Writing Instructors Sought

Two recent job postings to let you know about, in two different locations:

First, the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine, is looking for a part-time writing instructor, with specific teaching/editing experience in creative nonfiction writing. "Candidates should be familiar with documentary arts, nonfiction writing, field interviewing and recording techniques, and practiced in the teaching of writing and editing." Additional qualifications include a master's degree (or higher), and a portfolio of published nonfiction writing. See the full job posting and application instructions at idealist.org.

Second, Writers in the Schools (WITS) in Houston, Texas, is looking for writers "who can teach the joy of creative writing to young people." Pays $50/teaching hour. "In addition to teaching, the job duties include preparation, responding to student work, and compiling anthologies of student writing at the end of the school year." Particularly interested in bilingual writers and writers interested in teaching grades 2-4. For the full description and application instructions (deadline: August 15), check the announcement, once again at idealist.org.

Introducing Hallmark magazine

According to this article from Bacon's The Navigator, Hallmark magazine will launch on August 21. Focusing "on how women can make their everyday lives more meaningful," the magazine is "specifically designed to celebrate life's everyday rituals." In this article you'll find a description of content to be included in every issue, pitching tips, and contact info.

More Summer Reading

This week I had some time to settle in and read The Atlantic's annual newsstand fiction issue. Among my favorite pieces here: Richard Russo's story, "Horseman" (a "campus" story that conveniently follows Megan Marshall's outstanding essay, "Academic Discourse and Adulterous Intercourse," analyzing "What Campus Novels Can Teach Us"); "Whitmore, 1969," a Vietnam-era story by Dominic Smith; and another historically-influenced work, Lauren Groff's "L. Debard and Aliette," which transposes the Abelard and Héloïse tale to New York in the early 20th century.

(There's an added bonus online for subscribers: an interview with Francine Prose in which she discusses her forthcoming book, Reading Like a Writer.)

New Issue of Theatre Funding News Available

Recently received the latest issue of Theatre Funding News, a great resource from the Fund for Women Artists. If you're a playwright (even if you're not a woman playwright!) you'll want to check it out. And some of the opportunities listed there are open to writers in other genres, too.

Advice for Academic Writers

What are book editors looking for? Dedi Felman, an executive editor at Oxford University Press, sums it up in this Chronicle of Higher Education piece. Much of the advice seems applicable even outside academe: "Avoid abstraction"; "Understand the true beginning of your story"; "Understand the end of the story"; and more.

Another No-Cost Contest

If you liked Georges Perec's La Disparition, a novel written entirely without the benefit of the letter "e" (*rika can't imagin* such a thing!), you'll love this no-cost poetry contest from Existere, a biannual journal based at York University in Canada. "Your challenge: to write a poem (or two, or three), without using the letter 'E'. Not in the title, not in the body, not even in footnotes, appendices, epigraphs, or epitaphs."

You can send up to 3 poems, maximum 100 lines. First prize will be $50; second prize, $30; third prize, $20 (I'm assuming this is all in Canadian currency). Winners will also receive two copies of the journal issue in which their work appears. There is no entry fee.

More information/submission guidelines at the journal's Web site.

Deadline: July 31, 2006.

(via placesforwriters.com)

Attention, Missouri Poets and Fiction Writers!

Poets & Writers, Inc. now invites Missouri-resident poets and fiction writers to enter the 2007 Writers Exchange Contest.

According to the guidelines, additional eligibility requirements include:

1) The writer must have never published a book, or;

2) The writer must have published no more than one full-length book in the genre in which s/he is applying (self-published books do not count), and;

3) The writer must have resided in Missouri for a minimum of two years prior to the date his/her manuscript is submitted.

The winning Missouri poet and winning Missouri fiction writer will each receive a $500 honorarium and a trip to New York City in October 2007 to meet with editors, agents, publishers, and other writers (related expenses will be covered by Poets & Writers and winners will also give a public reading). Winning writers will also receive one-month residencies at the Jentel Artist Residency Program in Wyoming.

(California poets and fiction writers, if you didn't catch this post back in May there still time for you to make use of it!)

There's no entry fee and the application deadline is December 1, 2006.

See guidelines and download entry form here.

