Memorized Poems

This Guardian blog post on committing poems to memory brought back (mixed) memories of my eighth-grade assignment (for a social studies class, not an English course, as it happened) to memorize Kipling's "Gunga Din". Rereading that poem now (eighth grade was a long time ago) I wonder how--or if--it is taught today. I can see it causing quite a stir in the more politically correct classrooms of our current times.

What poems have you memorized? Why?

Paying Markets for Translators

This blog's handy Site Meter suggests that plenty of you visit this blog from overseas. My guess is that for some of you, at least, translation may be part of your writing practice. So I thought I'd share some observations gleaned during my recent updates of our paying market guides for poets and essayists.

These literary journals--all of which pay their writers and all of which post their guidelines and pay rates online--publish translations:

AGNI

Artful Dodge

Malahat Review

Prism International

Tampa Review

Zoland Poetry

On Atonement

If, like me, you loved Ian McEwan's Atonement, you'll want to read the author's piece in yesterday's Guardian, addressing charges that he has something to atone for where that book is concerned.

Monday Morning Listings

A few listings to start off the week:

AOL Find a Job (Pays: $200/article)

Casting Web site (Boston area; pays: "$400 a month to start")

ChoreGuide.com (Pays: $25/article)

Via The Renegade Writer Blog: more Chicken Soup anthology calls (books for Chocolate/Tea/Coffee/Wine Lover's Soul)

Via CRWROPPS: Anthology submissions sought for That Mysterious Door: Maine Tales of Fantasy and Speculation (Pays: $.03-$.05/word for unpublished work; "payment for reprints varies")

Brief Blog Break

I'll be taking a brief blog break for the Thanksgiving holiday. Happy Thanksgiving to all the American practicing writers out there, and see you all back here in a few days.

Information for Essayists

Just read about a new imprint for essays over at NewPages.com's Literary News Blog. Called "Essay Press," it's "dedicated to publishing innovative, explorative, and cultural relevant essays in book form." The editors are currently accepting submissions of essays (40-80 pages). More information here.

The Irascible Professor (Pays: $50)

If you peruse the sidebar of frequently read blogs/links (including Intellectual Affairs and Ms. Mentor), you probably won't be surprised to hear that I have a fondness for writing-about-academia. Now, thanks to an announcement at PayingWriterJobs, I've learned about The Irascible Professor, which calls itself an "independent journal of commentary on education issues."

The commentary is well-written, and it's open to "guest commentators and freelance education writers. To be accepted for publication, contributions must focus on education issues (K-12 or higher education) and they must meet our editorial standards. Typical payment is $50 per article upon publication." Contact the editor via the Web site to find out more.

An Update

If you recall my pre-Rosh Hashanah post on my discomfort with the National Book Critics Circle blog (and specifically, its tendency to express/promote distinctly anti-Israel views), you may be interested to know what's happened since.

At times, that anti-Israel preoccupation (primarily on the part of the organization's president; one other blog reader posted a comment in which s/he called it the president's "kvetching about Israel") seemed to fade. So I was a little more comfortable with remaining a member. Not that I didn't still put my two cents (or more) in when it seemed necessary. Even while I was away on the residency.

But it became emotionally draining. And when I saw myself mentioned on the blog (the words "NBCC member" prefaced my name and a link to a piece published several weeks earlier) just a short scroll away from a post I found (once again) utterly biased (and, frankly, offensive to anyone who even attempts to understand that Arab-Israeli conflicts, whether involving the Palestinians or Lebanon, simply cannot be viewed through a stubbornly reductionist lens in which the Arabs are always Israel's "innocent victims") I'd had enough.

So last week, I resigned from the National Book Critics Circle. I may not have done my career too much good through this episode. But I've eased my conscience.

And an ancillary benefit: now I don't feel compelled to check in at that blog every day to see what new mischief's going on. Which, I have to tell you, is a real relief. Though I admit I can't help wondering if my message finally got through and if someone on the board may finally have persuaded the president to keep his personal political opinions separate from the organization's blog.

Book Announcement

Warm congratulations to my friend and graduate school classmate Barbara J. Keys on the publication of her book, Globalizing Sport: National Rivalry and International Community in the 1930s, which has just been released by Harvard University Press. I can't make the book party (it's being held in Australia, where the author now teaches). But I'm sending her all my best wishes!

Nieman Notes

As you may recall, I spent many hours over the past few days at the Nieman Narrative Nonfiction Conference. Here are a few personal program highlights:

1) Calvin Trillin's keynote address. I've loved his work for years. He's as funny in person as he is on the page.

2) A new "discovery": Connie Schultz. I feel a bit silly declaring her a "discovery," since she's a Pulitzer Prize winner (2005, for commentary). But I did not know the work of this columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer before I heard her read on Friday. Then I attended her Sunday morning session on "Pulpit or Porch: Tuning the Tone of Your Column."

Actually, Schultz has been on leave from her paper since last winter. She has spent the past many months on the campaign trail with her husband, U.S. Senator-elect Sherrod Brown (D-OH) (who accompanied her to the conference). Her next book, ...And His Lovely Wife, is a campaign memoir scheduled for release in June 2007. In the meantime, you can get to know this writer through the pieces collected in Life Happens.

3) Hearing Samuel G. Freedman talk about "Braiding Character, Event, Theme and Place."

