Work-in-Progress

More on Stephen Elliott and Discoveries in Writing

2009-11-10T09:52:00.003-05:00

Speaking of Stephen Elliott—as I was yesterday, getting ramped up for his DC reading on November 20—Maud Newton’s blog featured an interesting interview with Elliott. It’s worth reading the whole thing, but here are a few tidbits I found especially interesting:

“But when I started writing The Adderall Diaries I had no idea the book would have anything to do with my relationship with my father. I think you do come to conclusions if you’re honestly exploring your motivations, but they’re not the ones you think….So yes, that’s the wonderful thing about writing (because it isn’t the money), that you achieve moments of insight and you realize things that are important, that you might not have known were important to you and who you are.”

AND

“People say you can write about them. They encourage you to be honest, and what they mean is you can write about their good side and their bad side, but not about a side they didn’t know they had. People don’t see us as we see ourselves. I think Janet Malcolm put it best, that being written about is like failing a test you didn’t know you were taking.”

Read the rest here…and come to the reading on November 20!

Play Scrabble with the "Word Freak" Himself

2009-11-10T09:50:00.001-05:00

This event that combines Scrabble and books was tucked away in the recent Politics and Prose bookstore newsletter:

SCRABBLE TOURNAMENT
Saturday, November 14, 8 p.m.
We will host a Scrabble tournament led by Stefan Fatsis, author of Word Freak. Come early and enter the drawing for a chance to play Stefan one-on-one, get a signed book, and learn from D.C.’s resident Scrabble expert. Email Conor Moran for more information.

I’m not much of a player, but I know you Scrabble fiends are out there!

Thanksgiving Stuffing Follow-Up

2009-11-09T09:42:00.000-05:00

I posted my favorite Thanksgiving stuffing recipe last week, noting that the original recipe called for sausage that I omitted. I’ve had a few questions about that missing sausage, so if you’re interested in the sausage (and, honestly, when has sausage ever made anything worse?), the recipe calls for “3/4 lb bulk pork sausage” that you brown in a skillet. Remove it from the pan—leaving the fat—and proceed with cooking the onions, etc. in that same skillet. Add the sausage to the stuffing at the end, when you combine the cornbread and scallion with the onion mixture.

Stephen Elliott to Read on November 20

2009-11-09T09:37:00.002-05:00

Writer Paula Whyman sends along this message:

“After reading an advance copy of Stephen Elliott’s new memoir, The Adderall Diaries, I offered to organize a local reading/discussion for the author. It’s a raw and edgy book, a combination true crime story and memoir about Elliott’s troubled relationship with his father. The author’s touring around the country, primarily on his own dime, to promote the book. It’s received praise from numerous quarters, including Kirkus, Vanity Fair, and Time Out. Many of you may be more familiar with his novel, Happy Baby, which also received wide acclaim, and was selected as a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lion award.”

Here are the details of the reading. I’ll be there for sure; Happy Baby is one of my favorite books of linked stories…and Teaism makes great oatmeal cookies!

Stephen Elliott: Featuring a talk by the author and readings from his highly praised new memoir THE ADDERALL DIARIES: a Memoir of Moods, Masochism, and Murder.

Friday, November 20, 2009
Program: 7:00-9:00 p.m., (please arrive at 6:30 p.m. to place food and beverage orders)

TEAISM Penn Quarter
400 Eighth Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 638-6010
RSVP to: rsvp@aiwriters.org or paula@paulawhyman.com.
Co-sponsored by American Independent Writers (AIW)

In the spring of 2007, a brilliant and well-known computer programmer named Hans Reiser stands accused of murdering his beautiful, estranged wife, Nina. Despite a mountain of circumstantial evidence against him, he proclaims his innocence, and the body is yet to be found. The case takes an unusual twist when Nina’s former lover, and Hans’ former best friend, Sean Sturgeon, confesses to eight unrelated murders that no one has ever heard of.

When a reporter contacts Stephen Elliott about Sturgeon—whose path he has crossed in San Francisco’s underground S&M scene—Elliott is paralyzed by writer’s block, in the thrall of Adderall dependency, and despondent over his inability to maintain a stable romantic relationship. The reporter’s questions spur Elliott to rethink Sturgeon, and to wonder exactly what kind of person confesses to murders he likely did not commit? Perhaps a man like Elliott’s own father.

So begins a brave and riveting journey through a neon landscape of false confessions, self-medication, and torturous sex. Set against the backdrop of a nation at war, in the declining years of the Silicon Valley tech boom and the dawn of Paris Hilton’s celebrity, The Adderall Diaries is at once a gripping account of a murder trial and a scorching investigation of self. Tough, tender, and unflinchingly honest, it is a breakout book by one of the most daring writers of his generation.