Get to Know Her: Lexi Walters, Senior Editor for AmericanBaby.com and HealthyKids.com

Interested in pitching AmericanBaby.com or HealthyKids.com? Before you do so, read up on Lexi Walters, recently named Senior Editor for AmericanBaby.com and HealthyKids.com

New Texoma Magazine (Pays: $75-$100)

Sherman Living, a new magazine targeted for residents of the Greater Sherman-Denison community/towns across North Texas and Southeastern Oklahoma, is looking for writers. Editor Ed Southerland is calling specifically for features and business profiles, and will pay $75-$100 for 1,000-1,250 words. See his announcement at FreelanceWriting.com and the magazine's Web site for more information.

No-Cost Contest for Massachusetts Fiction Writers

Normally I try to post listings about fee-free writing contests only when they offer cash prizes (or detailed information about another type of prize, like a trip to Hawaii). I'll make an exception here for The Improper Bostonian's call for fiction because I've entered this contest myself in the past (my story, "Calendar Man," was a finalist in 2002). Good luck to my fellow Massachusetts fictionists!

Call For Fiction

As part of our fifth annual Literary Boston issue, we invite all local authors (residing in Massachusetts) to submit a short work of fiction, no more than 3,000 words, to us by Wednesday, July 25. Entries should be original works that have never been previously published.

The winning author's story will be published in our September 13 issue. Plus the skilled scribe will receive a slew of fun prizes.

Please send two copies of your story, including your full contact information (name, phone and e-mail address) to:

The Improper Bostonian
Attn: Fiction Contest
142 Berkeley St., 3rd Floor
Boston, MA 02116

Manuscripts cannot be returned.

Tech News

Very intriguing article in yesterday's New York Times. Anyone interested in self-publishing/print-on-demand should take a look. Titled "Technology Rewrites the Book: New Services Allow Print Runs of a Few, or Just One," Peter Wayner's article devotes most of its attention to Blurb.com, which I'm going to spend some more time getting to know.

A Public Space: Submissions Closed Until September 5

Just yesterday (literally) I logged onto the submissions section of the Web site for A Public Space to find out what was happening with my story. (The guidelines suggest you can expect a response in six weeks, and I sent the story more than six weeks ago.)

All I found out was that the story is still "awaiting review." But today I received the magazine's newsletter, which included this helpful information:

Attention writers: In order to catch up on the huge amount of submissions we've received, we are not accepting any new submissions until September 5. So please do not submit new work via our online submissions system or regular mail until that date. If you already have submitted work and haven't yet received a response: we are busy reading, and you will hear from us by the end of August. Your patience is appreciated.

So hold off on your submissions. And keep your fingers crossed for me!

The American Scholar: Now Publishing Fiction

The good news is that The American Scholar has begun to publish fiction! I saw this announcement on the cover of the Summer 2006 issue during a recent bookstore visit and quickly grabbed the journal off the magazine shelf. The two inaugural stories are by Alice Munro (who will have a new collection, The View from Castle Rock, published this fall) and David Leavitt. This is great news.

What's not so great, at least from my perspective, is this part of the issue's Editor's Note:

One practical reason for not running fiction [in the past] did eventually come to mind. How would our small staff handle the onslaught of creative-writing-program-generated manuscripts sure to follow the publication of our first short story? We struggle to keep up with the unsolicited nonfiction manuscripts. A doubling or tripling of submissions might result in editorial defenestration--either these manuscripts learn to fly or we do.

The SCHOLAR has always encouraged young talent [....] Still, we have reluctantly decided to discourage the submission of unsolicited fiction. Send those stories someplace else, please. We promise to find you when your talent has blossomed.

But another bright spot--I also found in that issue a wonderful essay by an old writing friend (we met at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival almost ten years ago). So if you do pick up this issue don't just read the fiction--be sure to spend some time with Natalie Wexler's "The Case for Love," too.

Call for Essays: New Seal Press Anthology (Pays: $100, plus two books)

Seal Press plans to publish an anthology, Single State of the Union: Single Women Speak Out about Life, Love and the Pursuit of Happiness (to be edited by Diane Mapes) in spring 2007.

Single State of the Union seeks well-written essays that are revealing, rewarding, wry and that give voice to the good, bad and ugly of life as a single woman in a society that idealized--even fetishizes--marriage. This particular collection is not so much looking for stories about dating or the search for love (at least in the traditional sense) but stories of life, liberty, and our individual pursuits of happiness, whether through music, misadventure, motherhood, or all of the above. Essays from women of all ages (18-88) and all situations (single, dating, 'living in sin,' recently married, divorced, widowed, etc) are welcome--as long as they are on point.

