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The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
2

Midweek means that it’s time for me to share with you a few of this week’s online discoveries (so far!).

  • Let’s begin with an issue that is – ahem – not unfamiliar to me: the question of whether writers should discuss politics online, as raised by Tracy Hahn-Burkett for Beyond the Margins. (Oh, so complicated!)
  • On a not-unrelated note: If you haven’t yet read it, I’ve shared some views (and posed some questions) concerning “Günter Grass, My Book & Me” over on my other blog.
  • Any of you taking part in Robert Lee Brewer’s April Platform Challenge? I’ve been following along. It’s thanks to that challenge that you can now subscribe to Practicing Writing (and to the aforementioned “other blog,” My Machberet) by email. Just look to the right side of the screen for the nifty subscription boxes.
  • A few choice writing lessons from Constance Hale, on The New York Times Opinionator blog.
  • In case you haven’t heard, Fiction lost out big time at the Pulitzers this week. For those of us who don’t know much about how winners are chosen, Laura Miller provides some information.

    • Thursday’s Work-in-Progress

    by Erika Dreifus on
    7

    Confession time: I am feeling rather s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d these days. In addition to my day job responsibilities and other ongoing commitments, I have a number of deadlines of various sorts clustered around April 15 and May 1. And since I never leave anything to the very last minute, I’m already feeling “behind.”

    To save my sanity, I’ve already removed a couple of items (fellowship/residency applications) from my to-do list. (They were “optional,” in that no one was waiting for me to get them done.)

    And fortunately, I’ve also managed to meet some of my upcoming deadlines/obligations. So I have crossed off those items from the list, too.

    And, in breaking news: I’ve been saying “no” to other requests a lot more often lately. That’s starting to get a little bit easier.

    But here’s (some of) what remains to accomplish in the next few weeks:

  • April 15: presentation for a local congregation (focusing on Quiet Americans)
  • April 23: classroom visit (focusing on Quiet Americans)
  • weekend of April 28: May issue of The Practicing Writer due out
  • May 1: article due for The Writer
  • May 1: next column due for Fiction Writers Review
  • May 1: AWP panel proposal due

    • I know that it will all get done. Somehow. Bit by bit.

    Right?

    Monday Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • From the Association of Writers & Writing Programs: “Many of the essays published in the Writer’s Chronicle began as contributions to panel discussions at our annual conference. If you participated in a panel discussion in Chicago, we encourage you to develop your talk into an essay for the editors’ consideration. We are not interested in transcripts of talks. Instead, we seek works on your topic that you have fully developed, in content and in form, to work well as an essay in print. If others have addressed your topic before you, your essay should demonstrate an awareness of their contributions to our intellectual and artistic community. Please see our editorial guidelines at http://awpwriter.org/magazine/guidelines.htm before submitting your work. The Chronicle has a circulation of 39,000 readers. For the next academic year, the magazine will pay $14 per one hundred words for accepted articles.”
  • “Writers Omi at Ledig House, a part of Omi International Arts Center, has been awarded a grant from Amazon.com to fund Translation Lab, a weeklong special, intensive residency for five collaborating writer-translator teams in the fall of 2012. Writers Omi will host five English language translators to the Omi International Arts Center for one week. These translators will be invited along with the writers whose work is being translated….The dates for Translation Lab are November 9-16, 2012. All residencies are fully funded, including international airfare and local transport from New York City to the Omi International Arts Center in Ghent, NY.” No application fee. Deadline: July 1, 2012. (via Three Percent)
  • The next mediabistro book club in Los Angeles will take place on July 18. “Mediabistro.com is proud to announce the July mediabistro book club, where authors can highlight their latest work to mediabistro party attendees. At the event, four authors will mingle and share drinks with mediabistro.com’s influential audience and read a five minute selection from their work. To be considered, submit your application by May 18. You will be notified of your acceptance one month prior to the party.” I do not see an application fee.
  • From Texas Christian University: “The Department of English invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor in creative writing with a primary specialization in fiction.”
  • “The Augsburg College Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing invites applications for a part-time, non-tenure track Visiting Writer: Creative Nonfiction. The successful candidate will teach at the graduate level in our low-residency program, mentoring student writers and conducting online classes in fall and spring semesters and fully participating in the 10-day summer residency-leading a workshop, presenting a reading, conducting a craft talk, and meeting with students. Student:faculty ratio is 5:1 in fall and spring mentorship semesters. MFA, Ph.D., or exceptional record of publication required. The position will begin in July 2013.”
  • Rosemont College (Penn.) seeks a Director for its MFA program in creative writing.
  • Call for proposals from The Loft Literary Center for a variety of teaching opportunities (including for online classes). (via @NinaBadzin)
  • “The Georgia Review, one of America’s premier journals of arts and letters, is seeking a managing editor to oversee production of the print and digital versions of the magazine.”
  • Northeastern University (Boston) is looking for an Editor-in-chief, Weill Cornell Medical College (New York) seeks a Writer/Editor, and TCS Education System (Chicago) invites applications for an Editorial Manager position.

    • Quotation of the Week: Steve Almond

    by Erika Dreifus on
    3

    “A generation ago, when ‘Annie Hall’ won the Oscar for Best Picture, talk therapy occupied a prominent place in our collective imagination, whether or not you partook. If you wanted to spend several hours a week baring your soul to a stranger who was professionally obligated to listen and react, you went into therapy. Today you join a writing workshop.”

    Source: Steve Almond, “Why Talk Therapy Is on the Wane and Writing Workshops Are on the Rise”

    (I may not agree with all of this piece, and I wouldn’t say that all workshoppers are would-be analysands. But there’s no question that I’ve been part of workshops where some of the folks in the room clearly wanted/needed to be in therapy. When I recall these individuals, I always hope that they have found the peace that seemed so sadly elusive for them.)