Erika Dreifus

I’ve just updated our Directory of Paying Short Story Markets. And in rechecking all those magazine and journal Web sites and submission guidelines in the process, I’ve learned a few things:

1) Although it previously accepted submissions year-round, Indiana Review will be on a reading hiatus beginning May 1, lasting until the end of September.

2) Meridian, the semiannual literary journal from the University of Virginia, can no longer pay all its authors. For details, click here.

3) The Southern Review has a new Book Review Editor.

The Directory, by the way, now includes 135 markets. Check out the free preview (with sample market listings) here.

Well, now I have my own “success story” to share. If you haven’t yet seen my account of writing for family history and genealogy magazines over at WritersWeekly.com, click here to read it.

(If you have a freelance success story to share, be sure to visit the WritersWeekly guidelines to see how you might go about submitting it.)

Remember the post about The Writer magazine’s Online Poetry Spotlight project? The first selected poem is now online, along with the professional critiques that comment on it.

Hey, everyone. I’m going to take a few days off (heading away for a long weekend this evening). Look for more news right here by the middle of next week. You all be well in the meantime.

Fiction writers often encounter the dictum to “write what you know.” But what does this really mean? How do you do it without re-hashing your own life story? If you’re in the Boston area, you’re invited to Grub Street, Inc., for a seminar on April 6. We’ll talk together about the limits and liabilities of the principle as well as some more rewarding (if sometimes risky) ways to employ it. The workshop will include short exercises plus excerpts from John Gardner, Mario Vargas Llosa, and others. Bring your thoughts and questions about work-in-progress and possible new projects. To sign up, visit the Grub Street site.