Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Behind that Brevity Byline

by Erika Dreifus on
9

Last week, the online journal Brevity launched its latest issue. I’m proud that my essay, “Before Sunrise,” is part of it.brevitylogo435

As mentioned in the bio note that follows the piece, “Before Sunrise” is one in a series of linked essays that I’ve been working on. At the moment, there are four essays in the sequence. Each essay treats an element of an assault that took place four years ago. The opening piece, “Sunday in the City,” was published in carte blanche last fall. Another essay, essentially “about” the medical/surgical treatment that followed the attack, is the one that, as I’ve mentioned here on the blog, was recently accepted for publication later this year.

Meantime, the fourth essay, which centers around the ensuing police investigation, has begun circulating in search of a home. All of you practicing writers will surely appreciate this fun fact: Within barely an hour of the Brevity essay going live, I received an initial rejection (via email) for that fourth essay. Ah, technology! (At least, though, it was a personalized and encouraging rejection.)

Another practice-related note: This is my first byline in Brevity after many, MANY submissions that I’ve sent in over several years. All of that advice that you hear is true: You can’t let one or two (or more) rejections stop you from submitting your work.

One last thing: I’ve been moved (and overwhelmed) by the response to “Before Sunrise.” Thank you all for your kind messages and comments.

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).

  • “Open City, an online magazine published by the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, documents the pulse of metropolitan Asian America as it’s being lived on the streets of New York right now. Covered by the Wall Street Journal and NPR, a collaborative partner with the New Museum and the Museum of Chinese in America, Open City grants a $5,000 fellowship, career guidance, and publishing opportunities to five Creative Nonfiction Fellows to write and produce both short-form and long-form editorial content on the vibrant immigrant communities of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. If you’re an emerging creative nonfiction writer looking for financial support, a place to publish and career mentorship, apply to become a Creative Nonfiction Fellow.” Apply by March 25. No application fee.
  • “Issue 10 of Workers Write! will be More Tales from the Cubicle and will contain stories and poems from the office worker’s point of view. Drop us a line if you have a question. The deadline for submissions is Dec. 31, 2013 (or the issue is full). Submit your stories via e-mail to: cubicle@workerswritejournal.com, or send a hard copy to: Blue Cubicle Press, P.O. Box 250382, Plano, TX 75025-0382. Word count: 50 to 5,000 words. Payment: Between $5 and $50 (depending on length and rights requested). We will consider previously published material.” (via NewPages.com)
  • Two Dollar Radio, which publishes “books too loud to ignore,” has reopened for submissions. (via @Duotrope)
  • “Kepler’s Arts & Lectures is looking to expand its Events Team by hiring an Events Director. This is a leadership position that offers an opportunity to make a major positive impact on the cultural life of Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area overall. The position will require hands-on engagement. It is ideal for an experienced literary events producer who has significant relationships and experience and is ready to move to the next stage of his or her career.
  • “Waldorf College [Iowa] is seeking a permanent, full-time Assistant Professor of Creative Writing to direct the Creative Writing major; teach techniques and workshop courses in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction; and mentor thesis writers.”
  • “The Department of English at Kansas State University invites applications for a visiting assistant professor serving as a one-year replacement in poetry beginning August 18, 2013.”

    • Friday Finds for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    6

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

  • I must admit that I agree with Susan Kushner Resnick: Nonfiction should be nonfiction (or, “what don’t you understand about the word ‘non’?”). But not everyone concurs. What do you think?
  • On the Virginia Quarterly Review blog, Bethanne Patrick discerns “the biggest danger to anyone’s writing”.
  • Another excellent post from Carol Tice, this time on “the deadly math mistake that will make your freelance business fail.” (In other news, I’ll confess that Carol’s new guest-post policy disappoints me, since I’m no longer eligible to pitch.)
  • I don’t have a regular professorial gig, but I can nonetheless commiserate with much of Cathy Day’s post, “For the Man Who Called Me for Advice About How to Get Published.”
  • Here is something that I know that I need to (re)consider: “How to Organize the Writing Samples on Your Writer Website.” Many thanks to the Renegade Writer blog for posting and urging that consideration along. (I somehow feel as though my own situation is complicated by the fact that in addition to the diversity of nonfiction that I write, I’m also a fictionist and poet. If you have examples of sites that negotiate this challenge well–including your own–please share, in comments.)

    • Have a great weekend, everyone. See you back here on Monday!

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish news, primarily of the literary variety, from around the Web.

  • A list of the latest children’s books to be translated from Hebrew to English. (via Makom)
  • I’m currently reading Michael Lavigne’s new novel, The Wanting, which The Forward reviewed this week.
  • Ellen Ullman’s sad and unsettling story, “Fathers,” is the latest installment in Tablet’s fiction series.
  • Ann D. Koffsky host the March Jewish Book Carnival.
  • My application to the Asylum International Jewish Artists Retreat was solicited last fall, but it wasn’t accepted. (Disappointed, I followed up with an email inquiry that was never answered.) But at least I’m able to get a glimpse into the event, which took place earlier this month, via Susan Reimer-Torn’s report for The Jewish Week.

    • Shabbat shalom!