Writing-related resources, news, and reflections to read over the weekend.
Sometimes, the truth hurts. And there’s pain in this Grub Daily post, “If You Write What You Love, Will the Money Follow?”.
On Lisa Romeo’s blog: a guest post with tips on giving good readings.
Litro magazine has launched a new flash-fiction column featuring the expertise of Tania Hershman.
Short Story Month is nearly upon us. Do you have plans to celebrate? I’ve been remiss: I’d hoped to organize a virtual “panel” on Goodreads featuring some short-story authors of my acquaintance, but I’ve fallen woefully behind. I think that I’ll at least be able to manage a giveaway. Stay tuned! (And let me know what you may be planning.)
Lovely (and inspiring) dispatch from a “Poetry Utopia at the Barred Owl Retreat,” courtesy of Diane Lockward.
Have a great weekend, everyone. See you back here on Monday.
The only way I thus far plan to celebrate Short Story Month is to keep writing them. But plans can always change. 🙂
From the first couple paragraphs of the Grub Street Daily piece, I thought I’d find a lot I’d agree with. Writing what we love is rarely a consistently well-paid job that will sustain your household. (The only way I can afford to do it–and I use the word “afford” loosely–is because I’m married to someone who works FT.) But then I read the rest and thought, “Whoa, no wonder he’s not succeeding!”
I’m not opposed to entering contests with a small entry free in theory. But entering more than a couple and really spending a chunk of change on those types of subs–when there are so many places to submit for free–doesn’t seem like a path to success to me.
And spending a lot of time subbing to unpaid markets–not just one or two–seems like misspent time to me, too.
And why produce a costly production without a grant or investor secured first?
It’s not the “I’m not making money part” that surprised me, but the fact that his writing practice is sending him into the red.
Well, I think that he’s realized that the fee-charging contests aren’t a great idea. And most fiction writers I know do send work to non-paying (or low-paying) markets. There just aren’t that many high-paying, high-quality venues that publish lots of fiction. As for the productions–that’s outside my field, so I really can’t comment. Your overall point, though–that it’s one thing not to be making money and other to be bleeding it–is definitely worth noting.