Friday Finds for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
2

Treasure ChestWriting-related resources, news, and reflections to enjoy over the weekend.

  • Statistically speaking, it’s easier for poets and nonfiction writers to have their work accepted by Colorado Review than it is for fiction writers. But it isn’t exactly easy for anyone.
  • Some of the young ‘uns may not quite appreciate Nick Ripatrazone’s “Miss You, SASE: On Postal Submissions” as much as some of the elders among us are likely to.
  • From Publishers Lunch: “The latest VIDA statistics assessing gender representation in book reviews continue to draw comment and response. But VIDA’s lens, expanded this year to include more publications, still primarily examines periodicals and journals and overlooks the substantial body of daily and weekly book reviews in large-circulation newspapers. That’s exactly the world we have tracked for years in our Publishers Marketplace Book Reviews database (also shown via our cool Top Reviewers tool), which offers a rich data set for analysis. In examining that data over the past 5 years, there are some interesting findings that may expand on the view that VIDA has depicted.” Indeed.
  • Speaking of book reviews: I’ve always heard nice things about Laurie Hertzel, books editor for Minneapolis’s Star Tribune, so I was intrigued to discover this interview with her. (Fun fact: Hertzel is also an MFA student!)
  • And last, but absolutely not least, I recommend that you spend some time this weekend with David Gessner’s smart and thoughtful take on “The Essay’s Place.”

    • Have a great weekend, everyone. (Practicing Writer subscribers, look for your March issue to arrive shortly!)

    Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: #AWP14 Archival Edition

    by Erika Dreifus on
    3

    AWPI am not, alas, among the thousands of people journeying to Seattle today for the annual conference of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP). This year, the conference is too far away, too costly, and too heavy a tax on my vacation-day bank here at the day job to make the trip worthwhile.

    That said, I’m an AWP veteran, having registered for and attended eight of its conferences since 2001. (Last year, I didn’t register, but made a quick trip to Boston on the conference’s last day to see friends and stroll through the Bookfair without having paid for registration on the conference’s last day.)

    In this post, I’ll share some archival offerings describing them–and offer you an article from 2011 with advice for conference-goers (much of which remains useful!). (more…)

    Monday Markets for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Monday brings the weekly batch of no-fee competitions/contests, paying submission calls, and jobs for those of us who write (especially those of us who write fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction).

  • The March issue of “The Practicing Writer” will go out to subscribers at week’s end, and as usual, it will be filled with information on upcoming no-fee contests and paying calls for fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. If you’re not yet a subscriber (it’s free, and the subscriber list isn’t shared), now’s an especially good time to subscribe, since I’ve just updated the e-book of “eponymous contests” (also limited to fee-free opportunities) that is an exclusive subscriber benefit.

    • (more…)

    Sunday Sentence

    by Erika Dreifus on
    3

    AmosOz
    Another Sunday in which I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, which asks others to share the best sentence(s) we’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.”

    The rain beat furiously against the darkened windows, as if it were demanding that we listen with rapt attention to some urgent message it had to deliver.

    Source: The Amos Oz Reader, selected and edited by Nitza Ben-Dov (this sentence from a translation by Nicholas de Lange). Truly, there are so many gorgeous sentences in this book.

    Friday Finds for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    3

    Treasure ChestWriting-related resources, news, and reflections to enjoy over the weekend.

  • Lots of us are looking forward to the release of Lorrie Moore’s latest story collection. In the meantime, we can enjoy this profile of Moore from The New York Times.
  • Courtesy of David Abrams’s “Quivering Pen” blog: Susan Perabo on a life-changing story acceptance.
  • Oh, I find this idea of a writing residency on an Amtrak train utterly appealing.
  • “15 Places to Find Stock Images for Blog Posts and Websites.”
  • An excellent installment in the Poets & Writers “Agents & Editors” series: editor and publisher Amy Einhorn.

    • Happy weekend, everyone!