“Elliot may be writing under the influence, but it’s the influence of genius,” Vanity Fair

“A refined, beautiful work of art,” Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Harrowing, riveting,” Amy Tan

Stephen Elliott is the author of seven books including The Adderall Diaries (September 2009) and Happy Baby, a finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lion Award as well as a best book of 2004 in Salon.com, Newsday, Chicago New City, the Journal News, and the Village Voice. In addition to writing fiction he frequently writes on politics. In 2004 he wrote Looking Forward To It, about the quest for the Democratic Presidential nomination. He is the editor of The Rumpus.

Books will be available for purchase and signing.

There is no charge for this event, but you are responsible for your food and beverage purchases.
RSVP to: rsvp@aiwriters.org or paula@paulawhyman.com.

Work in Progress: Enduring, Prevailing

2009-11-05T10:07:00.002-05:00

Writing isn’t hard like digging ditches (or raking leaves!) is hard, but it most definitely can be hard on the spirit sometimes. It’s bad when the words aren’t coming, but it’s a different, perhaps deeper and harder kind of bad you’re feeling that the world doesn’t care* about all your work: No one understands. No one believes. Geez, no one even reads anymore!

What’s a writer to do during those rough patches?

I turn to other writers and books. What wisdom might I find there? There’s Rilke reminding me that “patience is everything,” and there’s the crazy-funny, crazy-smart Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird reminding me that shitty first drafts are okay, and there’s the master, John Gardner, who combines inspiration with practical advice (the chapter in The Art of Fiction about plotting is superb), and there are any number of books on my “writing book shelf” that have dog-eared pages and underlined sentences that will speak to me.

But, honestly, the best antidote for this sort of deep-dark darkness is Faulkner’s speech at the Nobel award ceremony. I may have posted it before, but it’s time to look at it again. Read it out loud, if you have to. I defy any writer not to feel stirred by these words.

December 10, 1950: William Faulkner

“I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work - a life's work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before. So this award is only mine in trust. It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significance of its origin. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim too, by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among whom is already that one who will some day stand here where I am standing.

“Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only the question: When will I be blown up? Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat.

“He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed - love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice. Until he does so, he labors under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, of victories without hope and, worst of all, without pity or compassion. His griefs grieve on no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands.

"Until he relearns these things, he will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man. I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: that when the last dingdong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.”

Go forth and write!

*Sad reality: Actually, the world doesn’t care. The trick, always, is to find ways to ignore this fact.

Late Bloomers

2009-11-04T09:38:00.000-05:00

The Glimmer Train newsletter includes a nice piece by Barb Johnson called “On Getting a Late Start,” for late bloomers everywhere.

Enticing excerpt:

“At the University of New Orleans, I was not the oldest person in the program. Nor the most or least talented person. Nor the only person with a sense of being a late bloomer. Writing is a great equalizer. Writing classes are not easier because you're younger or older. We all make the same beginner's mistakes. One day, over beers at our neighborhood bar, a couple of classmates and I talked about how we felt like late bloomers. They were in their early thirties at the time, and I was almost fifty. Thirty-three seemed young to me, but I could remember being that age and thinking I was on the downward slope. Then others—some in their twenties and some in their sixties—told me they had this late-blooming feeling, and I came to realize that the feeling isn't about age so much as it is about finally paying attention to what it is you really want in life.”

Read the whole piece here.

Early Bloomers

2009-11-04T09:36:00.001-05:00

Here are some contests for college undergrads and high school students…the previous post is about how it’s never too late to get started, and it’s also never too early, either!

For college undergraduates:

Spires Intercollegiate Arts & Literary Magazine at Washington University in St. Louis is now accepting submissions of poetry, prose, and artwork for the Fall 2009 issue! We've been in print since 1995, putting out a magazine every semester, and we're proud of what we do, but we couldn't function if it weren't for the talent and work of creative students here and abroad.

Should you like to heed our call and submit, please send your writing in Word document form or your artwork as .tif images in email attachments to:
spiresmagazine@gmail.com
Subject: Fall 2009 Submission.
Message body: Name, year, school.

The deadline for submissions is FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6th.

The only limits on submissions are that prose may be no longer than 15 pages double spaced, and we only accept submissions from undergraduate students.

**********

For high school students:

Sandra Caron Young Adult Poetry and the Rita Williams Young Adult Prose Prize are for writers in grades 9-12 or equivalent age thereof.

Up to three poems for Poetry category and up to 3,000 words for Prose. Cash Prizes.

Deadline November 30, 2009.

Rules: www.SoulMakingContest.us

Best Stuffing in the World

2009-11-03T10:42:00.000-05:00

You might be thinking about your Thanksgiving menu already…I know I am. If so, it would be cruel of me not to remind you that I have a recipe for the best stuffing in the world. It’s from Gourmet (sigh), and I’ve been making it annually for, well, a REALLY long time!

Here’s the link to my original posting, but here’s the recipe.

Cornbread & Scallion Stuffing
Adapted from Gourmet, November 1992
(It’s actually called Cornbread, Sausage & Scallion Stuffing, but in an uncharacteristic nod to heart-health, I don’t put in the sausage.)

