Wednesday’s WIP: Anniversaries

Number7Seven years ago today, I returned to full-time (M-F, 9-5) employment, in a writing-intensive staff job at The City University of New York.

Happy anniversary to me!

This seems to be an appropriate moment to revisit a post from two years ago (day-job anniversary #5), in which I shared a list of day-job benefits that included–but went beyond–the stable paycheck, health insurance, and retirement account. So many of you commented so wonderfully on that post, so why not give it another look?

In other news, the February issue of The Practicing Writer went out at the end of last week, marking the conclusion of 10 full years of the newsletter’s publication and the beginning of Year 11. Happy anniversary to all of us on that one! And thank you all for being part of my writing practice!

P.S. Not an anniversary, but another highlight of this last week: my second book review for The Washington Post. See what I had to say about Elisabeth de Waal’s The Exiles Return.

Monday Markets for Writers

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).

  • ICYMI: The February issue of The Practicing Writer went out to subscribers at the end of last week. As always, the issue is replete with information on upcoming no-fee contests and competitions for poets, fictionists, and writers of creative nonfiction, plus a slew of submission calls from paying journals/publishers.
  • “The Elizabeth Kostova Foundation offers its seventh annual summer fiction writing seminar in the ancient town of Sozopol, Bulgaria….Fiction writers from Bulgaria and fiction writers from English-speaking countries, including but not limited to the U.K. and the U.S., are invited to apply. A total number of ten applicants will be selected for participation and funding.” No application fee. Deadline: March 5, 2014.
  • Paid internship: “Bustle.com is searching for an intern to assist with its Books vertical two days per week in our Brooklyn, NY office (Wednesday availability required). Duties will include a combination of pitching and writing books features, articles, and essays, as well as checking in all new books, upkeep of the database, and research on upcoming titles. It’s a little of the glamorous stuff, a little of the necessary stuff.”
  • “The SUNY Geneseo Department of Residence Life welcomes applications for the position of Area Coordinator of Ontario Hall and Writers House. Area Coordinators are 12-month, live-on professionals who are responsible for the administration of two (2) residence halls.
  • From Tennessee: “Nashville Prep, a grade 5-12 college preparatory charter school, is immediately searching for a committed, intelligent, hard-working 7th Grade Writing Teacher.”
  • Mediabistro is looking for instructors to teach online and in New York. (NB: You must register to access the job listings.)
  • Poets & Writers, Inc., is looking for an online editorial assistant (New York).
  • “The Asian American Writers’ Workshop is looking to hire a Program Director to curate, publicize and manage literary events that are quirky, progressive, and (to use the jargon of postcolonial theory) awesome.” This position is in New York, and may be full-time or part-time.
  • Wednesday’s WIP: Tips for New Book Reviewers

    booksMore than once this week, I’ve had reason to revisit an old post, one that suggests ways to locate forthcoming books for review assignments. (Note the adjective “forthcoming”; many publications plan book coverage weeks if not months ahead of time.) I’m inspired to share the post anew while adding that if I were writing it for the first time, I’d mention Edelweiss, which has become a go-to resource for me to locate publishers’ catalogs and digital review copies. I can also point you today to other resources that have crossed my radar this week: articles filled with previews of books coming in 2014. Some stretch pretty far into 2014 and may give you some new review ideas.

  • “30 Books You Need to Read in 2014”
  • Most Anticipated: The Great 2014 Book Preview”
  • JBC Bookshelf: Spring 2014 Jewish Book Preview (and don’t forget my own, much less expansive “Five Jewish Books for 2014”)
  • Any other lists you’ve seen lately that you’d recommend? Other ideas for finding books to review?

    Friday Finds for Writers

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

  • Over on Fiction Writers Review, Steven Wingate explains why fiction writers should write prose poems.
  • I haven’t yet read Antonya Nelson’s latest story in The New Yorker (weekend reading, anyone?). But once I have, I’ll go back and read this discussion of the story between Nelson and The New Yorker‘s fiction editor Deborah Treisman.
  • A blog I’m just getting to know: English for Journalists.
  • On the Ploughshares blog, Daniel Morales explains how his MFA degree prepared him for his nonacademic, writer-with-a-day-job workplace.
  • Super-thoughtful post by Cathy Day (no surprise there!) on “how we talk about teaching creative writing.”
  • Have a great weekend, everyone.