Submission deadline: August 1, 2006.

For the full announcement and guidelines, click here.

Misery, Memoir, and "Emotional Journalism"

Did you read Benjamin Kunkel's essay in Sunday's New York Times Book Review? Titled "Misery Loves a Memoir," the piece addresses the familiar issue about what's at the core (or what's apparently supposed to be at the core) of most contemporary autobiographical writing: "Suffering produces meaning. Life is what happens to you, not what you do. Victim and hero are one. Hence the preponderance of memoirs having to do with mental illness, sexual and other violence, drug and alcohol addiction, bad parents and/or mad or missing loved ones." There's nothing too new about Kunkel's criticism; such commentary often provokes a counter-cry from those who choose to focus on the "redemptive" or "inspirational" aspects of such stories rather than their substance, or "facts."

But what about writing one step away? What about prose that isn't officially memoiristic, but rather journalistic? What about the "emotional journalism" that seems increasingly popular in newspapers these days, what Stephanie Shapiro has described as "long narratives about fatal illnesses and disfiguring ailments, particularly when they involve children"? In the June/July 2006 issue of the American Journalism Review, Shapiro writes about this trend. While I've noticed some of these extended feature articles--and not infrequently been moved by them--I really haven't thought much about the intersections between these human interest stories and memoirs. Until now.

"When does a news story become less about providing information and more about manipulating emotions?" Shapiro asks. "When does it become more voyeuristic than revealing? At what point does an effort to elucidate slide hopelessly into pathos?"

When, indeed? Any thoughts? Or thoughts about the similarities and/or differences between memoirs and other nonfiction narratives here?

Treat Yourself

Treat yourself to some fine reads (Helen Simpson, Colm Tóibín, William Trevor, William Boyd, and Alice Munro) in the Guardian's Summer Fiction Special. (via CriticalMass)

Attention, Book Reviewers!

I've just been getting started with my new group of book reviewing students (they're MFA candidates in the Lesley University Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing), so I've once again updated (and made available for those of you who aren't my students!) the Practicing Writer's Directory of Paying Markets for Book Reviewers. As usual, I've updated changed links, removed listings that no longer seem viable, and even managed to add some publications that will pay for your book reviews (the total now exceeds 80 markets!). Read the preview (with sample listings) here.

And in related news, I've just received a first review assignment for a publication I've been looking to crack for awhile. Stay tuned--I'll be able to tell you more once the review is written, submitted, and published! Meantime, you can find some of my most recent reviews (in print) in the spring 2006 issue of The Missouri Review and in the June 2006 issue of The Writer. A few more should be out shortly....

Tips for Beginning Travel Writers

Lots of the nonfiction writers I know write, in one way or another, about travel. For those interested in getting started in the broad area of travel writing, check these ten tips from WrittenRoad.com's resident expert, Jen Leo.

Reference Book Article Writer Sought (Pays: $100)

A writer is needed for "a general survey article of 5000 words documenting the contributions of women to the civil rights movement." The article will be included in a reference book on the civil rights movement, to be published by ABC-Clio in 2008.

For more information, see the announcement at H-Net.

Upcoming Themes from Meanjin (Pays: minimum $50 for poetry, $100 for prose [Australian funds])

The Australian literary magazine, Meanjin, has updated its "Upcoming Themes" list. Submissions on the theme of "Faith and Belief in a Post-Secular Age" are welcome until August 3.

The magazine is "interested in material in diverse genres," including poetry, fiction, "reflective and scholarly essays," memoirs, commentary, review essays, interviews, and writing for performance. Pays "minimum fees" of $50 for poetry and $100 for prose (Australian funds).

See the full contributors' guidelines here.

Son and Foe Temporarily Closed to Submissions

Son and Foe, "an e-zine of stories, poetry, and music," is temporarily closed to submissions. "We are behind in our reading, and have to get the next issue finished. We should be open to subs again sometime around 8/1/06." Check for updates here.

Two Lines Seeks Translations (Pays: $35/accepted submission)

Two Lines, a journal of world literature translated into English, is now seeking work for its 2007 annual anthology of international writing. They're looking for "original translations into English of writing from any genre--including fiction, poetry, drama, reportage, proverbs, song lyrics, diaries, oral histories, case studies, essays--and short articles concerning the translation process." They'd be especially happy for "works in new genres and rarer languages," as well as "submissions of writing from non-European authors."

