Harlem Writer

Graphic Design - End of Year Sale!

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:16:00 +0000

Walk confidently into 2012 with a professionally-designed one-sheet, rate card and postcard mailer to promote your art, band, songs or book.

Boutique PR agency is offering a packaged deal on digital collateral for aspiring and mid-career singers, musicians, bands, authors and other creative professionals.

Offer is not transferable and must include all three components to receive end of the year sale.

The first fifteen respondents with paid deposit will be eligible to receive offer. Package comes with maximum of two changes.

Offer expires on or by January 14th, 2012.

Contact us soon!

New Production Company - 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:01:00 +0000

Seeking writers (script, TV, commercial/video, and documentary), filmmakers, photographers, videographers, creative (make-up, hair, wardrobe), technical (lighting, sound), composers, administrative/interns, production assistants, financial wizards, grant writers, and location scouts to form a new production company to script, workshop, and produce direct-to-DVD projects for resume builders, reels and distribution.

Seeking actors who want or need experience with cold readings and scenes for reels. Interested in meeting people with access to locations (residential and commercial), props and transportation.

Culinary wizards, coffee shop and restaurant owners, don't hesitate to contact us -- we'll need a place to greet, meet and eat. New or mid-career catering companies are also welcome to send a note.

Please send cover letter, letter of introduction, resumes, headshots (actors, stunt people) and current projects you're working on to production company 2012.

This is not an offer of employment. We're looking to form a collaborative company to work on group projects.

Thanks in advance for your interest!

Administrative & Clerical Assistant

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:30:00 +0000

Creative organization that produces music, arts and cultural events seeks a P/T administrative and clerical assistant.

As an administrative and clerical assistant you will have hands-on experience writing, submitting and following up on project proposals. We offer great opportunities for learning and experience that will give the successful candidate a major advantage in their career.

Among the must-haves: great writing skills, an interest in music, literature, publishing, community outreach, outstanding organizational skills, an interactive people personality, and--most importantly-- the desire to (and an understanding of what it means to) work as an integral part of a creative organization.

The ideal applicant has a minimum of 7 hours, maximum of 10, weekly to assist producers and creative director electronically (Skype, etc) and over the phone.

Application Instructions: Please send as attachments, not in the body of an e-mail, a brief cover letter detailing why you'd be interested in working as an administrative and clerical assistant, a business writing sample, and a formatted resume: Admin & Clerical Assistant.

A background or ongoing education in English Literature, Creative Writing, or Communications is required.

Workshop Application Deadline Extended

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 19:45:00 +0000

Morningside Writers Group offers flexible and affordable three-month workshop sessions for writers of literary fiction, mass market fiction, speculative/horror/fantasy genre fiction, creative nonfiction/memoir, stage/screen/TV.

Writers interested in our fiction workshop, apply here.

Writers interested in our teen writing workshop, apply here.

Writers interested in our creative nonfiction/memoir workshop, apply here.

Writers interested in our screenwriting/playwriting/TV pilot workshop, apply here.

Morningside Writers, a culturally diverse group based in Manhattan, focuses on improving craft, professional branding and marketing. The Morningside Method™ develops artists who secure agents, build publishing careers as working writers who understand the creative, business and legal components in one of three genres.
Morningside Writers Group is listed among other regional writing groups, writing centers, and workshops which offers alternatives to a full time MFA degree program in the April 2009 Cover Story in the Writer Magazine, The L Magazine, and most recently in Time Out New York.

Fall 2011 Workshop Assistants

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Morningside Writers Group seeks one or two P/T (preferably Harlem/Upper West Side-based) interns for administrative, workshop, website tasks and branding.

As an intern you will have hands-on experience writing proposals. We offer great opportunities for learning and experience that will give successful candidates a major advantage in their careers. In exchange, we expect the best from you.

Among the must-haves: great writing skills, an interest in literature, publishing, community outreach, outstanding organizational skills, an interactive people personality, and--most importantly--the desire to (and an understanding of what it means to) work as an integral part of a creative community.

The ideal applicant has a minimum of 7 hours, maximum of 10, weekly to assist founder and creative director electronically (Skype,etc) and over the phone. Tasks will include research, fund-raising, grant-writing, community development, workshop scheduling, bookkeeping, Xeroxing, writing and responding to e-mail inquiries and administrative needs as they arise.

We are offering writing mentoring or editing (fiction, memoir, screenwriting, or spec fiction/sci-fi) and college credit, but there is an opportunity to earn commissions for ad sales/placement, and flat fees for successful pitches and proposals.