For the cornbread:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon salt1 cup milk
1 large egg
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

¾ stick unsalted butter plus an additional 2 tablespoons if baking the stuffing separately
2 cups finely chopped onion
1 ½ cups finely chopped celery
2 teaspoons crumbed dried sage
1 teaspoon dried marjoram, crumbled
1 teaspoon crumbled dried rosemary
½ cup thinly sliced scallions
1 ½ cups chicken broth if baking the stuffing separately

Make the cornbread: In a bowl stir together the flour, the cornmeal, the baking powder, and the salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, the egg, and the butter, and add the milk mixture to the cornmeal mixture, and stir the batter until it is just combined. Pour the batter into a greased 8-inch-square baking pan (I actually use a cast iron skillet) and bake the cornbread in the middle of a preheated 425 F oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. (The corn bread may be made 2 days in advance and kept wrapped tightly in foil at room temperature.)

Into a jellyroll pan, crumble the corn bread coarse, bake it in the middle of a preheated 325 F oven, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes, or until it is dry and golden, and let it cool.

In a large skillet, melt 6 tablespoons of butter and cook the onion and the celery over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened. Add the sage, marjoram, rosemary, and salt and pepper to taste and cook the mixture, stirring, for 3 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, add the corn bread, the scallion, and salt and pepper to taste, and combine the stuffing gently but thoroughly. Let the stuffing cool completely before using it to stuff a 12-14 pound turkey.

The stuffing can be baked separately: Spoon the stuffing into a buttered 3- to 4-quart casserole, drizzle it with the broth, and dot the top with the additional 2 tablespoons of butter, cut into bits. Bake the stuffing, covered, in the middle of a preheated 325 F degree oven for 30 minutes and bake it, uncovered, for 30 minutes more.

Serves 8-10; fewer if I am one of the dinner guests!

Online Poetry Journal LOCUSPOINT Seeks Managing Editors

2009-11-03T10:39:00.001-05:00

Here’s a good opportunity for the right person. This is from poet Charles Jensen’s blog. Along with serving as the Executive Director of the Writer’s Center, he edits LOCUSPOINT:

LOCUSPOINT seeks 1-2 co-managing editor volunteers.

LOCUSPOINT, an online poetry journal that explores creative work on a city-by-city basis, seeks 1-2 volunteers to join the team of managing editors who support the magazine's production and forward momentum.

The perfect teammates will have an interest and investment in contemporary American poetry; be knowledgeable of its practitioners, both established and emerging; have an interest in developing skills in literary magazine production and publication or marketing/promotion. Based on interest, the position would be broken up into production tasks and promotional tasks.

The new managing editor(s) will assist me with:
> communication and follow-up with guest editors in various cities (production)
> follow up with authors on edits to galleys (production)
> long term: assessment of past cities' links sections (production)
> oversight and management of LOCUSPOINT blog (promotion)
> assistance to editors in arranging local LOCUSPOINT readings (promotion)
> entrepreneurial efforts to widen the readership of LOCUSPOINT (promotion)

These are unpaid, for-the-love-of-it positions as LOCUSPOINT has no annual budget.

To apply, please send a resume and brief cover letter that describes your interest in working with LOCUSPOINT to Charles.jensen@gmail.com by December 1, 2009.;

You can read LOCUSPOINT here.

David Leavitt Interview

2009-11-02T09:42:00.001-05:00

The Writer’s Center blog posted a good interview with writer David Leavitt, who is also the editor of the literary journal Subtropics. I was interested to read that Subtropics is open to longer stories…sadly, a rarity these days:

"What would you say is the Subtropics aesthetic? What kind of work are you looking for?

"You know, we decided pretty early on that we didn’t want to have an aesthetic. We didn’t want to set up a standard—deliberately at least—of taste or style. We just wanted to publish work that we liked. And to try to be as open as we could be, and that’s sort of the philosophy of our MFA program, which our Web site kind of makes a big point. We don’t encourage any particular school of writing. We like diversity, and even perversity. And that’s because we have four wildly different fiction faculty. So we don’t really have an aesthetic, above and beyond the basic: quality, significance—in the sense that something really matters.

"There are two things we do that are unique. One: We really like to publish long pieces, which I know many magazines don’t. We’re open to novellas, and we’ve published at least two that are 15,000 words or more. So we don’t shut out the long piece. Two: We’re very committed to translations. We’re doing this all-translation issue coming up, which we hope to be part of a bi-annual translation issue. Part of the reason for this is that Sidney Wade, our poetry editor, is a translator (and the secretary of ALTA), and she’s been pushing the translation of poetry pretty heavily, including printing poetry translations with the original on the facing page. We have a strong commitment to the principle of translation, and want to continue to encourage translations."

Read the whole piece here.

Find the Cyber Book Party

2009-11-02T09:39:00.002-05:00

I’m hoping to skip Twitter and go directly to the next New New Thing (anyone know what that is yet?), but for those of you twittering and tweeting, Galleycat steers you to a list of the best sources of literary chatter here.

