Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Five Ways to Finish Applications for Grants, Fellowships, and Residencies

by Erika Dreifus on
3

Raise your hand out there if you have recently applied for a grant, fellowship, residency, or similar competitive opportunity. Raise two hands if you’ve applied for multiple opportunities.

I’ve recently emerged from a series of such applications. Six applications, to be exact. I’ve already heard good news about one of them – a tuition-free seminar that begins imminently. And I’ve lost out on another (a fact I discovered only by checking the program website and finding the winners’ names posted there). But I’m waiting to hear from the others.

Part of me thinks that I could have/should have completed even *more* applications. And part of me wonders how I managed to finish the six that have been safely submitted.

It’s the latter part that inspires this post, because as I prepared each of my recent applications, I realized that I was benefiting from a series of lessons learned: (more…)

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).

  • Canada-based SubTerrain plans a spring issue on the theme of “Heat”: “political, sexual, economic, environmental — whatever the topic or situation, just make sure it’s HOT!” They’ll consider fiction, commentary, poetry, essay, and memoir. Pays: $25/poem and $25/page of prose. Deadline: February 15, 2013.
  • Fellowship program for emerging NYC poets: “Emerge – Surface – Be is a natural extension of The Poetry Project’s program offerings. It formalizes the distinct yet unspoken pedagogical aspect of The Poetry Project’s programs while providing a unique opportunity to support, develop and present emerging NYC-based poets of promise. Three emerging poets will be selected by and paired with poet mentors Anselm Berrigan, Patricia Spears Jones and Edwin Torres, and over the course of nine months be given the opportunity to develop their craft and complete a project. Ideal Fellows will have a project they are working on or want to embark upon, and feel that they would benefit from guidance. Each Fellow will receive an award of $2,500.” No application fee. Deadline: February 18, 2013.
  • And another opportunity for poets in NYC: “Mid-Manhattan Library is pleased to offer a free ten-week workshop with Hermine Meinhard, The Art of Making Poems: Creation and Craft, on Tuesdays, from 4:00 – 6:30 p.m., beginning February 12th.” This workshop is open to adults 55+. Check the full description and registration instructions. Limited enrollment.
  • “The Anglican Theological Review Poetry Prize competition is open to emerging poets: that is, poets who have not yet published a full-length book of poetry or any other genre of literature. Poets whose work has appeared in chapbook form and/or in journals are eligible. Contestants should submit one unpublished poem, in any form, but not to exceed 64 lines. There is no specific theme, although writers who are familiar with the poetry published in the ATR will see a preference for work that reflects an incarnate sense of the sacred.” Deadline is March 1, 2013, and there is no entry fee. “The winner of the ATR Poetry Prize will be announced in the summer 2013 issue of the ATR, where the winning poem will appear. The poem also will be posted in the ATR website. The winning poet will receive $500.” (via Writing-world.com)
  • The next issue of The Practicing Writer will be out later this week. If you’re not already a subscriber and you’d like to receive this free, opportunity-packed resource right in your inbox, it’s never too late to join us.
  • Salem State University (Mass.) seeks a full-time, tenure-track faculty member in creative writing, the English Department of the University of Hawaii plans to fill a full-time, tenure-track position in Fiction Writing, the English and Creative Writing Department at Hamilton College [N.Y.] is looking for a Creative Writer specializing in poetry for a one-year leave replacement position at the level of Assistant Professor, and the English Department at Sweet Briar College [Va.] is advertising for “a full-time sabbatical-replacement position in Creative Writing at the assistant professor level beginning in August 2013. The position includes the possibility of renewal for a second year, also as a sabbatical replacement, and of a subsidized rental residence on campus for the successful candidate.”

    • Friday Finds for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    5

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

  • The benefits of reverse-outlining, according to fictionist Aaron Hamburger.
  • Big news from the Poetry Foundation: Robert Polito will be its next president.
  • So many people have been recommending “Salon’s Guide to Writing a Memoir” this week, but I can’t get past Lauren Slater’s advice–which reminds me how much (and why) I loathed Lying, which I was required to read as an MFA student. (Too bad, too, because I’d admired Slater’s previous memoirs.)
  • I love this free, downloadable “success chart” that’s offered on poet Kelli Russell Agodon’s blog.
  • Steve Almond explains “Why I Write Smut: A Manifesto.”

    • Have a wonderful weekend, all. See you back here on Monday.

    Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: New Quiet Americans Giveaway (and the Reasons for It)

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Last year, I became a member of a Facebook discussion group run by Generations of the Shoah International (GSI). The group (which is “closed,” but open to membership requests submitted to the moderator) discusses specific books and films that are Holocaust-related. And we’ve had some great guests.

    For instance, in December, our guests were documentarian Jean Bodon and Antoine Malamoud, discussing the film Léon Blum: For All Mankind. (Malamoud is Blum’s great-grandson.) This week, I’ve written about the film, and the book it inspired me to read, over on my other blog, My Machberet (where I focus on matters of specifically Jewish literary and cultural interest).

    I’m proud to announce that in March, I will be the group’s special guest. All month, I’ll be engaging in online conversation about Quiet Americans. To mark this occasion–and mindful that we will be commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day a few days from now, on January 27–I’m offering two additional copies of the paperback version of Quiet Americans. Please go on over to Goodreads to enter. The giveaway will close on February 8, allowing plenty of time for reading ahead of the March discussions.

    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).

  • “Spirit First is pleased to announce its fourth annual meditation poetry contest. Poetry submissions may be of any length and any style but must have a theme of meditation, mindfulness, stillness, or silence. Poems may reflect any discipline, any faith, or none. Poems must be previously unpublished.” Deadline: January 31, 2013 (received). Cash prizes: $175/$125/$75. No entry fee. (via WinningWriters.com)
  • Here’s a contest that will award $100 worth of Amazon vouchers: the Clickinks Poetry Competition. “With the start of the New Year we all become focussed on making resolutions and turning over a new leaf. This is why we would like you to write a poem on ‘new beginnings’. The competition is open to applicants of all ages, whether you are a budding or experienced writer, we want your poems! It can be written in any style, as long as it’s no more than 45 lines and must be your own work.” Deadline is February 11, 2013. No entry fee.
  • I’m happy to report that Pamelyn Casto’s newsletter devoted to flash literature is back! This free resource is “devoted to markets, contests, and publishing news for short-short literature 1,500 words or fewer (including short-short fiction, prose poetry, haibun, flash memoirs, flash creative nonfiction, flash plays).” (Be forewarned that not every market included in this newsletter pays, and you may find some fee-charging contests, too. Nonetheless, I subscribe, and you can, too.
  • NYC writers! Applications are open for the 2013 Center for Fiction Emerging Writers Fellowship, which provides an array of benefits (including a $4,000 grant and writing space). Ten writers will be chosen for 2013 fellowships. No application fee. Apply by February 15, 2013.
  • Monmouth University (N.J.) is looking for an Assistant Professor, Creative Nonfiction; the University of Louisiana, Lafayette, is advertising for an Assistant/Associate Professor and Writer-in-Residence; Southwest Minnesota State University seeks an Assistant Professor of English (Creative Writing); Naropa University (Colo.) invites applications for an Assistant Professor of Writing and Poetics; and Full Sail University (Fla.) is in search of an Associate Course Director for Creative Writing.