Friday Finds for Writers

The weekly collection of writing-related resources, news, and reflections to read over the weekend.

  • To begin: As you may have noticed, I’m something of a dash fan (even if I have to disguise the dash as a hyphen sometimes for text-only newsletters that don’t absorb the auto-corrected dash all that well). Which is all a way of saying that I loved Ben Yagoda’s “Mad Dash” column for NYTimes.com this week.
  • “How NOT to Put Together a Short-story Collection,” by Amber Sparks.
  • Joel Friedlander’s useful “Twitter for the Absolutely Terrified Newbie Author.”
  • Clear-eyed post on “the economics of self-publishing,” with a detailed case example, from Anne Trubek.
  • If you’re in the Boston area, I hope you’re going to be able to enjoy the Boston Book Festival this weekend. Wish that I could be there with you.
  • Have a great weekend, all. See you back here on Monday.

    Friday Finds for Writers

    The weekly collection of writing-related resources, news, and reflections to read over the weekend.

  • I’ll be traveling (again!) this weekend, and while I wait around airports I’m hoping to read at least some of the essays mentioned in Robert Atwan’s “The Top 10 Essays Since 1950.”
  • To help you get started publishing your stories, essays, and poems: an updated list of links.
  • “50 Freelance Tips” from The Writer magazine.
  • And, some freelance tips (or warnings) from me, courtesy of Carol Tice’s “Make a Living Writing” blog.
  • Finally: Like many, I had a visceral and horrified reaction to the news we’ve all followed from Penn State. And, like many who have already cited it this week, I am deeply impressed by Michael Bérubé’s essay on why he resigned the Paterno Family Professorship in Literature at Pennsylvania State University.
  • Have a great weekend, everyone. See you back here on Monday.

    Monday Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers

  • New scholarship opportunity: “The second annual River Teeth Nonfiction Conference [takes place in Ashland, Ohio, in May] is pleased to announce that it is offering four merit-based scholarships for students currently enrolled in undergraduate or graduate writing programs. Students interested should complete the registration form and scholarship application by March 1, 2013. The registration fee is waived for scholarship applicants. Scholarships cover the cost of registration for the conference. Recipients are responsible for all other expenses (travel, room and board, etc.). The scholarship does not cover the cost of a full-length manuscript consultation.”
  • Do you have some design skills? Ardor, a new literary magazine, is looking for a logo. “We’re looking for something no larger than 4”x 4” and the winning submission will successfully integrate our publication name into the design. Submit your best work by the end of the day on Friday, November 30, 2012. We’ll announce the winner by the end of December and feature the winning logo in our first three issues of ARDOR, crediting you as the designer with a brief bio. The designer of the winning logo will receive a token payment of $20 upon publication of our first issue.” (via The Review Review)
  • The October issue of The Practicing Writer, filled with information on no-fee writing contests and competitions and paying calls for submission, went out to subscribers this weekend.
  • Attention, Minnesota writers of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. You may be eligible to apply for the Beyond the Pure Fellowships for Writers (formerly the SASE Jerome Grants for Emerging Writers). The program confers “grants of up to $4,000 to four to six emerging Minnesota writers each year….In addition to their grant award, recipients also participate in a 12-month fellowship program that provides community, mentorship, guidance, workshops, and resources throughout the program year….Intermedia Arts’ Beyond the Pure Fellowships for Writers places a particular emphasis on increasing the visibility of and providing a platform for emerging writers whose voices have historically been underrepresented in the literary arts.” Application deadline is 6 p.m. on Friday, October 19. No application fee indicated.
  • “The University of North Carolina Wilmington invites applications for a full-time Editor of Ecotone—Reimagining Place and Lookout Books, an award-winning teaching press, at the rank of lecturer in the Department of Creative Writing on a continuing 12-month appointment, beginning July 1, 2013. This is an excellent opportunity to join a nationally recognized department that offers both a BFA and an MFA, as well as a Certificate in Publishing. Each semester, the successful candidate will teach a course in literary magazine editing associated with the journal Ecotone, as well as another course in the editing/publishing curriculum for either undergraduates or graduate students.”
  • Lots more teaching jobs again this week. To see what else I’ve found, keep on reading!
  • (more…)