Please send a brief cover letter, resume, and why you'd be interested in working as an intern to MWG Assistant. A background or ongoing education in English Literature, Creative Writing, or Communications is required.

Seeking Personal Trainer Barter

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:50:00 +0000

Seeking an experienced, mature, professional in-home personal trainer for thrice-weekly early to mid-morning workouts.

Interested in someone who needs a publicist, marketing, promotion, or branding assistance in exchange for intense personal training sessions of equal value. I am not horribly out of shape, so I imagine my transformation should not take more than three to five months.

Ideally looking for one personal trainer, but will consider two, on the UWS/Harlem/Morningside Heights. Open to female or male trainer. I work from home in Lower Harlem.

Please send brief biography, contact information, mobile gym equipment, and weekday morning or early afternoon, social media profile, and link to your personal trainer website availability for a response.

Serious replies only. Thanks in advance for consideration.I'm ready to work out and hope that you are healthy and ready to train.

Urban Teen Writing Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 19:49:00 +0000

Morningside Teen Writing Workshop is a twelve-week intensive workshop for writers in two age groups twelve to fifteen and sixteen to nineteen. The writers in the group are taught the elements of fiction writing. The main purpose of the group is to provide necessary feedback to other writers prior to submitting to agents and producers following a tested and proven format. We also address anti-bullying and coping with various school and community challenges.

Workshop Feedback.
We all need someone outside the world we've created to look at our work and be sure others will see on the page what resides in our hearts, rattles around in our heads and at times paralyzes us from moving forward.

Workshop Revision.
All writers must revise in order to streamline their storytelling techniques and tell the best possible story. This workshop will provide support as well as the discipline necessary to finish your work. We all want a do-over on any given day of our lives. It does get better. It will get better. You are not defined by your past mistakes. You will not be defined by who you are. Readers can learn from your experiences through your writing.

Community Support.
Publishers are distributing creative works in different formats, and we're on the forefront of this shift in the publishing world's idea of distribution and branding. We're a community of fellow writers, editors and publishing professionals who have traveled a similar journey just outside the expected norm. Join us and share your voice with the world.

12-week Memoir Intensive Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Mon, 09 May 2011 16:09:00 +0000

Everyone has a story tell. Do you have the skills and support network to bring yours to print? Creative Nonfiction makes you face the truth about yourself, your family and friends.

We are available to help you on your journey in Creating Memoir That’s Bigger Than Me, Me, Me

We know the difference between Memoir and Autobiography, and help you navigate the sometimes rocky terrain of crafting poignant memoirs and essays.

We have seats available for Personal Essayists, Journalists, and Memoirists in our twelve-week Memoir Workshop. We will help you move beyond the me, me, me of most memoirs and create poignant essays, editorials, and memoir chapters.

We use the glass booth method in roundtable format to discuss works in progress and completed works prior to submitting to contests, magazines and agents.

Do you have the courage and emotional distance to write through you fears? What if your family and friends opt not to read or accept your personal truths, would you persist and write it?

If so, we have a seat for you: Memoir Workshop.

Morningside Writers Group is listed among other regional writing groups, writing centers, and workshops which offers alternatives to a full-time MFA degree program in the April 2009 Cover Story in the Writer Magazine, The L Magazine, and most recently in Time Out New York.

Morningside Workshops focus on learning and improving craft with a healthy dose of professional branding and marketing. The gradual result of The Morningside Method ™ is a well-rounded writer who might pursue an MFA, find an agent and build a career as a published writer, produced playwright, optioned screenwriter or working television writer who understands the creative, business and legal components of their career.

Need Affordable Editing?

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:17:00 +0000

Are you a busy professional, overbooked parent or creative writer in need of professional copywriting, copyediting or business documents?

Professional writer/editor and writing instructor is available to help you transcribe your musings, transform your rough drafts into polished copy and alleviate stress associated with writing.

No project is too small or too large.

Cover letters, resumes, website copy, keyword research, SEO/SEM copywriting, form letters to creditors, schools, contests, business correspondence, fiction editing, screenplay coverage, personal essays and Word templates.

Contact me for an estimate, one-page sample edit and testimonials: Creative Language Services.

Conference Room for Writing Workshops

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:04:00 +0000

Creative Writing Workshop seeks a private conference room in Midtown West, on the Upper West Side, or in Harlem/Morningside Heights for a series of Screenwriting, Fiction, and Memoir workshops and seminars.

