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The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
  • You have until tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. (ET) to win a free copy of Linda Formichelli’s e-book Get Unstuck! For Freelancers: A 6-Week Course to Boost Your Motivation, Organization, and Productivity—So You Can Do More Work in Less Time, Make More Money, and Enjoy the Freelance Lifestyle. All you have to do is come up with a winning “opposite idea” that could work as an article pitch. Check out the details and examples of “opposite ideas” over on The Renegade Writer.
  • A New York Times article titled “Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal,” is making the online rounds.
  • Also in the news: a “regrettable incident” involving the National Book Awards.
  • There are so many worthwhile items within another blogger’s roundup post that I’m just going to send you right over to The Quivering Pen to read them. See especially Leslie Pietrzyk on rejection and Josh Rolnick on “My Life in Stories.”
  • Tania Hershman shares thoughts on short fiction, and what makes flash fiction distinctive, including this nugget: “I do think that flash fiction lends itself to more surreal and experimental writing, that a reader will willingly suspend more disbelief if they see that the story is a page long – and that is a part of flash fiction, being able to see the end as you begin reading, that I believe affects the reading experience.”
  • And finally, I’m grateful to the wonderful YourDailyPoem.com for giving new life to my poem “Meteorology.”

    • The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • By now, you’ve doubtless heard that Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer has won the most recent Nobel prize for literature. But have you heard this? “Tranströmer lost his ability to speak and the use of his right arm after suffering a stroke in 1990. Since then, he has continued to play piano with one hand. According to The Independent, the poet will express himself through the piano.”
  • One of my literary lights, the stupendously gifted writer and human being Sage Cohen, wears so many hats that even I, fan that I am, had nearly forgotten one of them: Sage’s role as founder of Queen of Wands Press, which has just released Finding Compass, a poetry collection by Carolyn Martin. Check out this interview with Ms. Martin.
  • The latest news from the world of author archives: “The Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin, has acquired the archive of Nobel Prize-winning writer and University of Texas at Austin alumnus J. M. Coetzee. Spanning more than 50 years, the archive traces the author’s life and career from 1956 through the present.” (via The Literary Saloon)
  • I’m eager to read through a special roundtable on “poetry and race” in Evening Will Come, a journal of poetics. (via the Poetry Foundation)
  • Hopefully, by the time The New York Review of Books publishes the second part of “A Jewish Writer in America,” which reflects a talk originally given by Saul Bellow in 1988, I’ll have been able to digest fully part one. Oh, so much to read and think about.

