Dana Haynes
by Marie Stoppelmoor
Features Editor
“I really love my job,” J.
Dana Haynes says. “Journalism
is so much fun, but mystery
writing has been a kick too.”
Professional Journalist, Dana
Haynes, began his career here at
i Clackamas Community College.
From 1980-84, Dana was an
editor of The Print. He is now a
writer for the Lake Oswego
Review and West Linn Tidings,
and soon will have his first
mystery novel published.
“Well, I consider all my col-
I lege work to be professional jour-
I
nalism,” Haynes said, “so I tell
MOAT
GMAT
LSAT
GRE
DAT
SCORE HIGH
people I’ve been at it for seven
years, but I’ve only been paid for
three months.”
“The work I did here was pro
bably more valuable than the
work I did on the Lewis and
Clark newspaper, because I
learned some skills here that are
incredibly valuable,” Haynes
said.
Haynes’ first “staffer” job out
of school is on “two terrific
papers; The Lake Oswego
Review and The West Linn
Tidings.” •
Two jobs? “Well actually we
are one newspaper cleverly
disguised as two (owned by the
same press). I write education for
“Where do I get my ideas? I steal them . .
the Tidings and entertainment
and business for the Review,”
Haynes explained.
How does a career in jour
nalism begin? It took Haynes
seven months to get a staff job
though he was doing independent
work in the meantime. Three
years ago Haynes wrote a novel
as “a typing exercise.” In the ef
fort to get it published himself he
discovered that “selling a book is
as much or more of an art form
than writing one. Some
(publishers)
were
real
polite...with others it was like
throwing a rock through your
window with a note saying ‘kiss
off kid.’ I decided I needed a
change of tack, so I went|back
and reread the book. It stank.
You could have fired a high
caliber bullet into the manuscript
and not hit a single thing worth
saving.”
A single exam
score may be
more impor
tant than your
hard-earned
GPA.
Haynes’ second novel turned
out to be a contemporary murder
mystery which he spent about
four and a half months writing.
‘‘As soon as I completed my
second book, I got a book called
‘The Writers Market’ and got a
list of agents and their addresses.
After months and months of try
ing, I got an agent, Eileen Fallon.
She had the book four weeks and
I had offers from more than one
publisher. Bantam was the best
offer. Its a mysterious magical
thing (agents). It’s like a burnt of
fering to the god of publishing
and they smile on you.
“Where do I get my ideas? I
steal them,” Haynes jokes. “It
simply seemed easier to use
other people’s material. I really
don’t have any idea. My wife,
Peggy, and I talk about it a lot.
I read lots and lots of murder
mysteries and I like them on
T.V.too.”
Of the two book series,
“Bishops’s Gambit Declined”
is the first. The second of the
Harry Bishop series is in third
draft form in New York and
“it’s likely to come back for a
fourth draft.”
My editor at Bantam, Kate
Miciak, is harder than heck,
she’s just great, she has made
me a much better writer than I
would otherwise be,” Haynes
said. “I implement about 90%
of her revisions, cause she’s
right. She’s put as much work
into the bloody thing as I have
and she gets no credit.”
“The story takes place in a
MCAT
GMAT
LSAT
GEE
DAT
and put a nice lead graph on it
and you design a news story,”
Haynes said. ‘‘It’s a function of
society, and interface between
government and the people, it’s
the thing that keeps government
honest. I regret that there are
not better checks on journalists,
there should be a better system.
We screw up as much as govern
ment screws up,” he said.
Hike Into Spring
New class combines
fitness and botany
by Sherri Michaels
GAPS gives you the
knowledge, confidence and the
competitive edge you need to
succeed on critical exams.
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small liberal arts college in
Portland, OR, so I’m writing
about stuff I know,” Haynes
added. “I don’t plan on writing
anything but murder mysteries
and maybe nothing else but the
Harry Bishop series.”
Which type of writing is
Haynes’ favorite?
“Journalism...I get to be
creative, I’m designing informa
tion; you mold it, and squeeze it
survival and is now covering
natural history and ecology and
some botany.
Their first hike was April 23 to
Cascade Head north of Lincoln
City. There they saw several
things in bloom like Wild Ginger,
Candy Flower and Violets. They
are not collecting any specimens
due to the regulations in state and
federal parks. They had a
“beautiful day” plus an “ex
cellent time” according to
Staff Writer
“Spring is a popular time for
hiking class,” said Nancy
Mikelton co-instructor of the new
class “Hike into Spring.”
The class is co-taught by
Mikelton and Bob Misley.
Mikelton teaches the physical
fitness and Misley instructs the
science.
The physical fitness part re^
quires that you participate in a 12
$349.00
$199.00
$179.00
$159.00
$279.00
Send more information
Mad to: GAPS Center
5003rd Ave.W.
Box 34057
Seattle, WA 98124-1057
VISA or MC orders call:
(800) 426-5537 x 1241
(206) 281-1241 from WA, AK, HI, PR.
“They hike rain or shine ”
minute walk/run. Mikelton said
“I always thought that there was
more to just hiking. I wanted to
incorporate plant identification.’’
Misley got into the “Hike into
¡Spring” because “I had an ki
te rest in field biology and had
been in field taxonomy.” The
science part of this class covered
Uhe bqrips first like first aid and
GUARANTEE
centimeters
Colors by Muriseli Color Services Lab
Misley.
There are three more hikes left.
Columbia Gorge, Mt. Hood Na-
I tional Park and “somewhere” in
' Eastern Oregon are the proposed
I
¡areas. They hike rain or shine.
“It is a definite thing for next
spring,” said Misley en
thusiastically.