We are a seven year-old successful writing workshop with past and current published writers and working editors.

Offering the key holder or business owner a private, one-on-one writing for uninterrupted access to a conference room for our three-month (12-weeks) workshops throughout the year: January - March, May - July, and September-November.

Our workshops are evenings only: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. We don't want or need incoming or outgoing phone calls, Xerox, or facsimile.

We do however need a private space with access to a toilet. We're a responsible and mature group of writers looking for a new place to call home for the foreseeable future.

If interested, please respond with details about your location, and attach photos. We've a barter agreement ready for a serious offer. Please don't hesitate to contact us soon: info@morningsidewriters.com

Junior Talent Booking|Event Planning Agents

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:34:00 +0000

Seeking Junior Booking Agent & Junior Event Planning Agents for a new division in a grassroots PR|Marketing|Booking Agency.

The ideal agent is able to work with minimal supervision, comfortable making cold calls, marketing and sales, and speaks and writes business English. Bilingual English|Spanish is a bonus.

Must have wireless-enabled laptop and cell phone. Should be familiar with performance spaces, festivals, and media|entertainment industry in the tri-state area (and eventual national venues), or a fast learner|great researcher.

Send cover letter with availability, resume, and at least one business writing sample with subject heading: Junior Talent/Event Agent. Opportunity to earn commissions and work with emerging artists, small business owners, and community organizers.

Package Less - A Review

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 23:54:00 +0000

Package Less was a conceptualized dance performance based on Self Help, Inc., choreographed by Martha Williams of The Movement Movement, an emerging New York-based company established in 2005.

Dance unites all types and kinds of patrons – young and old, black, white, uptown Manhattan, downtown artists, and with a few tourists on holiday thrown into the mix. New York is a cultural destination after all.

I first noticed the sparsely decorated stage at The Joyce in SoHo, and wondered what might be on the bill as I pored over the program and looked around at the expectant faces in the intimate theater. There was a sense of anticipation as I scanned downstage right, at a TV and an antique chair. Multi-hued sofas occupied center stage, and upstage left a single chair pulled my attention away from three hand-painted curtains with leaves at the rear of the stage that brought to mind a forest. A collective quiet crept into the theater as a New York nightlife soundtrack hummed just outside the front door.

A dimly lit stage revealed a solo performer seated in a chair as haunting piano music slowly rose and filled the theater. A delicate hand appeared from one of the sofas, as if beckoning the audience to participate in the upcoming performance. I thought of Waiting for Godot as the actor sat with his back to the audience and adjusted what I might have come to expect from having read the playbill.

The succeeding images and sounds of an arguing couple and the actor pushing his chair backwards competed for my attention. Where should I focus? If I follow the couple, will I miss something that the actor in the vest does as he narrates the unfolding tale?

Industrial music signaled the next scene change as yet another body materialized from behind the sofa. The dancers were raw and physical, seemingly at ease with their subject matter, each flick of the wrist, gyrating hip, and extension cementing the story of human nature and surviving in a hostile world.

“Get off of me!” rang from the sofa.

Is this a tale of a fractured, discontented or dysfunctional family? Are we peering beyond the fourth wall of an unhappy man and his mistress? What am I to make of the male dancer dressing on stage? What does it mean in the realm of self-help?

I didn’t know what to make of the slightly inaudible narration that seemed disconnected from the intended story the dancers were enacting. Where should my frame reference be as the sofas are moved about the stage? Am I in suburbia watching an adulterous affair and its painful consequences take place? Does the wife know and willingly accept?

Acoustic/electric guitar music transported the narrator to the corner TV, however the narration wasn’t loud enough, and perhaps would’ve been better if delivered via the speakers with the music lowered.

I searched for understanding in the hour-long performance that was meant to explore a woman’s sexuality and identity. Perhaps what appeared to be an affair was just that, and the choreography was spot on.

The domesticity of the sofas, chair and TV were to have located the audience in a sacred place and time, that of a home where all is revealed, without the crutch of masks many of us rely on to make it through the day.

I wanted to be drawn into this performance, if nothing more than to experience experimental dance and theater in one. I applaud dancers who give themselves over to choreography without question, especially when furniture is used as performance accompaniments. Art is subjective. Ethnic dance usually tells a story, be it West African dancers that defy gravity, Asian or East Indian footwork and hands that are alternately fast and slow.

Package Less is the choreographer’s interpretation of a nonfiction book, several ideologies, and thoughts which, to this viewer, didn’t coalesce.