Give Me a Break

2009-10-31T17:02:00.001-04:00

As reported in USA Today:

Year's best: Publishers Weekly today names its top 10 books of 2009: Richard Holmes' The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science; Dan Chaon's Await Your Reply; Victor LaValle's Big Machine; Blake Bailey's Cheever: A Life; Neil Sheehan's A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon; Daniyal Mueenuddin's In Other Rooms, Other Wonders; Geoff Dyer's Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi; David Grann's The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon; Matthew Crawford's Shop Class as Soulcraft; and David Small's Stitches: A Memoir.

Not one woman? Really?

Work in Progress: "There's a Word for It"

2009-10-29T09:54:00.002-04:00

While doing some research (okay, actually while hoping for magical inspiration to strike), I skimmed through a few sections of the book They Have a Word for It: A Lighthearted Lexicon of Untranslatable Words & Phrases by Howard Rheingold.

The premise of the book is simple: it’s a list of foreign words that describe—precisely, exactly, eloquently—moments or things for which there is no English equivalent. Think of that old saying about the Inuit having more than 100 different words for snow, and you get the picture.

I’m not sure I found the magical inspiration I was seeking (though I did find some Polish words that I may be able to use), but it was a fun detour and, again, a reminder that writing should focus on the exactness of things. Here are a few good examples:

mbuki-mvuki (Bantu)
To shuck off clothes in order to dance [verb]
“…It can be assumed that the Bantu-speaking people of Africa must have a respectable heritage in the partying department, since they have a word, mbuki-mvuki, to describe the act of shucking off all clothing that hinders one’s party performance! At least one scholar believes that this Bantu term is the direct precursor for the name that migrated up the Mississippi along with the music it described—boogie woogie….”

ostranenie (Russian)
Art as defamiliarization; making familiar perceptions seem strange [verb]
“…While habitualization and familiarity are necessary psychological tools for creating an orderly world, they can grow into prisons that keep us from seeing the unusual, the marvelous, the might-have-been and ought-to-be. And then a van Gogh, a Picasso, a Stravinsky, a Joyce, or a Cervantes comes along and turns all our familiar ideas upside down….”

Wundersucht (German)
Passion for miracles [noun]
“…What good is a religion if it doesn’t offer a way out of the dilemma of existence? Morality in the face of temptation is hard to accept without some miraculous promise or threat. The paradox of existence seems to call out for the miraculous….”

It’s a fascinating book, and makes me wonder what English words might be included for non-English speakers? Do we have 100 different words for “traffic”?

(Here's the Amazon link if you'd like to read more or buy your own copy: http://www.amazon.com/They-Have-Word-Lighthearted-Untranslatable/dp/1889330469/ref=tmm_pap_title_0)

"The League of Minor Characters" by Kathleen Flenniken

2009-10-28T10:16:00.001-04:00

On my computer, I keep a folder of poems I like, and I thought it would be fun to pick one at random and share it:

The League of Minor Characters
by Kathleen Flenniken

The main character sits on his childhood bed
naming everything that's gone—ex-job, ex-wife,
ex-best friend-and finally apprehends

the breakdown we've felt coming since chapter five.
When his doctor calls with test results, most of us
decide to remain minor characters

like the quixotic neighbor growing
bonsai sequoias, or the waitress with thick
glasses and a passion for chess,

because the main character, in the thrall
of a relentless plot, can't help hurtling toward
the crumbling cliff edge. And who needs that?

Some inherit genes from generations
of minor players, some must learn to guard
those sunny Sundays with the paper

full of heroes in distant gunfire. And some of us
who've gotten smug over the years turn another page,
turn on the football game, until one day

the doorbell rings. We close our books,
adjust our eyes, and the protagonist
sweeps in insisting himself into our lives

with his entourage of lust and language,
sorrow, brio. Hero, anti-hero, it hardly matters
with the lights this bright. The music crests

and it's time to speak.

"The League of Minor Characters" by Kathleen Flenniken from Famous. © University of Nebraska Press, 2006.

More information about Kathleen Flenniken.

Buy Famous.

Jazz & Blues Anthology ISO Poems

2009-10-28T09:51:00.001-04:00

Why are all the really interesting calls for submission for poetry (previously published is okay):

CALL FOR POEMS: 21st Century Howlers: A New Generation Jazz and Blues Anthology

In the past ten to twenty years, a new generation of poets has emerged that seeks to expand and deepen the call-and-response tradition of Jazz and Blues music into the 21st century. Many of these poets may have not experienced a time when Blues or Jazz were the country’s common vernacular or were played with any heavy rotation on their local radio stations.

As we quickly approach the centennial of Jazz and Blues, this anthology seeks to gather the voices of a new generation of Howlers: those poets whose work embodies or addresses the musical traditions of Jazz and Blues, and who began actively publishing no earlier than 1995. Editors are particularly interested in innovative approaches, reinterpretations, and engagements with the contemporary socio-historical moment and/or Jazz and Blues scene. Each poet featured in the anthology will provide a shortcommentary or anecdote on the ways Blues and/or Jazz have affected their writing.