    • Monday Morning Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • Special call for ghost stories written by women. “An anonymous flesh and blood patron of the arts has offered a $100 prize for a ghost story written by a woman. Here is what she writes: “Ghosts are with us all year round and in this season of mists they call for particular attention. I leave the definition of ‘ghost story’ up to the author and look forward to the many embodiments and disembodiments of this theme. Preferred length 1000 to 3000 words, but stories of any length may be submitted.” One submission per author. NB: “Simultaneous submissions and previously published stories are okay, but please mention that in your submission. The winning story will be offered non-obligatory publication on the Glass Woman Prize page. There is no reading fee.” Deadline: November 18, 2011. (via Duotrope.com)
  • “Diamond Light Source is the UK national synchrotron facility – a 562m particle accelerator nestled in the Oxfordshire countryside. Diamond generates incredibly bright light from infra-red to X-rays and is used by thousands of scientists every year to study all kinds of materials, from artificial hips and samples of the Mary Rose to virus proteins and potential new fuel sources.  To introduce Diamond to a wider audience we are running a short story competition, Light Reading. The rules are simple: we’re inviting you to submit a story of up to 3,000 words inspired by Diamond – the facility, the science and the people.” Cash prizes (£500/£300/£125). There is no entry fee. Deadline: November 30, 2011. NB: Check the guidelines carefully, and see as well the information on a complementary flash fiction competition. (via Pamelyn Casto’s Flash Fiction Flash Newsletter)
  • “The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute is pleased to announce the third annual competition to translate a book on a topic that deals in a significant way with Jews and gender. Applications will be accepted from both authors and/or translators, and are due by November 16, 2011. Decisions will be announced by February 16, 2012.” No application fee. Download guidelines here.
  • Wesleyan University (Conn.) is looking for an Editor/New Media Writer, The University of San Francisco seeks a Copywriter/Feature and News Writer, and The Writers Guild of America, East, Inc. (New York) is advertising for a part-time Online Communications and Web Manager.
  • “The Department of Writing, Literature & Publishing at Emerson College [Mass.] seeks to fill the position of Department Chair, with the appointment at senior rank depending on experience and qualifications. The appointment begins August 15, 2012.”
  • “The English Department at The University of Texas at Austin wishes to appoint a distinguished senior scholar or creative writer to the J.R. Millikan Centennial Professorship in English Literature. All areas of specialization are open. Ph.D. or terminal degree in field preferred. Duties include undergraduate and graduate teaching, research, publication, and service. Salary will be commensurate with achievements.”
  • “The Jackson Center for Creative Writing at Hollins University [Va.] invites applications for an endowed distinguished professorship in creative writing to begin July 2012. This is a one-year, visiting, full-time, renewable position. The distinguished professor will teach a 2-2 load, including mixed-genre advanced seminars in creative writing, focused graduate tutorials, and graduate and undergraduate thesis direction. Additional responsibilities include full participation in the co-curricular and admission activities in support of Hollins’ MFA creative writing program. Qualified candidates should be accomplished fiction writers with several published books.”
  • “The English Department of Butler University in Indianapolis seeks to fill a full-time, tenure-track position in Creative Writing at the rank of Assistant Professor, beginning in Fall 2012. Primary qualifications in prose (fiction and/or nonfiction), with secondary qualifications desirable in one or more of the following: screenwriting, genre fiction, game design and narrative, digital literature and/or publishing, science/health/environmental writing for the public, graphic novel.”
  • Pittsburg State University (Kansas) seeks an Assistant Professor of English. “To teach four courses/semester: fiction writing, craft of fiction, introduction to creative writing, literature, and composition.”
  • West Chester University (Penn.) is advertising for a tenure-track assistant professor (creative writing-fiction). “There is a four course teaching responsibility per semester, with two courses per semester in general education writing.”
  • Princeton University (N.J.) seeks “potential” part-time lecturers in fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and literary translation.
  • Griffith University (Australia) is looking for a Lecturer, Creative Writing and Literary Studies (poetry specialist).
  • “The Department of English at Sam Houston State University [Texas] invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of associate or assistant professor with a primary emphasis in creative writing poetry. A secondary emphasis in creative nonfiction is preferred. An MFA is required.”
  • From Francis Marion University (S.C.): “The Department of English, Modern Languages, and Philosophy is accepting applications for a tenure-track position of Assistant Professor.” What they’re looking for: “Writing specialist with interest in creative non-fiction and business/professional writing. Experience teaching first-year writing required.”
  • “The Department of English at the University of Massachusetts Lowell seeks an energetic and collaborative colleague for a full-time, tenure-track Assistant or Associate Professorship in Creative Writing–Non-Fiction.”

    • The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • Fascinating essay by Jennifer Solheim on “polyphony and its translation” in Nathacha Appanah’s The Last Brother. (See my much less ambitious but equally enthusiastic take on The Last Brother here.)
  • Stuart Nadler reflects on the stories that did not make it into his collection, The Book of Life.
  • Another excellent writing prompt from Midge Raymond.
  • And there’s an intriguing exercise embedded within this Q&A between Deborah Treisman and David Long, too. (Long is the author of this week’s short story in The New Yorker.)
  • A routine visit to the Wordamour blog brought not only a new post to read but also a surprise gift: a lovely microreview of Quiet Americans!
  • Need some humor in your day? Check out this book trailer, featuring Julie Klam and Timothy Hutton.