    Monday Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers

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

    • First up: ArtsFwd is looking for two Blogging Fellows, who “will be expected to contribute posts of 500 to 800 words twice monthly for a four month term about topics including the process of innovation, adaptive leadership, and new thinking about organizational change in the arts, with a focus on models of success. Fellows will also be expected to monitor comments on their posts and respond as appropriate. Topics for posts will be selected and edited in collaboration with the EmcArts staff, and may include analysis of sector trends and current events, interviews with arts leaders and non-arts innovators, book reviews, and roundups of news and events.” Pays: “Blogging Fellows will be paid as freelancers at a rate of $50 per post. If Fellows have an existing blog, cross-posting content generated for ArtsFwd is allowed and encouraged. Following the successful completion of their term, Fellows will be welcome to continue writing for ArtsFwd on an ad hoc basis. The position is not office based: candidates from all over the United States are encouraged to apply.” Apply by September 17, 2012.
    • From The Pedestal Magazine: “FROM AUGUST 28-OCTOBER 13, AND AGAIN FROM OCTOBER 28-DECEMBER 13, WE WILL ONLY BE RECEIVING POETRY SUBMISSIONS (NO RESTRICTIONS ON THEME, LENGTH, OR STYLE). There is no need to query prior to submitting poetry. Submit up to six (6) poems. Please submit all poems in one (1) file. Pay Rate: $40 per poem.”
    • Subscribers have had all weekend to peruse the September issue of The Practicing Writer. But you can catch up with all of the paying publication opportunities and no-cost competitions listed within by clicking here.
    • Towson University (Md.) is advertising for a tenure-track Assistant Professor of English. “Creative Non-Fiction Writing specialist. Sub-fields may include lyric essay, free-lance writing, editing, prose style, memoir, and/or rhetoric. Candidates must possess a demonstrated commitment to teaching and evidence of an active creative agenda, generally shown by a book or several significant journal publications.”
    • “The English Department, University of Kentucky, seeks a tenure-track assistant professor specializing in Creative Nonfiction. Experience teaching other genres of creative writing, as well as literature courses, is also desirable. Subspecialty in Appalachian literature and culture is also desired.”  If the link doesn’t take you directly to the listing, it will help to know the job requisition number: SM542545. (h/t to Tasha Cotter)
    • “The English Department of Williams College seeks to fill a full-time tenure-track position in Creative Writing (Poetry), beginning in fall 2013. Appointments are normally at the beginning assistant professor level. Requirements include at least one book with a nationally recognized press, as well as evidence of excellence in teaching.”
    • Washington City Paper seeks a City Lights Editor, Ogden Publications (Topeka, Kansas) is looking for an Online Editorial Assistant, and Girls Write Now (New York) is advertising for a Director of Programs.

    Monday Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers

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

  • First up: Stealing Time is a new quarterly literary magazine “about the heart of parenting. We explore the real stories of parents through fiction, essay, poetry, book reviews, and other pieces that are sad, hopeful, ebullient, resigned, reverent, wry, surprising, gut-busting, or just plain strange.” NB: “We pay! We consider this our most important priority. Writers should be paid. We’ll let you know how much we expect to pay when we accept your piece; most will be between $100 and $500, depending on length and how hard our jaws hit the floor when we start reading.” (via Duotrope.com)
  • Next: “A six-month, full-time, paid, writing internship is available at Smithsonian magazine in Washington, D.C., beginning January 2013. The internship involves writing, blogging and producing multimedia for the magazine’s Web site and writing for the print magazine’s “Around the Mall” department. Candidates should have a proven aptitude for writing and Web-journalism skills. A recent undergraduate or graduate degree is a must.”
  • “Initiated in 1998, Stadler Fellowships [at Bucknell University, Penn.] offer a recent MFA or MA in poetry the opportunity to receive professional training in arts administration and literary editing. Stadler Fellowships are designed to balance the development of professional skills with time to complete a first book of poems. Stadler Fellows assist for twenty hours each week in the administration of the Stadler Center for Poetry and/or in the editing of West Branch, Bucknell’s nationally distinguished literary journal. Fellows also work as staff members and instructors in the Bucknell Seminar for Younger Poets in June. The Fellowship stipend is $20,000. In addition, each Fellow is provided health insurance, office space in the Stadler Center, and housing. Depending on circumstances, Fellows are either housed in a furnished apartment in the Poet’s Cottage or provided with a stipend to seek housing on their own in Lewisburg.” Next application deadline is October 1, and there’s no application fee indicated.
  • Coming this week: The September issue of The Practicing Writer. Packed with no-fee competition info and paying submission calls. (Plus, a Q&A with David Abrams.)
  • “The Department of English at Skidmore College [N.Y.] invites applications from actively publishing fiction writers to fill a tenure-track Assistant Professorship in fiction writing. Secondary interests welcome. The teaching load will alternate yearly between 3/2 and 2/2. Responsibilities include periodic participation in Skidmore’s First Year Experience program. Ph.D., M.F.A, or equivalent; publications; and teaching experience required.”
  • “Hampshire College’s [Mass.] Creative Writing Program invites applications for an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and African American Literary Arts, to begin in fall 2013. We seek a writer (of poetry, fiction, and/or creative nonfiction) whose artistic and critical work is engaged with the histories, literary arts, and cultures of people of African descent, particularly in the United States. We are especially interested in candidates whose work explores the intersections of creative practice, research and issues of social justice. We seek candidates who are interested in teaching workshop-based courses as well as modeling for students what it can mean for writers to engage with literature through critical and theoretical lenses.”