Script Coverage & Fiction Editing

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 15:08:00 +0000

No matter how strong your writing may already be, all writing can be improved through proper and effective editing. A great editor will make the difference between material that is compelling or forgettable.

We offer expert editorial services by an experienced team of editors that includes professional writers, college professors, public relations practitioners and former journalists. Our editing experience comprises short stories, novels, college research papers, Ph.D. dissertations, newspaper and magazine articles and features, résumés and cover letters, and business marketing and promotional materials.

We work with you to improve the content, style, tone, grammar, syntax and structure of your writing and written materials while maintaining the particularities of your own voice.

Our services include:

Manuscript Feedback: We provide professional analysis and evaluation of all aspects of your short story, novel, screenplay, or TV pilot or memoir with constructive recommendations for improvement. Our word-by-word proofreading and editing will enhance the content, structure and clarity of your written materials. A member of our team will work closely with you until grammar, syntax, spelling, and punctuation meet current professional standards.

We offer three levels of per-page feedback: first-level copyediting, developmental editing and substantive editing.

Copyeditors are not proofreaders. Although many copy-editors are good proofreaders, and all copy-editors are expected to catch typographical errors, copyediting and proofreading are two different functions.

Copyeditors work on an author's manuscript and are concerned with imposing mechanical consistency; correcting infelicities of grammar, usage, and diction; and querying internal inconsistencies of fact or tone. Proofreaders, in contrast, are charged with correcting errors introduced during the typesetting, formatting, or file conversion of the final document and with identifying any serious errors that were not caught during copyediting.

Our team approach ensures that you will be assigned an editor who understands your specific writing needs and has experience critiquing and editing similar work professionally. It also means we can offer you competitive rates for our services and a rapid turn-around on your writing assignments.

Contact us to begin your project, or for an estimate: Morningside Editorial Services bluepencil@morningsidewriters.com.

Workshops for Publishing Success!™

Resurrect Your Abandoned Novel Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 05:42:00 +0000

Resurrect your abandoned novel or short story collection from the bottom of your bureau drawers or from being used as a doorstop.

The reasons are unique and universal, but they exist all the same. We are committed to helping you revitalize your forgotten prose into a polished and marketable book, but we won't stop there.

We are looking for serious, reliable, and disciplined short story or novel writers with a body of work. We are seeking writers with a firm foundation of The Elements of Fiction Writing, versed in workshop dynamics, and able to give and receive constructive feedback.

We meet weekly on Thursday evenings, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m., in Midtown Manhattan. Each workshop is limited to six writers because it seems to be the best way to ensure that each member’s work gets the attention it deserves.

We use a glass booth format which allows for uninterrupted feedback during the workshop. It also forces everyone to listen to each other and streamline the feedback offered. Our goal is publication.

Morningside Workshops focus on learning and improving craft with a healthy dose of professional branding and marketing. The gradual result of The Morningside Method ™ is a well-rounded writer who might pursue an MFA, find an agent and build a career as a published writer, produced playwright, optioned screenwriter or working television writer who understands the creative, business and legal components of their career.

Morningside Writers Group is listed among other regional writing groups, writing centers, and workshops which offers alternatives to a full-time MFA degree program in the April 2009 Cover Story in the Writer Magazine, The L Magazine, and most recently in Time Out New York.

Interested writers visit the application link here: Resurrect Your Abandoned Novel

English/Spanish Intercambio Group in Harlem

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 22:27:00 +0000

Interested in forming a small group (4-6 people) of native English and native Spanish speakers who need to improve their intermediate to advanced written and spoken language skills in the opposite language.

This isn't a group for beginners. Participants must have at least intermediate writing and conversation skills, and able to meet at least once a week in the evening for approximately two hours. Weekend availability is also optional.

There are two core members currently -- a native (male) English speaker and a native (male) Spanish speaker.

We're looking for participants experienced in grammar, writing, and pronunciation.

Send a brief note with interest and availability to meet throughout the winter and spring. We're only interested and available to meet on the Upper West Side/Harlem.

Please only respond if serious and prepared to meet for an initial face to face orientation and skills assessment within seven days of communication.

New Year, New You : Accent Reduction

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:11:00 +0000

Imagine conversing with native and international English speakers and being understood . . .

Imagine speaking with confidence at work, school, or during a job interview . . .

What does that feel like?

Dynamic Voices Workshops ™ include Conversation Skills, Role Playing, Improvisational Skills, Vocabulary Building, and Accent Reduction.

Your motivation and determination will increase as your accent and insecurity decrease.

