|
By Stephen Peterson
SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
e is a man of words, many words. Not spoken. The written kind.
Russell Spooner, 74, of Rehoboth, is one of the area's more prolific and successful writers, having won awards for his poetry and short stories.
He has at least 100 poems, essays and short stories published and is working on a third novel.
"You want to get your work out there and have other people read it," Spooner said. "You feel you just have to do it, put words on paper. I don't think we have a huge choice in the matter."
Spooner's prior novels have not been published and he said it's a battle to get any novel into print.
Enjoys fantasy
Fiction is where creativity and imagination shine, and Spooner's work does. He enjoys fantasy and it is played out in his novels and in his short stories. One story describes a world full of descendents of a mantis-like creature.
Along with a humble, easy-going manner, Spooner comes across as a thoughtful, philosophical man - attri-butes reflected in his writing. Subjects of his poetry include pets, friends, and his military service. Spooner said one reason he tackled the latter subject was to get it out of his system. During World War II, as a small-arms specialist in the U.S. Army, he participated in the five major battles in Northern Europe, including Normandy and the Ardennes - the Battle of the Bulge.
After his two-year stint, he left as a staff sergeant with five battle stars.
In a poem entitled "Grounded", he harks back to his days after the war for about ten years at the old Wilkins Airport in North Attleboro.
While flying was primarily a hobby, he earned a commercial pilot's license and gave rides. "It was fun," Spooner said, add he had acrobatic training.
His writing ability and philosophical nature may be inherited to some degree.
Spooner traces his ancestry to a Lysander Spooner, a philosopher, author, and abolitionist. He is said to have inspired John Brown and has been called the "Father of American Liberalism." He also persuaded the U.S. government to establish a more efficient postal system after he began his own postal delivery business using bicyclists and trains.
"I find a lot of his ideas I can go along with," Spooner said.
|
Recently published
Spooner has been writing most of his life but only in the past five years has he actively sought to and been published.
His work has appeared in small press publications such as Rhymetime Poetry, Candlelight Poetry Journal, and Roswell Literary Review. It's in the latter that his short stories have been printed. Awards won by Spooner have usually been for best in an issue, or among the best.
Spooner's advice to hopeful writers is to subscribe to such publications, and read, read, read.
Favorite writers
Among his favorite writers are James Michener, a fiction writer, and well-known contemporary poet Hayden Caruth.
Spooner traces his writing career to a writers' colony he attended for two weeks in New Hampshire in 1973. The session was run by Mildred Reid, who had books sold worldwide.
"It was very helpful. It got me going in the right direction," Spooner said.
Spooner has had the help of several writers over the years and he is in contact with several still, receiving advice and encouragement.
MARK STOCKWELL/ SUN CHRONICLE
Russell Spooner of Rehoboth
'He's in there 12 hours
a day. All he comes
out for is to breathe
and for food.'
Spouse Bessie Spooner
A former Attleboro and Rehoboth resident, Jo Ann Ferguson, who lives in Pennsylvania and had taught writing at Brown University, has been a big help to Spooner. She is also president of the Romance Writers of America. Also giving him a boost is an English mystery writer who has been published in eight languages in 10 countries. Spooner once belonged to a writing group that met at the writer's home.
|
In recent years, he has turned the tables, and helped other budding writers, serving as a mentor. Two of them have won several writing awards.
Writing room
Spooner does most of his writing in an office he calls his writing room in one corner of his ranch house. Besides a wall of books, it has a computer.
But he prefers to begin writing longhand and goes back and forth between word processor writing and long-hand.
About three quarters of a rough draft is usually longhand, he explained.
"When I get to the part where I want to be more creative, I go back to longhand," Spooner said.
As is the case with most writers, there is plenty of re-writing. "It takes two or three hours to rough it out. I set it aside for a week or two," Spooner said of his poems. "You have to let it cool."
Ideas from everywhere
He gets ideas from the Internet, he acknowledges. But his ideas come from all walks of life.
"He is in there 12 hours a day. All he comes out for is to breathe and food," Bessie Spooner quips of her husband and his office.
His wife checks his work for typos before he dashes it off to a publication. "She encourages me," he said.
In nicer weather, Spooner enjoys sitting and writing outside in what resembles a grove on his property off Lorson Lane.
Spooner recently compiled a booklet of several of his poems and short stories. Each poem has a brief introduction to make it clearer to the reader, in this case most of whom are friends and family.
For the past three years, Spooner has written a column "Rehoboth Reporter," a monthly. His last two pieces were on Sacagawea, the wife of the Indian guide for Lewis and Clark who the one dollar coin - set to be released next year - is named for, and on the obscure Camel Corps that was active in the Southwest in the 1800s.
Spooner has always been in the print business, you could say. He ran a printing business in Attleboro for 38 years. He used to live in the city and is a native of Attleboro. Spooner knows Latin and pointed out he had to be a good speller in the printing business.
He and his wife have twins, a son, Russell, who lives in California and a daughter, Lorelei, who lives in Smithfield, R.I. Both are avid readers but their father is the writer in the family.
|
