Wednesday’s WIP: Chapbook Update

by Erika Dreifus on
6

Remember when I told you that I was about to submit a poetry chapbook manuscript to a contest for the very first time? And remember when I told you that the manuscript had reached quarterfinalist status? Well, this week brought news of the semifinalist round; my chapbook has advanced no further.

But I remain so glad to have entered this contest. It’s what prompted me to assemble an actual chapbook manuscript. After I shared the quarterfinals news, one of my poet friends offered to read the manuscript and made some helpful suggestions. And over the past couple of weeks, I’ve revised the manuscript further. I anticipate submitting it to more contests over the next months. Please stay tuned!

Words of the Week: David Horovitz

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

In an Israel beset by threats and challenges in almost every direction, an Israel whose northern border is just an hour’s drive from Assad’s toxic Damascus, an Israel being urged by the international community to take territorial risks for peace in a vicious, WMD-using, phenomenally unstable Middle East — in that Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be feeling a further bitter vindication of his long-held and oft-stated conviction that, ultimately, against all dangers, Israel needs to be able to take care of itself, by itself.

Source: David Horovitz, The Times of Israel

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 September issue of The Practicing Writer went out to subscribers this weekend. If you missed it, you can find it here.
  • Denali National Park & Preserve (Alaska) is accepting applications for its Artist-in-Residence program until September 30. No application fee indicated. “Each residency takes place during a ten day period between June and September. Artists stay at the historic East Fork Cabin at Mile 43 on the Park Road. Artists are responsible for their own food and transportation. No stipend is provided. Each artist may bring one adult guest for the length of the residency.”
  • “The Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival is pleased to announce the call for submissions for the 2013 Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize. The Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize, a cash award of $500, will be awarded to the best Brooklyn-focused non-fiction essay which is set in Brooklyn and is about Brooklyn and/or Brooklyn people/characters. We are seeking compelling Brooklyn stories from writers with a broad range of backgrounds and ages who can render Brooklyn’s rich soul and intangible qualities through the writer’s actual experiences in Brooklyn.From the collection of selected Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize submissions, five authors will be selected to read from their work and discuss their Brooklyn stories with the audience at our December 2013 event.” No entry fee. Prize of $500.
  • From George Washington University: “For appointment beginning in the fall of 2014, we seek a writer of creative nonfiction to teach two semesters at The George Washington University as the Jenny McKean Moore Writer-in-Washington.”
  • “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 2014.”
  • From the University of Virginia: “UVa’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies seeks applicants to fill non-tenure track part-time Writing Lecturer position in the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies Program for its various locations beginning in 2014. Person should be willing to travel. SCPS employs academic faculty who have applicable content expertise at the appropriate level, and who provide evidence of recent and/or current professional experience which applies to students’ achieving the goals and learning outcomes of the program. Subject area needs include, but are not limited to: Poetry, Fiction, and Academic Writing.”

    • Sunday Sentence

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    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.”
    Unknown“One radio blended into another radio, the congregation around each car standing with heads bent like at a funeral, and when a person left the circle of listeners the solemn face would remain solemn, the bent head would remain bent, a solitary fighter walking into the ring but without the robe, without the name emblazoned across the back, just a New Yorker in work clothes, walking forward, but really these walks looked direction-less except everyone, everyone, was walking uptown.”

    Source: Adam Berlin, The Number of Missing. (It seems that I really have difficulty with the “without commentary” part of the Sunday Sentence project; I am compelled to add that I read so many sentences that impressed me as Sunday Sentence-worthy in the advance reading copy I received.)

    Friday Finds for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

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

  • Monica Byrne’s “anti-resumé” is making the virtual rounds–and with good reason.
  • Advice for prospective anthology editors from Sarah Weinman.
  • “How Did You Become a Writer?” Brian Doyle has an answer–and some additional suggestions.
  • A mega-post on mentoring from Cathy Day.
  • Weekend listening possibilities abound within the River Teeth Nonfiction Conference audio archive. (h/t @KateHopper)

    • Have a great weekend, everyone! (Subscribers, you can expect to receive the next issue of The Practicing Writer before we meet here again!)