath the story to write it. You watch and you listen and you
find your points of entry.” When questioned on the new digital media of today Paul
boldly answered; “New or old, symbiotic tech or no. It all comes back to people
and trust.” Truly wonderful words of
advice for any aspiring writer of any field.
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| (Courtesy of VanDevelder) |
His first two triumphant novelizations Savages and Scoundrels and Coyote Warrior may soon make way for the possibility of a third book with an as of yet unknown title.
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| (Courtesy of Paul VanDevelder) |
To learn more about Paul VanDevelder you can find him at elbowoodscafe.com or purchase his books online at Amazon.
Alternatively you may search Mr. VanDevelder online to view a host of his journalistic works.
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