Upon completion of your customized Dynamic Voices Workshop, you will be more confident in a variety of situations: on the phone, face-to-face interactions, and in written communications.

Students bring a notebook or digital cassette recorder to take notes and chart progress. Serious students work once a week, for one hour, over the course of six months to one year.

Weekly workshops focus on your spoken and written English.

Priced separately, the complete package would cost $100/hour, but if you act fast and book on either of the two available days, the cost for in-house sessions would be $35/hour ($45/hour for house calls).

You can Reduce Your Accent within six months, and Accent Elimination within two years! Contact me to schedule a preliminary audit session or book your first ten-block workshop!

Contact Dynamic Voices for additional information, rates, and to book an audit session.

Seeking Junior PR|Creative Branding Interns

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 23:33:00 +0000

Boutique PR|Marketing agency seeks split fee + commission interns to assist on preexisting media accounts and to prospect for new business. We are a growing entertainment, health care, and literary agency. Our clients include a range of local, regional and national artists, entrepreneurs and authors.

As an intern you will have hands-on experience crafting press releases, pitching clients to the media, media outreach and proposal writing. We offer great opportunities for learning and experience that will give successful candidates a major advantage in their careers. We expect the best from you.

Among the must-haves: great writing skills, an interest in the design/creative aspects of PR and marketing, an enthusiasm to learn, outstanding organizational skills, a strong knowledge of social media, professional phone skills, a dynamic “people” personality, and--most importantly--the desire to (and an understanding of what it means to) work as part of a small professional team.

Please send your cover letter explaining why you are the best candidate for this position, resume and two PR|marketing writing samples to Junior PR Intern Application. A background or ongoing education in public relations, communications or journalism is required.

Junior Sales Agents

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:00:00 +0000

We are looking for several part-time commission sales agents to join our PR/Marketing agency. The compensation is sales-based. The first ten sales will pay $20 each, the next 5 at $25 each, the next five sales at $30 each until the max of $60 per sale.

There is no base pay. Compensation will be commission only.

The agent must have excellent written English, able to follow instructions and willing to make weekly reports of sales and lead-generation efforts.

The ideal candidate is:

Driven
Hard-working
Diligent
Have a knack for offering superior customer service
Have a strong sales background with a proven track record
Be internet-savvy
Have a reliable internet connection
Be fluent in written and spoken English
Be able to generate own leads

Sales agents will be expected to generate leads and make sales. Earning potential is dependent upon performance.

Please forward cover letter and resume to Junior Sales Agent.

An Ideal Writing Workshop Member

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 16:16:00 +0000

All art is connected on some level. All humans, too, are connected in minute and major ways if only we pay attention to each other. My initial goal was to unite creative writers in my living room who'd form a loose literary chain gang, with the sole purpose of nurturing and uplifting the person sitting next to them.

I've written on this blog about how I formed Morningside Writers Group, so need to revisit it. This post is to lay bare the disappointment and in other instances, anger, I feel after a workshop participant bails on the group ceremoniously or whimpers out like a deflated balloon. Past members have had to choose between their spouses, family, or friends who didn't believe in and support their creative journey toward personal fulfillment, or prior to the ease and prevalence of POD publishers, navigating the traditional obstacle course of agents, editors, and mainstream book publishers that might result in publishing a short story collection or novel.

Writing workshops are for mature, responsible individuals who need a creative community to lean on, learn from, to co-teach, and be held accountable. Writing workshops aren't for clichéd people who believe they'll find publishing success, dead or alive, at the bottom of a shot glass or beer bottle. Drunken and drugged out artists and writers are wretched stereotypes.

Writing workshops aren't social or civic clubs. Writing is an individual pursuit, even when collaborating with others. In those instances, each team member has to know who they are, what they're writing, and most important - why they're writing. If it's for instant fame and celebrity, that fool will soon be disillusioned. Writing workshops aren't group therapy sessions or places to idle away free time after work or on the weekends.

Before applying to a writing workshop, not a how-to writing class, a person should have a body of work as would a photographer, painter, or sculptor.

Writers create and recreate worlds on the page and screen, similar to a photographer closing a camera's shutter at the right moment to capture an image that existed then. Writing is a snapshot, a moment when an individual is open to the invisible and seemingly impossible.

An ideal writing workshop member is an avid reader across several genres who specializes in at least one. S/he is an expert or soon becomes on the inner workings and window dressings of literary or commercial fiction, screenwriting, or personal essays. My on-the-job training and process as founder and moderator, while not perfect, has worked for the last seven years. I strive weekly to improve and strengthen the mission statement so that Morningside Writers Group remains relevant for those seriously pursuing publication and production.

