The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
My great-grandparents, H. & K. Dreifus, the inspirations behind Karoline & Jacob Freiburg in "Matrilineal Descent." Photo © The Dreifus Family.
  • One of the reasons I love this week’s writing prompt from Midge Raymond (“Family History”) is that it essentially explains how I started writing “Matrilineal Descent,” a story that was published in TriQuarterly before it was gathered in my collection, Quiet Americans.
  • Embarrassing word-usage gaffes in The New York Times, courtesy of the newspaper itself.
  • It’s almost time for Short Story Month. Which means that there will be another Collection Giveaway Project coordinated by Fiction Writers Review.
  • Adam Mansbach’s sharp-and-funny take on book blurbs was making the rounds last week. But it’s not too late to laugh (or cringe).
  • And also for fun: Some “accidental photography” sited in New York’s beautiful Central Park, courtesy of my very own sister. (If only my purposeful photos turned out half as well as her accidental ones!) You can also find her photos on Etsy.

    • Quotation of the Week: Dinty W. Moore

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

    “You work with what is given to you. You arrange the puzzle pieces taken from the nonfiction box without reaching over into the fiction box, as tempting as it may be. You do your best to pull up honest memory. Though we know memory’s weakness, at least don’t lie about what you think you remember. When you are not sure, you tell the reader. When you want to change something, explore why you want to change it. Fiction approaches a certain sort of truth, and thank goodness we have fiction, but it is not the same truth that nonfiction attempts. Know the difference. As a nonfiction writer, you will surely make mistakes, get things wrong, remember poorly, but to do it knowingly, that’s crossing the line.”

    Source: Dinty W. Moore, “What is Given: Against Knowingly Changing the Truth,” part of a worthy exchange with Jill Talbot on the Brevity blog.

    Monday Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Every week, I try to start us off with a fresh batch of markets, jobs, and opportunities. Always paying gigs. No submission fees. Let’s get started with this week’s offerings.

  • From Mason’s Road: “For our upcoming issue, the theme is characterization. We are looking for submissions in which characters’ voices, behaviors, and thoughts resonate and shine. While we always aim to publish the very best work that we receive, our genre editors will sift through their selections from Issue #5: Characterization to nominate their favorite for the $1,000 2012 Mason’s Road Literary Award. A special guest judge (TBA) will select the prize winner from these nominations. We have a blind submissions policy and accept work in fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, drama (stage or screen), art, craft essays, and audio drama from both emerging and established writers and artists.” Deadline: May 15, 2012.
  • “Ashland Creek Press is currently accepting submissions of novels, memoirs, short story collections, and essay collections on the themes of travel, the environment, ecology, and wildlife — above all, we’re looking for exceptional, well-written, engaging stories. As you’ll see from our new and forthcoming titles, we are open to many genres (young adult, mystery, literary fiction) as long as the stories are relevant to the themes listed above. At this time, however, we are not reading submissions for children’s books.
  • The Dave Greber Freelance Writers Book and Magazine Awards are for Canadian residents who work a minimum of 70 percent of their time as self-employed freelance writers. “As of 2012, the book award is valued at five thousand dollars and the magazine award is valued at two thousand dollars. Both awards are made available to freelance writers of non-fiction for social justice writing that is exceptionally well written and researched. The Book and Magazine awards provide financial support while the writer completes a book or magazine project for publication.” No entry fees indicated. Deadline: June 15, 2012.
  • “The Paris Review wishes to hire a full-time assistant for our editorial, advertising, and development staffs. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: managing social networks, updating Web store, formatting and proofreading Web site, and producing newsletters. Candidates should have experience with Google Analytics, HTML, WordPress, and Excel. Experience with InDesign and SalesForce (or other fund-raising programs) a plus. In addition, candidates should have strong writing skills, an interest in the arts, lots of energy and enthusiasm, and the ability to do many things very well at once.” Job is in NYC.
  • Intriguing freelance opportunity for those in the right cities: “The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) seeks a San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston-based freelance writer to write profiles for our member site http://membercentral.aaas.org. Please have experience writing profiles and science content for a broad audience. A background or degree in journalism is preferred. A degree in science with proven writing skills will also be considered. We pay $.75/word at a maximum length of 800 words. You are required to submit a high-res digital photo (good enough for web publication) of the profile subject with your story. We pay $5 for every photo you take that we publish with the story. We accept but don’t pay for photos the profile subject gives you/us permission to use.”
  • “The University of Houston-Victoria invites applications for the position of Writer-in-Residence in the School of Arts and Sciences. The individual must have a strong publication record in creative non-fiction and be able to help us grow our Creative Writing major as well as establish a low-residency MFA. Teaching duties will include upper-division courses in creative nonfiction as well as introductory Creative Writing classes.  The School of Arts and Sciences is home to the Society for Critical Exchange, Cuneiform Press, Centro Victoria, and two internationally distributed journals: American Book Review (http://americanbookreview.org) and symploke (www.symploke.org).”
  • Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (New York) is looking for a Communications Coordinator, Infectious Diseases Society of America (Arlington, Va.) seeks a Senior Communications Specialist, and Sarabande Books, Inc., (Louisville, Ky.) is taking applications for a Director of Marketing and Development.

    • Friday Find: Emily Barton’s Advice for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    MFA advice! Publishing advice! Jobs advice! “General Words of Wisdom.” You’ll find it all on Emily Barton’s website. Emily is a novelist and writing professor, and she knows her stuff. Check out her website’s excellent “advice for writers” page, freshly updated to address “How Can I Improve My Chances of Being Accepted to an Undergraduate Workshop?” and “How Do I Ask a Professor for a Letter of Reference?”.

    Have a good weekend, everyone. See you back here on Monday.

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
  • This week brought us the April Jewish Book Carnival, an assortment of book-focused blog links from a multiple contributors. Many thanks to April’s host, Amy Meltzer and her terrific Homeshuling blog.
  • An extensive (and salty) interview with U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine, complemented by several poems, on Tablet.
  • My friend B.J. Epstein is a scholar of children’s literature (among her other areas of expertise). This week, she shared some thoughts on “No Happy Endings: Holocaust Memorial Day and Children.”
  • In case you missed the post earlier this week, author Ellen Cassedy anticipated Yom HaShoah with reflections on Eva Hoffman’s inspirational After Such Knowledge.
  • Also on the Holocaust theme: my enthusiastic review of Laurent Binet’s HHhH (translated by Sam Taylor).
  • And an item from my Practicing Writing blog, about Yom HaShoah and my short story collection, Quiet Americans.

    • Shabbat shalom.