E-mails should contain a cover letter and submission as one attachment in Microsoft Word. Previously published work must be acknowledged in the cover letter. Submissions will be taken on an ongoing basis until March 15, 2010, e-mail 21stHowlers@gmail.com

Co-editors of this anthology are Tyehimba Jess, Duriel E. Harris, and Patricia Smith.

Walt Whitman Stars in Levi's Commercial

2009-10-27T09:42:00.001-04:00

Slate magazine writes about the new Levi’s commercial that features not only

--Walt Whitman’s poetry
--but Walt Whitman’s ACTUAL voice, reading his poetry.

Usually I’m not one for using dead celebrities to hawk products they may or may not have endorsed (I remember the Ernest Hemingway furniture by Thomasville, and what about all those khakis Gap moved?), but Slate suggests that Levi’s and Whitman might actually be a good match:

“Whitman is an involuntary spokes-celebrity here, and perhaps you deem this ad a desecration of all he stood for. I can't say I blame you. But were you forced to choose a clothing line for our favorite barbaric yawper to rep, you might choose this one. Levi's is the rare American brand that was actually around when Whitman was alive. And there's logic to this match between a quintessentially American poet and a quintessentially American product. Whitman's verse allows Levi's to evoke not only its proud history but a forward-looking present—the pioneering, American mindset that Whitman captured and that Levi's hopes to embody.”

Plus, it’s just a cool commercial, and maybe good art puts me in a mind of forgiveness.

(The Slate article has a link to the commercial if you haven’t seen it. I really love it.)

My Upcoming Writer's Center Classes & Poet Lore Celebration

2009-10-27T09:39:00.001-04:00

The Writer’s Center announces its line-up of new workshops for the winter: http://www.writer.org/.

I’ll be teaching two classes:

January 25: How to Talk the Talk: Focus on Dialogue
Dialogue seems as though it should be easy since we all talk! But written dialogue should reverberate beyond the sounds of everyday conversation, serving many purposes: revealing character, moving the story forward and supporting your setting. How to accomplish these effects in your own fiction and memoir? This supportive, hands-on workshop offers tips and techniques that will help the voices of your characters come alive. We’ll be doing a number of exercises in class, so bring pen/paper! 1 session.

More info here.

March 4: The First Pages: What Makes a Good Beginning?
Most writers know that they have to “hook” their reader from the start of the story or novel, but how exactly do we do this? What, in other words, are the elements that make a great beginning to a story or novel? You’ll find out in this workshop, as we explore ways to strengthen your opening pages. Everyone is invited to bring 20 copies of the first page of one of their stories/novels/essays/memoirs for some hands-on advice. 1 session.

More info here.

Also, the Writer’s Center will be hosting a celebration of Poet Lore: “Poet Lore, the nation’s oldest continuously published poetry journal, marks its 120th anniversary on November 14th at The Historical Society of Washington. Executive editors E. Ethelbert Miller and Jody Bolz—along with the journal’s publisher, The Writer’s Center—welcome three premier poets who published in the journal early in their careers—John Balaban, Gary Fincke, and Myra Sklarew—for an evening of celebration and poetry.”

When: Saturday, November 14th, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.
Where: The Historical Society of Washington
801 K Street, N.W., at Mount Vernon Square
Washington, DC 20001
This event is FREE and open to the public.
Poet Lore’s Web site: www.poetlore.com

For information, please contact The Writer’s Center: 301.654.8664 or www.writer.org

A champagne and cake reception will follow the reading. Guests should RSVP to Caitlin Hill at caitlin.hill@writer.org.

Upcoming Readings: Sherman Alexie and Margaret Atwood

2009-10-26T08:57:00.002-04:00

Sherman Alexie will be reading from his book of short stories, War Dances, at Politics and Prose.

Thursday, October 29, 2009 - 7:00pm
This heartbreaking, hilarious collection of stories explores the precarious balance between self-preservation and external responsibility in art, family, and the world at large. With dazzling insight into the minds of artists, laborers, fathers, husbands, and sons, Alexie populates his stories with ordinary men on the brink of exceptional change. In the title story, a famous writer must decide how to care for his distant father who is slowly dying a “natural Indian death” from alcohol and diabetes, just as he learns that he himself may have a brain tumor.

Location:
Politics and Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20008
More info.

And Margaret Atwood will be appearing at GWU’s Lisner Auditorium:

Friday, Oct 30, 8:00PM
Margaret Atwood
The Year of the Flood Project
A unique combination of book launch and dramatic reading with music, this event features the Booker Prize-winning author joined with several George Washington University Students. They will dramatically interpret select scenes from her newest novel, The Year of the Flood.

