Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: A Working Writer’s Vacation

by Erika Dreifus on
3

Starting today at 5 pm, I’ll be using some of my treasured paid vacation days (one of the best benefits of being a #writerwithadayjob) for a VACATION. Much of the time will be a “staycation” along the lines of last year’s break. And once again, I have a lot of plans. For starters, I’ll be spending several days at two conferences.

ASJAFirst up: the annual conference of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), which begins tomorrow here in New York. I’ve only attended this conference once before, about a decade ago. This time, I’m going as a full-fledged ASJA member. I’m hoping to pick up plenty of freelancing tips and inspiration.

And next week, I head up to Boston for one of the most reliably excellent events on my literary calendar: Grub Street’s The Muse and the Marketplace. For obvious reasons, I’m especially grateful for the opportunity to return to Boston now. And I’m looking forward to the panel that I’ll be moderating, “Grubbie Guide to Writing Contests, Conferences & Residencies,” which will feature Sheri Joseph and Doug Trevor. (We’re Session 8K, and a few seats remain, if you’re still in the process of registering.)grub

I’ve got some other fun things planned, too. But don’t worry–I plan to keep blogging throughout! And while I have yet to master the art of live-tweeting, I’ll do my best to keep you posted on site from #ASJA13 and #muse2013. (UPDATE: I think I erred! ASJA hashtag seems to be #ASJA2013)

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).

  • “St. Francis [College] is proud to once again offer its support and encouragement to the literary community by sponsoring the biannual $50,000 Literary Prize to a mid-career author who has recently published their 3rd to 5th work of fiction.” Self-published and translated works eligible. Will consider works published June 2011-May 2013. No entry fee. Deadline: May 1, 2013.
  • Bancroft Press publishes trade fiction and non-fiction, “and we publish, quite simply, what we like. We’ve done literary and commercial fiction, books on finance, sports, parenting, humor, history, biography…No topic is out of bounds for us if we think it’s done well and will make an important contribution to society.” See also the recent Publishers Weekly article on the press.
  • File this away, freelancers: a list of 45 websites that pay writers (I’m not sure about the “instantly” that’s part of the post’s title, but still, it’s an interesting collection).
  • Also of interest: Opportunities for writing about history.
  • From WritersWeekly.com: “We’re out of features! We pay $60 for around 600 words; non-exclusive electronic rights only. Our guidelines are here: http://www.writersweekly.com/index-markets.htm.”
  • “The English Arts Department at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside invites applications for a full-time (9 month) tenure-track faculty member in English, with a focus in 20th and 21st Century American Literature and Creative Writing – Poetry beginning August 2013.”

    • Friday Finds for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    4

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

  • Struggling to find your “voice” as a writer? Maybe you have more voices than you’ve realized. Thought-provoking essay by Pico Iyer.
  • Lots to think about in Kevin Young’s Virginia Quarterly Review essay “Blood Nation: Half-Breeds, Maids, Porterhouses, and the Fake Memoir.” But these may be my favorite lines: “My definition of creative non-fiction is simple. It is a radically subjective account of events that objectively took place. The moment you start making up events that you know did not take place, you’re doing another sort of work. It’s called fiction.”
  • Celeste Ng writes about the deeper value of Twitter for writers.
  • On the Ploughshares blog, Roxane Gay describes her teaching practice.
  • Choice quotations from Cynthia Ozick, to mark the author’s 85th birthday this week. (h/t @dg_myers)

    • Everyone, have a good, safe, restorative weekend. See you back here on Monday.

    Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Playwriting 101

    by Erika Dreifus on
    10

    OrphansLast weekend, and thanks to my TDF membership, I had the opportunity to see a performance of Orphans, a new play starring Alec Baldwin that is currently in previews on Broadway. And I was reminded, as I am nearly every time I go to watch a play, that I’d really like to learn how to write a play of my own.

    So this post is more a request for resources than anything else. I’d love to receive suggestions regarding:

    1) online introductory playwriting courses that you might recommend;
    2) “how-to” books on playwriting that you have found to be useful; and/or
    3) any other suggestions on how I might incorporate playwriting into my writing practice (for instance, I’m guessing that reading actual play scripts would be helpful, and I actually have a script or two on hand, but I’d be grateful for recommendations of scripts that have worked especially well for you, whether you’ve been teaching or studying playwriting).

    Thank you all in advance!