Two Lines pays $35 for each accepted submission that's published ("a group of works by one author is considered a single submission").

Deadline: October 12, 2006.

AND, if you have an anthology proposal in mind, they'd like to hear about that, too.

Full guidelines here.

(via CRWROPPS)

From My Bookshelf: Recent Reads

The last five books I've read for pure pleasure (meaning, I don't have review assignments for them):


The Brooklyn Follies (Paul Auster)

Taking Care of Cleo (Bill Broder)

Pearl (Mary Gordon)

The Discontinuity of Small Things (Kevin Haworth)

Terrorist (John Updike)

What have you been reading?

P.S. There's been some discussion about this within the litblog world lately, so let me just tell you that I am not an Amazon "affiliate" and I won't receive a penny should you click through any of the above links to buy these books.

Free E-book for Newsletter Subscribers Updated

This weekend I updated our "Guide to Eponymous Literary Contests and Competitions," a complimentary benefit available to our "Practicing Writer" newsletter subscribers. I added a few new contests, updated links that had changed, and removed competition programs that seem to have "died"/been suspended. If you're a subscriber, you already know that you can download the new e-book within the "Files" section of our newsletter's Yahoo!Groups page. If you're not a subscriber, it's never too late to join us! (Remember, the newsletter is free, and we do not sell, rent, or otherwise distribute our subscribers' e-mail addresses.)

TravelingTales.com (Pays: $25 CDN/story)

TravelingTales.com looks for "first-person stories about destinations and tourism attractions." You can see samples at the Web site.

Pays $25 CDN per story (including photos), and accepts reprints.

You'll find submission guidelines here.

Visiting Post for Creative Writer (Poetry Focus)

There's a one-year visiting appointment available at Case Western Reserve University (at the rank of lecturer, visiting instructor, or visiting assistant professor) for a creative writer with experience teaching poetry. Expect to teach 5-6 courses for the year. MFA degree required. "Possible preference for a candidate qualified to teach African American or ethnic literature." Send electronic applications only by July 15. See the announcement here.

Mastheads.org

Here's an interesting find (thanks to the folks over at WrittenRoad.com for the tip). Mastheads.org "is a totally free, totally open, collaborative resource created in May 2006 by a writer/editor in New York who wanted to organize her collection of magazine mastheads and decided to do it online. With the help of other freelance peeps like herself, 15 mastheads turned into 70, and now the goal is to get every major title out there, with up-to-the-minute updates and staff changes." Benefit from the findings to date, and add to the collection if you're so inclined.

UPDATE, July 20, 2006:

Well, that was fast. Seems that this resource is no longer free. That's too bad. (If you become a regular contributor, however, you can still access the full database free of charge.)

New Review Posted

Check out this great review of the new edition of our guide to literary contests for writers of book-length fiction:

I was very happy to come across The Practicing Writer's Literary Contest Directory for Writers of Book-Length Fiction. It's concise, easy to use, and more than worth its price for several hours saved that I otherwise would have spent combing the internet--hours better spent getting my manuscript ready for submitting!

Not only did Ms. Dreifus put more than thirty five contests all in one pleasing format, but she included very helpful information that the newbie contest entrant will find invaluable (and the veteran will appreciate looking over again).

If you're finishing up a literary novel or adding one more story to that collection, I recommend getting this ebook early so that you can plan ahead for contest deadlines.

(Incidentally, the Practicing Writer's blog and newsletter are always very helpful.)

Thanks!

See the review posted at the guide's Web page, where you can also download a complimentary preview of the e-book.

Richard Chess, Image Artist of the Month

I cannot tell you how happy I am to discover that poet Richard Chess is the current Image "Artist of the Month." Ever since I had the great good fortune to meet him through my MFA program (he's no longer affiliated with that program, but I was lucky enough to have him among my thesis advisors), Rick Chess has been one of my favorite people. Rick offers yet another example of the presence of truly talented writers-who-teach who can also be truly generous. (Or, as another poet quite accurately summarized it to me when we were talking about our common acquaintance, "Rick's a mensch.")

Read Rick's beautiful book, Chair in the Desert (my signed copy is one of my prized possessions). Read what Image has posted about him online. And read "Kaddish," which appeared in Image #42 and has been anthologized in Best American Spiritual Writing 2005 and in Telling and Remembering: A Century of American Jewish Poetry.