Buy tickets here: http://www.ticketmaster.com/venue/172067

Guest in Progress: Carollyne Hutter

2009-10-22T09:41:00.002-04:00

The smart and savvy Carollyne Hutter is back today with this interesting report from the social media battleground. Maybe “battleground” is an overstatement, but as writers we are constantly being told we must be active in marketing our own work, which automatically seems to mean Facebooking, Twittering, blogging, and so on--which doesn’t leave much time for the writing part of it. All this running around cyberspace: how can we spend our marketing time effectively? Is “more” really “more”?

(Also check out Carollyne’s previous posts: writing young adult fiction, helpful resources for YA writers, and the place for technology in your writing.)

Social Media versus Traditional PR?
by Carollyne Hutter

To the chagrin of many writers, they need to effectively market themselves and their work. I recently attended an informative conference called: Pushing the Electronic Envelope Even Farther! Using Cyberspace to Advance Your Career, organized by American Independent Writers and the wonderful, ever-so-helpful Kristen King. The conference was chockful of information on Twitter, Facebook, websites, blogs, and LinkedIn. I left the conference stuffed with advice and tips, my head feeling like it would explode from all the bells and whistles available for using the various social media. (There are 15 apps alone for Twitter on the iPhone.)

In contrast, a few months ago I attended a talk by a successful Washington PR woman. She pooh-poohed social media and said when she wanted to promote a story or event for a client, she directly called her extensive network of editors and pitches the idea on the phone. She keeps in touch with editors through coffees and lunches.

Which is the effective way for writers to market themselves—social media or traditional PR methods of direct contact?

One of the best pieces of advice at the social media conference was given by mystery writer Austin Camacho (author of Successfully Marketing Your Novel in the 21st Century). He said writers should see the web and social media as ways to have conversations and ways to connect with people, rather than treating the web as a monologue or a bulletin board. Austin has it set up through Google Alerts so that he’s contacted when someone mentions his book on a blog or website. He then writes a note in the comment section of the blog, thanking the blogger for mentioning his work, even if the review isn’t positive. Austin feels the personal touch is so important, even on the web.

I have to admit it—I have mixed feelings about social media. On one hand, it can be a great way to stay in touch with people and even meet new people. This week, I discovered through Facebook that a charming young-adult novelist lives in my area—Pam Bachorz, author of the intriguing YA, Candor.

On the other hand, social media can be a great distraction, and pull one away from writing or being with friends and family in person. As I mentioned before, I am a bit overwhelmed by all the bells and whistles out there to use social media.

The panelists at the social media conference echoed throughout the conference some wise advice for writers using social media to market themselves. Here are their main points:

1. Set up a marketing plan and then figure out which social media tools to use. In particular identify your goals.

2. Don’t try to do all social media, just focus on one or two that you like, or you feel are effective. A number of the panelists picked Twitter as their favorite social media. Nancy Shute stated that Twitter is a great tool for journalists.

3. Set aside two hours a week for marketing using social media.

4. Think of social media as a way to have conversations, not monologues.

5. And never forget the importance of the personal touch, such as posting or sending a simple, thank-you note.*

About: For over a decade, Carollyne Hutter has been a freelance writer/editor in the Washington, DC area, specializing in international and environmental topics. She also writes fiction for adults and children (early readers and young-adult novels). Please visit her website— www.HutterWriter.com — to read Carollyne’s stories, essays, and nonfiction pieces. You can contact her at sayhi@hutterwriter.com.

*Carollyne is definitely a “practice what you preach” person, as she included a lovely thank you for including this post on my blog when she sent me the bio I needed!

Potomac Review Day

2009-10-21T07:08:00.001-04:00

Three items, all concerning local literary journal Potomac Review:

1.
Check out this new feature on the Potomac Review blog, where the editors discuss why a submitted story made it to the “maybe” pile but didn’t move into the “yes” pile. And, for a change of pace, writer Mary Akers gets to respond!

In Part II, editor Julie Wakeman-Linn writes:

Format: Length is a problem. For a short story of 7,000 words to be published in our 150-page or less literary journal, we would have to love every scene, every page (as we do love every one of our past, present, and future stories). Julie asks: Could it be trimmed?

Mary answers: I wrote this as part of a linked collection with an ocean theme. So it’s a complete story, yes, but intended to be part of a larger whole as well. Length is a tough issue all the way around because many (most?) literary magazines prefer work around 4,000 words—understandable, given their space considerations, but book publishers prefer stories in collections that are closer to the 7,000-10,000-word range. So, what’s a poor writer to do? Write for the mags? Or write for the book? I was hoping, I guess, that the historical tone would afford me a little more story space with readers.

Part I starts here. Thanks, Potomac Review, for giving us some insight into this mysterious process.

UPDATE: Here's Part III, http://potomacreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/maybe-dialogue-blog-part-iii-focus.html, and check back for more in a few days: http://potomacreview.blogspot.com

2.
I have in my hands a copy of Issue 46, which contains lots of good stuff. I especially liked the story that won the review’s contest, “Beauty and Health for Life” by Irene Keliher, about an overweight thirteen-year-old girl staying with her father and his new girlfriend, who is starving for attention.