I'm hopeful each time I read a promising application, optimistic during the first few weeks of a new member's acceptance and joining, and temporarily saddened when a participant (a) flakes out (b) stops producing quality writing (c) habitually late submitting work for discussion (d) disrespect others in the group or (e) realizes s/he lacks the discipline and drive to publish.

It angers me when a participant in a cowardly move, sends an e-mail resignation rather than have the decency to (a) discuss concerns in person or on the phone or (b) try to negotiate realistic changes if need be. This strikes at my core and goes against the foundation of the workshop. Despite the mistaken notion that a departure isn't personal, it is. I wonder if the person's telling the truth for their resignation, and if there was anything I could have done to salvage the membership. I know that everyone doesn't feel the same about the workshop as I do, but please have respect for fellow workshop members who've invested countless hours reading, marking-up, and preparing discussion notes for a submission. The defector is bailing on the entire workshop roster, not just me. I'm the glue that holds everything together. I've developed a thicker skin in latter years and am able to rebound faster than some others.

No self-respecting person wants to have coffee, send submissions for feedback, or hangout after such cowardice. Wasn't that the initial reason you applied for and later joined the writing workshop?

A workshop is in service of the majority, not one or two misguided snobs who want the majority to tailor to their whims. I've never done well with cliques, and abhor prejudice and discrimination. My creative DNA is comprised of inclusion, not exclusion based on different writing genres or creative outlets. Why then would I create an elitist workshop, application requirements notwithstanding?

I'm overdue to step off the merry-go-round and devote more time to writing and submitting, and less as a wet-nurse to those that are careless and insensitive. My biggest challenge is that I'm a mentor and rescuer, but I must modify my behavior to ensure I that I, too, achieve my multi-book publishing goals. Family and friends have warned me that I'm a glutton for punishment, taking in doe-eyed strays I'd be better off passing by. I've been told I need to become a bit selfish, and put my creative writing and directing pursuits first, and everyone would follow my lead. I'm not currently built that way. I must find a healthy compromise.

How do you deal with the crazymakers in your creative life? I'd love to hear from you in the comment section below.

Summer and Fall Writing Workshops

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:43:00 +0000

Morningside Writers Group offers flexible and affordable 12, 16, or 24 workshop sessions for writers of literary fiction, mass market fiction, speculative/horror/fantasy genre fiction, creative nonfiction/memoir, stage/screen/TV.

Writers interested in our fiction workshop, apply here.

Writers interested in our returning adult/stage II fiction workshop, apply here.

Writers interested in our creative nonfiction/memoir workshop, apply here.

Writers interested in our screenwriting/playwriting/TV pilot workshop, apply here.

The main purpose of the group is to provide necessary feedback to other writers prior to submitting to editors, agents, publishers, and contests. We are most interested in helping each other further writing careers.

Morningside Writers Group is listed among other regional writing groups, writing centers, and workshops that offers alternatives to a full time MFA degree program in the April 2009 Cover Story in the Writer Magazine, The L Magazine, and most recently in Time Out New York.

Read it! timeoutnewyork.com

Writing House Built on Solid Ground

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:30:00 +0000

Morningside Writers Group has changed over the years, and so have I as its founder and moderator. The idea was borne out of frustration because I didn't feel comfortable in what I call puppy mill writing classes and workshops. It's similar K-12 education of one teacher and [too] many students. Creative people, in order to be successful, need a smaller moderator to workshop participant ratio.

Successful athletes and sports teams have specialized coaches for hitting, serving, and fitness. Why then shouldn't writers and other creative artists have an intimate setting to develop and hone their craft?

That was and continues to be my motivation for Morningside. I complained years ago to my mother about not having a creative community to join, and in her own loving and direct way said, "Stop complaining, create your own." I did that after a few bumps and scrapes, temporary public embarrassments, and home-schooling myself on the better points of establishing mobile creative communities.

Each year presents a new challenge, whether it's too many women in a particular workshop, or a writer violating the nondisclosure agreement and sharing a participant's work with a non-member. There are no how-to books for an urban workshop because it comes down to individual talent, focus, and goals. If a writer wants to get published, self-published or the traditional route, s/he will do so.

My biggest complaint past and present is noncommittal writers who have the notion to write, but lack the determination to sit, stand, or lounge daily with their writing pad or laptop. Equally troubling is that some are talented writers, but are too easily distracted by the daily hiccups that happen in life.

