Wednesday’s WIP: After The Muse–and After the MFA

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

muse2014Honestly, I don’t know how they do it, but the Grub Street team presents an outstanding (and outstandingly-organized) conference with The Muse and the Marketplace every year. I have so many thoughts/gleanings to share after last weekend’s conference, but I am trying to be equally organized (in my mind, before I even attempt the screen). Pending further commentary, I thought I’d share a bit about the session that I moderated on Saturday afternoon.

The session that I’d proposed was titled “After the MFA: Constructing and Leading a Writing Life.” My super-accomplished co-panelists were Matt Bell, Patricia Park, and Laura van den Berg.

For those of you who weren’t able to attend the conference and/or our session, here’s the text of the handout that I prepared for distribution. Please feel free to add your resource suggestions in the comments section. Thanks! (more…)

Monday Markets for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

dollar-sign-mdMonday 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).

  • First things first: If you haven’t seen the May issue of The Practicing Writer yet, you’ll find a slew of no-fee competitions and paying calls for fiction, poetry, and cnf within.

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    Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Where to Read (and Publish) Literary Humor?

    by Erika Dreifus on
    4

    laughingSo, this past week brought a minor milestone to my writing life: my first submission to The New Yorker‘s “Shouts & Murmurs” department.

    I would call the piece that I submitted an example of “literary humor.” I would do so because I can’t quite figure out a better label for it: it’s a short (450-word) piece that essentially brings a 19th-century novel’s character into the present. That’s about all I want to say about it right now.

    I submitted the piece via the magazine’s online submission manager, and quickly received an auto-response acknowledging receipt and stating that I “should receive a reply within three months.”

    In the meantime, I’m trying to build a list of other possible homes for this piece. You know, just in case The New Yorker declines to publish it. (more…)