Here’s a small excerpt from the middle of the story:

“Josie read an article [in a women’s magazine] that proclaimed: Beauty and Health for Life! All The Secrets You Need! The plethora of tools dazed her—brushes, tweezers, glosses, sticks, tubes, bangles, wax. The closest thing she owned to this was bubblegum flavored chapstick. The same article featured a daily yoga routine and pictures of vegetables. These can’t be all the secrets, Josie thought.”

Ordering info here.

3.
And speaking of contests, The Potomac Review sent me this announcement about its upcoming poetry contest, including the exciting news that the prize money has been upped significantly:

The Potomac Review is changing the Poetry Contest First Prize money from $500 to $1,000!

We searched the crevices of our couches and cars, pushed the change return on all vending machines we walked by, and did some experimental highway panhandling at the juncture of I-495 and I-295, and now you can win our biggest poetry prize ever with one ridiculously good poem! Second Prize and Third Prize are still $250 and $125, and the entry fee is $18. Send up to 3 unpublished poems (5 pages max). Deadline is February 1st.

We are also offering one more wrinkle to our contests: you can submit your poems electronically. Under the genre on our online submission, choose “content.” You will still have to send us the entry fee in the mail to be considered for the prize contest. Check our website for guidelines. The final judge will be Nancy Naomi Carlson, who is an editor for Tupelo Press and an instructor at The Writer's Center in Bethesda.

Selected Shorts Fiction Contest

2009-10-20T09:15:00.002-04:00

I don’t like the high fee for this contest—especially since you don’t get a copy of a publication in return—but the first prize is pretty cool.

The 2010 Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prizewith guest judge Nathan Englander http://www.symphonyspace.org/shorts/writing_contest

The winning submission, selected by Nathan Englander, will be read as part of the Selected Shorts performance at Symphony Space on April 7, 2010. The story will be recorded for possible later broadcast as part of the public radio series. The winner will receive $1000.

Story requirements
--Submit a single short story that addresses the theme, Apartments and Neighbors
--Your story must have a title.
--Make sure your name and contact information appear on the first page of your story. If you are submitting by online, this information needs to appear on the first page of the attached Word document.
--Include page numbers.
--Your story must be no more than 2 double-spaced typed pages in length (Times New Roman, 12pt font) and no more than 750 words.

Deadline
All submissions must be received by January 29, 2010. To be specific, online submissions must be submitted by 5pm Eastern Standard Time. Mailed submissions must arrive with the day's mail. (Entries postmarked on January 29 will NOT be accepted.)

Where to submit your story

Submit your submission online at
http://www.symphonyspace.org/shorts/writing_contest

OR:

Mail to
CONTEST, Selected Shorts
Symphony Space
2537 Broadway
New York, NY 10025.

Mailed submissions must also include a check for $25, written to Symphony Space. Online submissions must give credit card information to submit. Stories will not be accepted without payment of the $25 fee.

Please do not send duplicate copies (online or snail-mail is sufficient). We cannot allow revisions to your story once we have received it. Due to the high volume of submissions and the small size of our office, we will not be able to notify you when we receive your story. The winner will be selected by Nathan Englander and notified by mid-March. As soon as the winner is selected, his or her name will be posted to this page.

Note: Contestants who submit by online or provide their email address will be added to the Selected Shorts email list - please let us know if you do not wish to receive email about upcoming programs.

The Prize
$1000 and two tickets to the April 7th Selected Shorts at Symphony Space, when the prizewinning story will be read.

Poetry Contest for Virginia Residents

2009-10-20T09:13:00.001-04:00

Commonwealth poets—this one’s for you!

The Graybeal-Gowan Prize for Virgina Writers
http://www.wlu.edu/x32980.xml

This annual prize of $500 is awarded by Shenandoah and the Virginia Poetry Center for a single poem by a writer born in or with current established residence in Virginia. The winning poem will be published in SHENANDOAH, and the author will receive broadside copies of the poem to be published by the Virginia Poetry Center.

Entrants are invited to submit up to three previously unpublished poems. Send two copies of each poem (one with name and address and one without), sase and brief biographical note, which should confirm the basis for eligibility to:

The Graybeal-Gowan Prize
Shenandoah
Mattingly House / 2 Lee Avenue
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, VA 24450-2116

Entries should be postmarked between October 1 and November 29, 2009.

No entry fee is required, but writers who are friends, students or colleagues of 2009 judge Brendan Galvin are not eligible this year.

Paul Kinsey's Lament

2009-10-19T09:42:00.000-04:00

Anyone who watched “Mad Men” last night will know what I mean by this reminder: Write it down!

Poor Paul Kinsey has the perfect idea for the Western Union ad campaign, but in his drunken, exhausted state of euphoria he doesn’t write down his idea—despite being in his office, where there are loads of pens, papers, and even a Dictaphone. Of course he can’t remember the idea the next morning and so rather than work to come up with something new, he wastes all his time before the big meeting retracing his steps, trying to find magical, perfect, “lost idea.”

