My Staggerford Journal

by Jon Hassler

"April 3, 1976. Completed Staggerford this morning at 9:15. . . . The most satisfying thing I've done since playing high school football."

In the spring of 1975, an unknown Minnesota teacher named Jon Hassler decided to take a sabbatical and fulfill his lifelong dream of writing a novel. A year later, Hassler typed the final page of Staggerford--a book that has won a cherished place as a classic novel of small-town life in America. Now, many years and many novels later, Hassler shares the private story of Staggerford's creation as recorded in the vividly revealing journals he kept while writing the book.

Hassler's My Staggerford Journal is at once the narrative of a work of art struggling to be born and the portrait of a creative mind in the throes of a life-altering breakthrough. Day by day, we peer over Hassler's shoulder as he breathes life into his creation--realizing with a sudden flash of insight that his hero Miles Pruitt should not have a wife, shaping and reshaping the character of the Bonewoman, heeding the good "advice" of the spirited Miss Agatha McGee, stumbling on the perfect title. Here, too, is the moving account of the novelist's inner doubts and comic missteps, his lonely triumphs and jarring sacrifices.

My Staggerford Journal affords a rare glimpse into the imagination of one of the best-loved masters of contemporary American fiction. Jon Hassler's many fans, as well as all readers interested in seeing the creative process at work, will be spellbound by this wonderful book.

Genres: Nonfiction

101 pages, Hardcover

First published December 7, 1999

About the author

Jon Hassler was born in Minneapolis, but spent his formative years in the small Minnesota towns of Staples and Plainview, where he graduated from high school. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from St. John's University in 1955. While teaching English at three different Minnesota high schools, he received his Master of Arts degree in English from the University of North Dakota in 1960. He continued to teach at the high school level until 1965, when he began his collegiate teaching career: first at Bemidji State University, then Brainerd Community College (now called Central Lakes College), and finally at Saint John's, where he became the Writer-in-Residence in 1980.

During his high-school teaching years, Hassler married and fathered three children. His first marriage lasted 25 years. He had two more marriages; the last was to Gretchen Kresl Hassler.

In 1994, Hassler was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a disease similar to Parkinson's. It caused vision and speech problems, as well as difficulty walking, but he was able to continue writing. He was reported to have finished a novel just days before his death. Hassler died in 2008, at the age of 74, at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.[1]

The Jon Hassler Theater in Plainview, Minnesota, is named for him.

Reviews

[Shirley Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I get a chance to read an author's account of how they wrote a book I like, I take it. I recently read Staggerford Staggerford a second time. I ordered it from Amazon (hate to admit that) and saw this book was available, so I ordered it as well.

Hassler wrote it many years after he wrote Staggerford but had apparently kept a journal. He grew more and more on fire with the desire to write as he completed it, and a second book, Jemmy. He mentions his wife and children now and then and, as a wife and mother, I could read between the lines of how his priorities shifted and spending time with his family suffered, even more than what he specified. He's honest, self deprecating where appropriate in that regard, and very clear in the joy of discovering his purpose.

It was fascinating but a little depressing in showing how much publishing has changed. Authors whose books are not bestsellers don't make much money any more. He struggled for years to earn enough money by writing so he could stop teaching, but it was possible. I don't think it is anymore.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I probably read this book 50 years ago when I discovered Jon Hassler and Staggerford. As a person who is now 77 and has hours and hours to read over 600 books year, I still have to say that Staggerford and other novels in the series had left a lasting and wonderful imprint on my soul. I was blessed to find this author and by his empathy with and creativity about average Minnesota humans. I CANNOT POSSIBLY RECOMMEND A BOOK MORE THAN I DO STAGGERFORD. The journal is a bonus. Kristi & Abby Tabby

[Joan M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hassler takes the reader through the long involved process of his final goal -- being an author.

[Bayneeta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hassler shares journal entries for the roughly three years when he was writing Staggerford and working on other writing and painting projects. Includes time before his sabbatical; the actual sabbatical; and the time afterwards when he sells the book and returns, reluctantly, to teaching his college classes. Lots of interesting thoughts about the writing process. This man loved writing and the solitude of writing above all else.

[Lisa Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short but informative book about a teacher who became a self-taught writer. Hassler's time was about using a typewriter, keeping a journal and using carbon copies when he wrote. It was also about raising a family in Minnesota and the everyday routine moments that define living and were not captured by the internet or any other social media. The reader immediately feels as though they are in the room with Hassler and that is by definition the mark of an excellent writer.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This physically-pleasing, slender volume gave me some insight into the creative process. Some of the entries are quite mundane, detailing the number of pages written, the physical arrangements for the writing process, and how Hassler coped with the novelty of a sabbatical. Other entries provide a glimpses into the creation of characters, the unruliness of characters who don't act as they are intended to, and the mechanics of plotting. A pleasure to hold and to read.

[trickgnosis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An account of Hassler's writing and selling his first novel, it's a good, short read but will really only be of interest to fans of Hassler or writers interested in reflections on the process of writing.

[Colin Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it might help to have read Staggerford first, but i found this interesting even as a casual reader of his stuff. Quick read.