Is it too lofty a request that workshop participants carve out half the time I devote to keeping Morningside operating smoothly, sometimes to the detriment of my own writing? The cliché, "If you build it, they will come," is different for me. I have built a writing workshop on solid ground, but few have the self-discipline to sustain themselves and their writing for more than a few months. I have built it, and the majority walk through the front door and out of the back door to parts unknown. Some have had undisclosed medical or mental challenges, were married and started a family, and in one bizarre instance a jealous spouse who gave her husband an ultimatum -- It's them or me. Imagine.

I've thought about hanging up my moderator's baseball cap and relocating to upstate New York or out of the country to Salamanca, Spain, bug-eyed, writing successive manuscripts and screenplays, but I can't isolate myself. I was meant to found Morningside Writers Group in New York City, and we've had decent success with a few writers going on to MFA programs, book deals, and publication.

What I now want from all current participants and potential applicants is for them to stand in their full length bathroom or hallway mirror and ask: "Do I have what it takes to participate in a writing workshop weekly, monthly, and yearly?"

Or thinking back to an old interview with Glenn Ford on the Merv Griffin show when asked for advice for aspiring actors, he said, "Take a writing pad, pen, and a flashlight, lock yourself in a closet for two hours. On that pad write anything and everything you could be if you couldn't be an actor. If at the end of those two hours there's anything on your pad, go do it, because you don't have the dedication it takes to be an actor."

I'd offer the same advice. What's on your writing pad after two hours locked in a closet? Do you have the discipline and dedication it takes to be a writer?

PR for Fitness Professionals

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:17:00 +0000

New York City is filled with countless personal trainers, yoga instructors, masseurs, and boot-camp instructors in various parks throughout the summer and fall.

How do you cut through the din and establish yourself as a premiere offering and trusted professional? The fitness and healthcare industries have embraced the most popular forms of online media, collateral, and creative marketing.

How do you differentiate who you are and what you offer among the pack of well-intentioned competitors?

The first step would be a consultation with an experienced publicist/marketer, versed in creating and sustaining creative and business careers across various demographics. This consultation would focus on sorting through who you are and what you do, and how best to capitalize for an increased return on investment (ROI).

Subsequent steps would entail building your online and hard copy marketing collateral which includes press photos, creating a logo and business card, promo sheets and rate cards, creating a website, and developing and implementing a strategic PR/Marketing Campaign. We also offer customized Event Planning and promotions.

Contact us for the next logical step in establishing and advancing your career!

[JOB] Bilingual Spanish PR Agents

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:19:00 +0000

Boutique PR|Marketing agency seeks Bilingual Spanish split fee + commission interns to assist on preexisting media accounts and to prospect for new business. We are a growing entertainment, health care, and literary agency. Our clients include a range of local, regional and national artists, entrepreneurs and authors.

As an intern you will have hands-on experience crafting press releases, pitching clients to the media, media outreach and proposal writing.

We offer great opportunities for learning and experience that will give successful candidates a major advantage in their careers. In exchange, we expect the best from you.

Among the must-haves: great writing skills, an interest in the design/creative aspects of PR and marketing, an enthusiasm to learn, outstanding organizational skills, a strong knowledge of social media, professional phone skills, a dynamic “people” personality, and--most importantly--the desire to (and an understanding of what it means to) work as part of a small professional team.

Please send your cover letter explaining why you are the best candidate for this position, resume and two PR|marketing writing samples to Bilingual PR Agent. A background or ongoing education in public relations, communications, or journalism is required.

Anatomy of a Successful Writing Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Mon, 31 May 2010 01:31:00 +0000

When I first decided to organize a critique workshop, I didn't know heads or tails about forming a group in the publishing capital of the world. What did I know about interviewing and screening potential workshop members without insights into human nature, psychology, or human resources training?

I'd reached the point in my life when I had transitioned from auditioning, cattle calls, and acting to other. I'd been in collaborative creative environments as an actor, the school band, member of the glee club, and probably thought I'd always rely on others to initiate a project.

My earliest writing was personal, not meant for public eyes and scrutiny. I read and wanted to work through the Artist's Way, but I was terrified to go to those spiritual and emotional places the author suggested for deeper writing that would unleash a waterfall of creativity and connection or reconnection to the universe and/or a higher power. My foundation was biblical, not touchy feely, writing letters to myself or to those who I felt wronged me and blocked my creative path. The book would require lowering and eventually removing my actor's masks.

