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).

  • “Jaggery, a DesiLit arts and literature journal, connects South Asian diasporic writers and homeland writers; we also welcome non-South Asians with a deep and thoughtful connection to South Asian countries, who bring their own intersecting perspectives to the conversation. (By South Asia we mean Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, The Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.) Our hope with Jaggery is to create a journal that offers the best writing by and about South Asians and their diaspora….We publish ART, ESSAYS, FICTION, POETRY, REVIEWS, and an advice column. We prefer original, previously unpublished submissions; we solicit reprints only in exceptional cases….We’re purchasing ongoing worldwide digital rights, for use in web and possible downloaded forms (ebook, PDF, etc.). Six months after publication, you may request to have your work removed from our online archive. We follow a blind submission review process and pay $25 for prose/poetry/art.” Hurry up if you’re interested: “The deadline for submissions for the inaugural issue is July 31st, 2013.” (via @Duotrope)
  • “Blank Fiction Magazine is currently accepting submissions for our first three issues! The themes for each are: Literary Fiction, Noir Fiction and Science Fiction.” Deadline for the first (literary fiction) issue is October 15. Pays: “Blank Fiction Magazine is proud to support all of our writers with a $50 honorarium for their contribution to our pages.”
  • “Soomo Publishing, an independent publisher of college-level webtexts, seeks experienced freelance writers to contribute original commentaries on world literature. Soomo is convinced that textbooks don’t have to be boring. With this in mind, we are looking for magazine feature-type commentaries to accompany important works of pre-Renaissance-era writing. The commentaries will be included in an online world literature course, and are intended to provide historical and cultural context that is both instructive and thought-provoking. Our goal is to capture students’ imagination and introduce them to the ‘stories behind the stories.’ In terms of voice, our models include Smithsonian magazine, Wilson Quarterly, and Mental Floss’s’101 Masterpieces’ series–in short, anything that makes culture relevant, stimulating, and accessible.” Pays: “Commentaries are being assigned at 1,500 words, at a rate of $0.50/word.”
  • As announced in its latest newsletter: “Creative Nonfiction is looking for new instructors for its online classes. Responsibilities include creating written lectures, reading and responding to student work, engaging in online discussion, and answering student questions on a daily basis.”
  • Coming soon! More no-fee writing contests and paying calls for prose and poetry in the August issue of The Practicing Writer, which will go out to subscribers before week’s end. Get your copy right in your e-mailbox. It’s free, and we don’t sell, rent, or share our mailing list.
  • Algonquin Books (Chapel Hill, N.C.) is looking for an Assistant Publicist.

    • Sunday Sentence Debut

    by Erika Dreifus on
    1

    TPR-205Oh, what a creature of habit I am. I try to adhere to a nice, structured blogging schedule, and weekend Practicing Writing posts aren’t part of it.

    But today I have to break with routine and 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.” So, without further ado:

    “I breathed in the night air that was or was not laced with anachronistic blossoms and felt the small thrill I always felt to a lesser or greater degree when I looked at Manhattan’s skyline and the innumerable illuminated windows and the liquid sapphire and ruby of traffic on the FDR Drive and the present absence of the towers.”

    –from “False Spring” by Ben Lerner, in The Paris Review (Summer 2013)

    Friday Finds for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

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

  • Lisa Romeo earned her MFA five years ago. What does she have to show for it? (Read this eloquent and honest piece, people. You won’t regret it.)
  • For your weekend literary listening: “Andre Dubus III & Edith Pearlman: A Reading & Conversation, Sponsored by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation,” courtesy of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP).
  • With a little help from Ben Yagoda, Carol Tice presents “7 Simple Fixes” for writing mistakes.
  • Ron Charles reflects on Amazon.com’s “New Books” suggestions. (I am compelled to add that these suggestions may have some usefulness for book reviewers looking for not-yet-published titles to review.)
  • Finally, I’m not sure exactly which of my Twitter connections pointed me to Mashable’s “Complete Guide to Twitter Lingo,” but I think that Twitter newbies, especially, may appreciate it.

    • Happy weekend, everyone. See you back here on Monday!

    Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Playwriting 101 Update

    by Erika Dreifus on
    3

    GeorgeRemember back in April, when I shared with you my interest in learning how to write a play? Well, three months later, I thought that it might be time for an update.

    My progress, such as it is, has been negligible. I’m only a couple of chapters into Kathleen E. George’s Playwriting: The First Workshop. Even so, I’ve finished reading A.R. Gurney’s The Dinner Party (discussed and assigned in George’s book), and I’m about to start David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross (analyzed in my current chapter). I’ve drafted my own first scene, and I’m looking forward to my next generative assignment.

    I’m also trying to attend at least one live theater performance each month. My July foray will likely take place next weekend…though I may dodge my own requirement somewhat by watching a free performance of Glengarry Glen Ross from the comfort of my home thanks to Amazon Prime Instant Video.

    I’m having fun with this–it’s always exciting to try to take my writing practice in new directions, especially when the stakes are low: I’m not being graded, I have no deadline, I’m not (yet) submitting work for anyone else to see. All of that may happen in due course, to be sure, but those pressures are off for the moment.

    How about you? Trying anything new with your writing this summer?