Friday Finds for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
4

Time to send you off for the weekend with some resources and ideas–and maybe some entertainment.

  • First, from BookBaby.com: “If you’re an independent author or small publisher, attending [literary festivals or conferences] can open up some great new opportunities, but they’re also expensive, especially if you’re traveling. You want to make sure you plan ahead, set clear goals, and get the most out of the experience.” To that end, here are some helpful hints.
  • I need to spend some quality time–soon–with Carol Tice’s guide to fixing your writer website.
  • Sometimes, I get a little annoyed by all of those tweets, posts, and articles by “mama writers” about how hard it is for them to get any writing done–even when their partners are the family breadwinners/insurance providers, their children are in school and healthy/without special needs, and they have child-care assistance to boot. (You’ll notice that I don’t link to those kinds of items very often!) What a refreshing change it is to find Writer Abroad’s reflections on “5 Reasons Having a Baby Can Make You a More Productive Writer.” Thank you, Chantal!
  • Big list of (classic) literary spoilers.
  • OK, so I wasn’t exactly prepared. But it appears that Wednesday (June 20) was International Short Story Day! Celebrate belatedly by enjoying this downloadable new short-story anthology, courtesy of HarperPerennial. (h/t @GrubWriters)
  • I’m a Brooklyn gal by birth (and I spent my first nine years there), so I’m naturally drawn to this new literary map of the borough. (If any of you can think of a literary reference for Sheepshead Bay, where I spent ages 3-9, I’d be most grateful. My other B’klyn nabes–mainly Brighton Beach/Manhattan Beach–have some claims to fame, but poor Sheepshead Bay–with the eponymous bay pictured below–is apparently a literary desert!)

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

    Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: What to Do After an Acceptance Arrives

    by Erika Dreifus on
    12

    Last Saturday evening I returned from a lovely party to some equally nice news: another of my micro-essays had just found a home in a journal.

    Which reminded me of something.

    As writers, we spend a fair amount of time talking about where to submit our work, and how to submit it, and when to submit it. We also devote a lot of energy to preparing for (and dealing with) rejection.

    But we don’t always say a whole lot about what to do after an acceptance arrives.

    Yes, we can rejoice. We can toast. We can tweet. But before we do anything else there are two things that we really need to do. Many of you may know this already. But some of you may not. Ready? (more…)

    Monday Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

    If it’s Monday, it’s time for the weekly paying jobs, markets, and no-fee competitions for writers. Let’s get going:

  • The Cha Flash Fiction Contest “is run by Cha: An Asian Literary Journal. It is for unpublished flash stories in English language on the theme of ‘Misinterpretation.'” You can submit up to two pieces (maximum 250 words each). Cash prizes (via Paypal): £50/£30/£20. Publication in the fifth anniversary issue of the journal. Deadline: July 15, 2012. No entry fee.
  • The Renegade Writer blog is now accepting guest posts: “The Renegade Writer readers are serious about writing, and they’re interested in writing for magazines, online markets, and copywriting clients. Guest posts must be specifically geared for beginning to intermediate writers who are serious about their work. Topics that work for us include the business of writing, marketing your writing, productivity, motivation, query writing, how to diversify your income, deciphering contracts, and the care and feeding of clients. While we’re open to posts on the craft of writing — such as how to write awesome ledes and kickers — we don’t run many of these.” Pays: $50.
  • Live in Wisconsin or Minnesota? You may be interested in the Vita.mn 2012 Short Story Contest: “To enter, write a story about one of the ‘seven deadly sins’ in no more than 300-600 words and send it via e-mail to promo@vita.mn during the contest period. Stories can be fact or fiction.” Deadline: July 2, 2012. No entry fee. Prize: “One (1) first-place winner will receive the First-Place Prize, which will consist of the story being published in Vita.mn, the opportunity for the author to read his/her story at an upcoming Vita.mn event and $750. Up to 20 runners-up will have their story published in Vita.mn and also have the opportunity to read at an upcoming Vita.mn event. Fan Favorite Prize – One (1) fan favorite submission will also be selected from all stories read during the Vita.mn event, the author of this submission will receive a literary prize pack valued at $250.”
  • “The English Department of Bowling Green State University [Ohio] seeks strong applicants for an instructor to serve as editor of the internationally recognized literary magazine Mid-American Review and instructor in Creative Writing. The initial appointment is for one year, with possibility of renewal. Duties: Editing Mid-American Review; serving as faculty advisor to the undergraduate literary magazine Prairie Margins; teaching undergraduate course in Literary Editing and Publishing, graduate course in Creative Writing Desktop Publishing, and one additional course in Creative Writing; administering the annual Winter Wheat Festival of Writing.”
  • Poets & Writers (New York) seeks a Program Assistant, Roger Williams College (R.I.) is looking for a Media Relations Manager, and the Constitutional Accountability Center (Washington) is advertising for a Blogger/Writer.

    • Friday Finds for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    4

  • For my fellow writers-who-have-day-jobs: tips on overcoming those challenges to writing after work, taken from Aine Greaney’s book Writer with a Day Job (which I have just–belatedly!–bought). (h/t: Life On the High Wire)
  • Janice Harayda’s suggestions on how to write good book reviews.
  • “Fun and inexpensive ideas for writing retreats”.
  • Nice account of the Richard Ford/Joyce Carol Oates event I was lucky enough to attend last week.
  • Much to ponder in Michael Nye’s “Open Letter to a Fellow Writer About Twitter.”

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

    Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: New Plans for This Blog

    by Erika Dreifus on
    11

    Huh? Isn’t Wednesday the day for the “Web Browser for Writers”? Isn’t Thursday the day for the “Work-in-Progress” post?

    Well, yes. That’s been the pattern But one of the things I did during my recent break from the day job/staycation/writing-and-reading-at-home-retreat was this: I thought about this blog (and blogging more generally), and I realized that it was time to make a couple of changes.

    Briefly, I want to maintain the blog’s quality and usefulness, and, at the same time, I need to free up some mental space ——and actual minutes of the day–for myself (and my writing). To meet these goals, I’m going to reconfigure the Practicing Writing schedule so you can reliably expect at least three posts per week:

    • Monday Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers
    • Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress
    • Friday Finds for Writers (note the new plural, which will allow me to combine items that heretofore would have shown up in “Web Browser” posts)

    One bonus of the new schedule is that it will provide flexibility for the occasional “surprise” or breaking-news post on “off” days.

    As always, I thank all of you who read, comment on, and share this blog. I hope to keep you happy, engaged, and benefiting from what you find here for a long time to come!