The original goal was to a create a collaborative writing workshop to improve my writing and eventually find an agent and get published. It was easiest to plan a screenwriting and playwriting group back then. Fiction was an unmanageable beast. Writing for the stage or screen was more direct and second nature for me. I thought it was similar to being a carpenter and stage manager.

I can't recall now how I recruited the various would-be, never would-be, and promising writers. I remember my small living room filled with bodies in folding chairs, squeezed onto the loveseat, snacks on the coffee table, and the mess the participants left in their wake. On second thought, I most likely recruited people from the last few plays and independent films I appeared in or worked on. Most meetings were held in my apartment until folks began complaining about traveling to the Upper West Side. The fair thing to do was alternate among members' homes or office conference rooms, which later proved problematic not only because of the trek to the outer reaches of Brooklyn or Queens, plus all weren't committed and would show up.

I felt something was missing. But what could it be? Was I getting in over my head? Should there be more structure? Should I separate the genres into different groups? Should there be safe words and boundaries as there are in therapy or in a dimly-lit room of pleasure and pain? I dismissed these questions as soon I registered them. I didn't want to tip the already shaky canoe.

I didn't know how I would proceed, but I did. I knew on some level that I should stick with it one day at a time. Morningside Writers Group felt right in my bones. I named the group because of my proximity to a once-derelict park that was being refurbished. What now seems symbolic didn't occur to me until years later. A novel or any other creative writing is a pile of leaves, branches, dried soil in need of watering, discarded syringes, and pill bottles. The city and park volunteers sorted and cleaned debris and restored Morningside Park. How many manuscripts begin the same way and are helped through a workshop process?

The first year was bumpy and emotionally taxing, yet I pushed through the bad behavior, withdrawals, and need for organization and bylaws. Oftentimes I thought about walking away and strengthening my writing in solitude. Over successive months and years, I enrolled in several writing workshops, but none worked for me. I felt that I was on a factory conveyor belt. I kept coming back to my idea my idea of creating an intimate writing salon closer to my Southwestern sensibilities.

To overcome the early false starts, I had to return to my stage acting core accustomed to research and script analysis. I looked for articles and books on critiquing, editing, copyediting, writing groups, and creative communities. The two books that stood out were Immediate Fiction and Writing Alone and With Others, and a series of technical, business, and creative PDFs.

All research and theory don't make for an enduring and successful writing workshop. I'd have to put my findings into action with a new group of strangers who might not share my beliefs and publication goals. After I regrouped, the meetings were better because I knew things about myself, writing, and the applicants that I hadn't before.

I set a bar of excellence that I'd have to achieve along with the others. I read everything I could get my hands on, subscribing to several mail-order bookclubs, literary, and writing magazines. I had to become a home-schooled literature professor in a matter of months, versed in popular and obscure fiction, scripts, and memoirs. I had to distinguish between mediocre, good, and excellent writing. I had to guide others toward more polished drafts.
The writers would have to have a common set of protocol when evaluating manuscripts and offering constructive feedback. The writers would have to share a vocabulary and representation and publication goals.

I had a huge learning curve because I took people and the application process too seriously. I had to become less of a father and scout leader, and more of a moderator and business owner. I had to overcome my fear of failure and plod through to the end of each new workshop until I found my footing. It was difficult to say no to unqualified candidates, and tougher still to read angry e-mails and forum postings afterward.

I'm a better moderator now because I developed a thick skin and focus on who and what matters, and ignore the petty stuff that only results in headaches and heartburn. If someone complains about not being accepted, I don't internalize and dwell on the attack. I've created multi-genre professional workshops and writing classes that have recurring yearly participants. Morningside isn't for everyone, and I've learned to live with that. It can't be all things to all people, and it shouldn't be.

Seeking Business Development Manager & Marketing Team

noreply@blogger.com (Harlem Writer) — Fri, 28 May 2010 12:17:00 +0000

Corporate Legal and Entertainment Management company seeks virtual and local marketing team.

Seeking experienced commissioned Business Development Manager, preferably with a legal background, but will consider all applicants, two commissioned Junior Business Development Managers, and two commissioned Marketing Interns.

Job duties will include:

Generating and closing legal and entertainment management sales leads.
Developing business relationships law schools and firms.
Recruiting personnel, training materials and HR follow up and file maintenance.
Developing proposals, marketing materials, and affiliate B to B marketing.

Interested applications please forward a cover letter and resume to OGC Application.

Thanks in advance for your interest!