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The Wednesday Web Browser

by Erika Dreifus on
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  • On The Quivering Pen, David Abrams presents Katharine Weber’s account of her first “rejection of rejection,” which also happened to lead to her first fiction in print—in The New Yorker.
  • The Writer magazine knows that you may have depended on Borders to buy your copies of the magazine. And the editors don’t want to lose you.
  • You don’t need to be a print subscriber, but you do need to register with the Writermag.com website to read what four current/recent writing students–two in traditional MFA programs, one in a low-res program, and one in PhD program–have to say about their experiences (and what they wished they’d known ahead of time).
  • Over on The Chronicle of Higher Education‘s site, Alan Jacobs argues: “We Can’t Teach Students to Love Reading.”
  • But here’s one way that we may be able to kindle a love for reading in the next generation. (Kindle. Get it?)
  • If your writing practice includes the teaching of college writing, you may want to check out this Q&A with the authors of The College Writing Toolkit: Tried and Tested Ideas for Teaching College Writing.
  • The 2011 Atlantic Fiction Issue is on newsstands now. And it’s online. There are several wonderful stories in this issue, including Ariel Dorfman’s “The Last Copy,” Sarah Turcotte’s “Scars,” Jerome Charyn’s “Little Sister,” and Elizabeth McKenzie’s “Someone I’d Like You to Meet.” (I admire Austin Bunn’s “How to Win an Unwinnable War,” especially for its glance back at the last years of the Cold War, too. But having grown up in New Jersey with plenty of friends attending the Governor’s School as rising high school seniors, I was perhaps unreasonably distracted by the idea of seventh-grade Governor’s School students.)

    • Friday Find: Vintage Essay on “Writing What You Know”

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    I never knew John Gardner, yet I’m certain he would have hated the story I submitted to my first fiction workshop. In The Art of Fiction, Gardner denounced the tendency to transcribe personal memory onto the page; he understood it was precisely that practice that many people, especially beginning writers, equated with the famous dictum to “write what you know.” I had fallen into that trap myself. That first workshop submission proved it. I had not yet read Gardner. I did not appreciate that “Nothing can be more limiting to the imagination, nothing is quicker to turn on the psyche’s censoring devices and distortion systems, than trying to write truthfully and interestingly about own’s own home town, one’s Episcopalian mother, one’s crippled younger sister.”

    So I wrote about my own home town.

    So begins “Pushing the Limits of ‘Writing What You Know,'” an essay that I wrote many years ago.  Published originally in The Willamette Writer, it’s now available on ErikaDreifus.com, and I invite you to read the rest online.

    Enjoy the weekend, and see you back here on Monday!

     

    The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2
  • Kelly James-Enger breaks down the kinds of writing that are earning freelancers their pay.
  • Elise Blackwell considers creative-writing professors in the movies.
  • Dani Shapiro reflects on the tensions between her identities as a mom and as a memoirist.
  • Christine Redman-Waldeyer shares the history behind the new journal she has founded, Adanna. (I’m proud to have a poem in the debut issue, which was guest-edited by Diane Lockward.)
  • Midge Raymond continues her fab Book Promotion 101 series with some interview tips.
  • Finally, because we can all use a little fantasy by the time the week brings us to Wednesday, let’s just close our eyes and pretend that we’re sipping wine and writing happily right here. Ah, that’s better!

    • Monday Morning Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    1
  • “Ploughshares is looking for critical essays about great, underappreciated writers. We are hoping for a piece of writing that takes stock of an accomplished body of work and brings a neglected author back into the spotlight….If there is an occasion for the writing – such as a recent biography, a re-issue of old work, or a new book – so much the better. The writer can be living or dead, going back as far as the late 19th century, and from anywhere in the world (it would help, though, if there are good English translations available). The important thing is to give readers a sense of this writer’s special contribution, the arc of his or her career, and biographical details when they seem relevant.” Pays: “Payment will be at our standard rate for published work: $25/page, minimum $50, maximum $250.” NB: Query through the submission manager–no fee to use the manager for these queries.
  • From Robert Lee Brewer, in the latest WritersMarket.com newsletter: “I’m currently accepting pitches for articles in the 2013 editions of Writer’s Market and Poet’s Market. Please send them to me via e-mail at robert(dot)brewer(at)fwmedia(dot)com (and not by any other e-mail or communication channel). If you’re pitching for Writer’s Market, please use the subject line: Pitch for 2013 Writer’s Market. If you’re pitching for Poet’s Market, please use the subject line: Pitch for 2013 Poet’s Market. For Writer’s Market, I’m mainly looking for business- and submission-related pieces. If you’re in doubt about your topic, go ahead and pitch. The worst that will happen is that I’ll pick a more relevant pitch. For Poet’s Market, I’ll accept pitches for articles that cover craft and business topics. I’m also interested in anything that helps poets get their work out to a larger readership.” Pays: Not indicated, but I’m going out on a limb on this one in good faith that the writers will be compensated.
  • Submissions are now open for the next PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. This prize “honors the best published works of fiction by American citizens in a calendar year.” Winning author receives $15,000 and four finalists win $5,000 each. All are honored at a ceremony. No entry fee. Deadline: October 31, 2011.
  • Salamander, a literary journal based at Suffolk University (Boston), is hiring a Managing Editor.
  • Hampshire College [Mass.], an independent, innovative liberal arts college and a member of the Five College Consortium, is accepting applications for an Assistant Professor of Fiction Writing. Experience teaching literary fiction workshops at the college level, a terminal degree (MFA or PhD), and record of publication are essential.
  • Two academic jobs at the University of East Anglia (U.K.): Senior Lectureship in Creative Writing (appears to require a fiction focus) and Lectureship in Literature and Translation.
  • Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School seeks a Copywriter/Editor, Swarthmore College (Penn.) is looking for a Director of Publications/Editor, The Swarthmore College Bulletin, and Merrimack College (Mass.) has posted an advertisement for a Writer.

    • Friday Find: Expert Advice on MFA Programs (and More)

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Remember when I introduced you to Stephanie Vanderslice and her new book, Rethinking Creative Writing in Higher Education? Remember that I told you to anticipate an interview with the author?

    Well, today’s the day. Please click here to soak up Professor Vanderslice’s sage words on where writing programs should be going (and, yes, where they have been).

    Don’t forget that you’ll find lots of other interviews with practicing writers archived here on the site, too. Just in case you’re looking for a little more reading material this weekend!

    Speaking of the weekend, enjoy it, and we’ll see you back here on Monday!