The Wednesday Web Browser

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
  • The After Deadline blog deals with numbers in the news.
  • Tayari Jones shares the trauma and ultimate triumph of changing the title of her forthcoming novel.
  • Nova Ren Suma recalls six fateful paragraphs.
  • Book-reviewing advice from Sarah Weinman, Jane Litte, and another Sarah (last name not included).
  • Speaking of book reviewing, here’s my brief take on Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English, a novel by Natasha Solomons.

    • The Practicing Writing blog is grateful for its readership! We’ll be taking a few days off for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. Warm wishes to all, and see you back here on Monday.

    Quotation of the Week: Andrew Sanger

    by Erika Dreifus on
    1

    British author and travel writer Andrew Sanger tweeted this a few days ago:

    Good ideas are like dreams. If you don’t write them down at once, they slip away and cannot be found again.

    I think that there’s a great deal of truth to this. I’ve found that it is very important to try to capture worthy ideas (and notable dreams) as quickly as possible. I would add, however, that sometimes, very stubborn ideas do come back…during a jog, in the middle of another dream, or in a variety of unexpected contexts. So don’t despair if you think that you may have “lost” a promising thought. But do try to write it down as soon as you can!

    Monday Morning Markets/Jobs/Opportunities

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2
  • Paying internship opportunities with Tablet Magazine in New York City. Application deadline: December 3, 2010.
  • “Creative Nonfiction is seeking narrative blog posts to reprint in our upcoming Food issue. We’re looking for: interesting, true stories that focus on food, including restaurant reviews; tales of meals gone awry; secrets, tips and kitchen short cuts; confessions from cooks, chefs and/or servers; an examination of the kitchen life; and so on. Narrative, narrative, narrative. Posts that can stand alone, 2000 words max, from 2010. Something from your own blog, from a friend’s blog, from a stranger’s blog.” Pays: “We will contact individual bloggers before publication and pay a flat fee for one-time reprint rights.” Nomination deadline: November 29, 2010.
  • WriterAbroad shares paying markets for personal essays–and samples of her own published work with each.
  • The Terry Pratchett Prize recognizes unpublished novels by authors “resident in the UK, other countries of the British Commonwealth, and the Republic of Ireland.” The competition seeks “stories set on Earth, although it may be an Earth that might have been, or might yet be, one that has gone down a different leg of the famous trousers of time (see the illustration in almost every book about quantum theory). We will be looking for books set at any time, perhaps today, perhaps in the Rome of today but in a world where 2000 years ago the crowd shouted for Jesus Christ to be spared, or where in 1962, John F Kennedy’s game of chicken with the Russians went horribly wrong. It might be one day in the life of an ordinary person. It could be a love story, an old story, a war story, a story set in a world where Leonardo da Vinci turned out to be a lot better at Aeronautics. But it won’t be a story about being in an alternate Earth because the people in an alternate Earth don’t know that they are; after all, you don’t.” No entry fee indicated. Deadline: December 31, 2010. Prize includes an advance payment against royalties and publication by Transworld Publishers, a division of The Random House Group Limited.
  • The December Practicing Writer newsletter is very much in the works! Subscribers should expect their e-copies before month’s end. Not yet a subscriber? Join us! It’s free, and we keep your email address to ourselves.
  • The Cup of Comfort folks are running a “Favorite Holiday Memory Story Contest,” with $100, free books, and online publication to be awarded to the author of the grand prize-winning story. They’re looking for true stores “that detail a cherished holiday memory.” No entry fee. Deadline: December 5. (via KatCop13)
  • Gettysburg College (Pa.) has released the current guidelines/application instructions for its Emerging Writer Lectureship. No application fee. Deadline: January 28, 2011. Details in this pdf.
  • “The Department of English and the BFA program at Stephen F. Austin State University [Texas] seek applications for a tenure-track assistant professor of creative writing, with genre concentrations in literary non-fiction and poetry; secondary preparations or interests may be cross-discipline: creative writing and technology, environmental literature and writing about the environment, multicultural literature, film topics or travel writing.”
  • Two jobs at Northern Michigan University: Assistant Professor of English (Creative Writing-Nonfiction) and Assistant Professor of English (Creative Writing-Fiction).
  • “The Undergraduate College of Rosemont College [Pa.] invites applications for an adjunct instructor to teach Creative Writing Non-Fiction in the Spring 2011 semester.”
  • Savannah College of Art & Design (Ga.) seeks a Writer, UCLA is looking for a Media Relations Coordinator, and the Galloway Family Foundation (D.C.) would like to hire a Writer/Researcher.

    • Friday Find: AWP Conference Schedule (and Guide)

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Late last week, the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) posted the schedule of events for its upcoming conference (February 2-5) in Washington, D.C. It’s overwhelming–and outstanding.

    I’ve taken a look and begun highlighting some panels and readings that I’ve immediately deemed “can’t miss” from my personal perspective, but I certainly haven’t done as complete (or as interesting) a job as Salvatore Pane has with his “2011 Guide to AWP”. (Yes, I’m immensely flattered by his inclusion of both the panels that I’m moderating, but he’d already caught my attention much earlier in the write-up.)

    Enjoy, whether you’re planning to attend the conference, still deciding, or merely curious. Have a great weekend. And see you back here on Monday.

    Thursday’s Pre-Publication Post: It’s (Almost) Party Time!

    by Erika Dreifus on
    6

    Minor annoyances aside (for example, the arrival of my annual November cold meant that for several days I could not breathe through my nose), this past week was pretty great. Highlights included a weekend visit to an old friend I hadn’t seen in years (I brought along a review copy of my forthcoming story collection, Quiet Americans, as a housegift), and the discovery, thanks to Tania Hershman/Twitter, that “For Services Rendered,” the story that opens Quiet Americans, has received a Pushcart Prize Special Mention.

    As if that weren’t enough, this week has included a number of e-mail exchanges and phone calls to formalize not one, not two, but THREE book parties that are being planned to celebrate the publication of Quiet Americans (do I have amazing family and friends, or what?). Events will take place during the winter in New York and Washington, and in Boston in the spring.

    So now, as I immerse myself in a new set of to-do items connected with party planning, I have some questions for all of you. In your view, what makes a book party successful? Care to comment with any brief descriptions of parties you’ve hosted and/or attended, and what made them memorable (hopefully, in a positive sense!)? Any tips for an author embarking on this for the first time? No advice is too “insignificant”: I welcome comments on Evite “vs.” Paperless Post as much as I crave suggestions on how to handle book promotion/sales. Thank you in advance for sharing!