As a writer, I would guess this only has to happen once—maybe twice—before we learn. If I don’t have a piece of paper with me, I will repeat a few key words to whoever’s with me—so they can help remember, but often the act of speaking the words out loud will imprint them more firmly on my memory.

And though I had a pang of recognition at Paul’s problem, the more thorny issue, of course, is what probably happens more often: you get the great idea in your drunken, exhausted state—or in a dreamlike trance—or anywhere—and you DO write it down, but the next day it makes no sense. (There was a funny "Seinfeld" episode about this.)

Even more likely than that: you write it down, but when you read it the next day…eh. You’re actually NOT a genius, darn it. But at least you're not wasting all your time and energy trying to find perfection that doesn't actually exist.

MFA Database

2009-10-19T09:33:00.000-04:00

If you haven’t seen this already, Poets & Writers debuts its database of MFA programs:

"Find the program that's right for you by searching Poets & Writers' brand new database of over 100 graduate programs in creative writing in the United States and abroad. Information on program size, faculty, funding opportunities, deadlines for applications, and more. "

Visit the Database

Work in Progress: A "Scrap Basket"

2009-10-15T10:22:00.002-04:00

While in Nantucket, I bought a cute little hardcover called The Nantucket Scrap Basket by William F. Macy* (The Macys are one of the original Nantucket families). In the late 1800s, William F. Macy began collecting various Nantucket sayings and stories, and shared them at meetings of “The Sons and Daughters of Nantucket.” Others contributed, and eventually a book of all these memories and anecdotes was published in 1916. The book was reprinted in a second edition in 1930, and then reprinted again in 1984, and this current reprint is part of the Macy Genealogy Project, 2000.

All this to say that it’s a charming book to skim through, especially at night when you’re hoping to guide your dreams toward Nantucket, and also to note that I’m going to follow the “scrap basket” format for this blog post: several pieces, slightly related.

One.
Here’s the best trick I’ve found for focusing on work and ignoring the siren call of technology and people who think they need your attention:
1. Print out your work on paper.
2. Grab some pens.
3. Run the bathwater; bubble bath optional, but preferred.
4. Glass of wine optional, but preferred.
5. Light scented candles.
6. Read your work in the relaxed calm of your bathroom while soaking in your tub. Add more hot water as needed.
7. When you’re done reading, exfoliate with a loofah and congratulate yourself for multi-tasking and for your productive afternoon of work.

Two.
Here’s a fun exercise I tried while I was in Nantucket. If you’ve ever been there, you’ve noticed that there are dozens of benches all about downtown, and it’s impossible not to be lured into simply sitting and staring at whatever passes in front of you. I spent an entire afternoon basically sitting, though I did move every hour or so, to look at something different.

But you’d be surprised at what’s interesting if you simply watch it long enough—I watched the “traffic” at one intersection of Main Street as cars headed up the cobblestones and navigated turning cars and oblivious pedestrians (the state law requires cars to stop for anyone in a crosswalk). Trust me, there was a lot going on there, though it would be hard to describe what exactly happened.

That was fun, but early in the day of bench-warming, I was feeling more ambitious and pulled out my little notebook. I wrote down the scraps of conversation that I overheard as people passed. I also noted a few observations of my own, but I tried to limit inserting myself into the list.

After I filled up a page or so of eavesdropping, I organized the various phrases into a poem that, surprisingly, was an accurate and revealing reflection of my frame of mind. It’s not a poem that I’d let anyone see or anything, but I can easily imagine finding it a year from now and immediately being transported to that morning spent on the bench staring at the boats in the harbor, listening to the ferry’s horn, a fantastic blue sky above us all--the best souvenier of all!

Three.
On Facebook, another writer posted a status update about the “shape” of her novel that other writers quickly riffed on, describing the literal shape of their novels. It was a smart and lively thread, and I wish I could quote it but it would be hard to find now, plus, I’m not sure people really want to be “quoted” on what they write on Facebook! (I know I don’t.)

But I found it helpful to spontaneously come up with a visual metaphor of the “shape” of my novel, which was something along the lines of, My novel starts as an orderly line of people that devolves into an angry and confused mob in the back.

Maybe you had to be there, but what I found clarifying from the two seconds of thought that led to my seeing “exactly” what my novel looked like, is that I keyed in on the flaws:

1. Too safe and staid in the beginning.
2. Needs an ending!

Of course, I already knew #2, but #1 was interesting, as there is definitely a danger of being too tidy and wrapped up, which is a danger that I fall prey to constantly.

Try it: What does your book look like?

Four.
Thank you to whoever nominated this blog for the Top 100 Writing Blogs on "The Daily Reviewer." If you’d like to see my fine company, you can go here.

Footnote.
*If you’re interested, it seems you can actually download The Nantucket Scrap Basket for free. I think this is part of Google’s book project, and it’s actually sort of scary to see it in action. I was actually pleased to support the bookstore where I purchased my copy.