I was also very happy to meet Wendy Call, a practicing writer with whom I've corresponded via e-mail in the past. Among her accomplishments, Wendy is co-editor (with Mark Kramer) of Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide From the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, forthcoming in January. I look forward to reading that book soon!

Call for Submissions: Chicken Soup for the Sisters' and Brothers' Soul (Pays: $200/nonfiction story; $100/cartoon; $50/poem)

From an e-mail just received from Ken and Dahlynn McKowen:

Our publisher just moved up our deadline for Chicken Soup for the Sisters' and Brothers' Soul--by an entire year! We need stories NOW!

We just updated our website with information about what we need in the way of stories, including the tentative chapter headings to give you some ideas.

With the holidays upon us and lots of family gatherings, it's time to rekindle some of those old memories, then share them with us.

Check our website for updated information www.PublishingSyndicate.com

The deadline for Sisters' and Brothers' stories is January 15, 2007 for a book that will be published and in bookstores in time for the 2007 holidays.

NB: Do be sure to check the site carefully for details, including these important content notes:

It’s important that all stories submitted be about a relationship between a sister and a brother, not a sister-sister relationship or a brother-brother relationship. And we’re including stories written by, and about, all age groups, from birth to childhood, the teen years to adulthood, the golden years to passing on.

And you don’t necessarily need to be the sister or brother in the story; parents and grandparents are invited to share their stories, too, witnessing the interaction between their children and/or grandchildren as it relates to sister and brother relationships.

Friday Finds

1) For those as impressed by Brett Jocelyn Epstein's "Wise Words for Freelancers" as I was, Brett has still more helpful hints to share in "Writing Good Letters of Inquiry: Advice for Freelancers." Brett has a knack for providing advice applicable not only to the translators who might naturally flock to her Brave New Words blog, but to all of us freelancers.

2) Interested in pitching GOOD magazine? Read this first.

3) Attention, writers in New York State! The Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts has announced the 2007 categories for its Artist Grants program. This year, applications are welcome in painting; fiction; biography, autobiography, or memoir; and printmaking. Grants of $5,000 are open to artists residing in central and western New York counties. Application deadline is January 15, 2007.

4) Click here for an article on poet Seamus Heaney, in the current Harvard Magazine.

O.J. As Author

Yesterday I read something that brought me instantly to one of those "and my book hasn't been published?" moments.

Maybe you know this moment, too. You find out something is going to be published, or has been recently published, and you just can't believe that we function within an industry that publishes such (can't say the word--my mom occasionally reads this blog) while your own manuscript waits and waits for an agent, editor, and/or publisher to pick it up.

The book that nearly made me cry in pity for my own little short story collection is O.J. Simpson's new tome, If I Did It. According to this article, the book, which will be out at the end of this month, "'hypothetically describes how the murders [of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman] would have been committed.'"

Hypothetically. Right.

Later I learned that O.J. was paid an advance of more than $3 million. The only thing that's more outrageous than anyone paying him that much is the possibility that the payer (ReganBooks/HarperCollins) has avoided paying O.J. directly and thereby made it more difficult for the still-grieving families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson to collect on the monies awarded them in the civil case.

So there's my contribution. My choice for most-I-can't-believe-this-book-is-being/has been-published. What's yours?


UPDATE (NOVEMBER 20, 2006):
If you haven't heard the good news yet, read about the cancellation(s) here.

The European Courier (Pays $30-$50)

Here's my latest find from Online Writing Jobs:

The European Courier, which describes itself as "an online magazine focusing on transatlantic relations, foreign policy of the U.S. and EU, international law and terrorism," is looking for writers. Details/full announcement here.

The pay seems pretty low; I can't quite figure out what their desired "8,000-10,000 characters" works out to in a word count. Any educated guesses?

DeVry University Seeks Online Adjunct Faculty (Science Fiction)

From the announcement:

"DeVry University Online invites applicants for an adjunct position for a Science Fiction undergraduate literature course. A minimum of a Master’s degree in Humanities is required. Candidate must have 6-8 graduate credit hours in Science Fiction courses. Candidates must also have at least 2 years of higher education teaching experience."

(via HigherEdJobs.com)

More Resources, and Maybe a Nomination?

If you want to find some good blog resources for writers, check out Michael Stelzner's "Writing White Papers," where commenters are currently recommending what they consider the "best blog for writers." Even if you don't nominate Practicing Writing (unimaginable, I know!), you may find one of blogs already nominated helpful for your own writing practice. (And if you do nominate little ol' us, thanks!)

Preparing for the Nieman Narrative Nonfiction Conference

Last night I spent four hours working over at the Nieman Foundation, helping with preparation for this weekend's Nieman Narrative Nonfiction Conference in Boston. Another four hours collating registration materials and getting name tags ready await me.

Loyal blog readers may remember that I attended this conference last year (and reported on it at the time). It's a very expensive conference, and since I'm a freelancer I have no employer to subsidize me, so I've faciliated my attendance this year and last by volunteering to help out. In exchange I receive a huge discount on the registration fee. But I do work for it!

Check out the fabulous program the Nieman Foundation has assembled for the 2006 conference here. And if you're seeking more information/resources on "narrative nonfiction," surf on over to the excellent Nieman Narrative Digest site.

TransitionsAbroad.com Seeks Content (Pays: $50-$150)

TransitionsAbroad.com, the Web portal affiliated with Transitions Abroad magazine, is making some changes and looking for new content.

From the Web site:

The Slow Food™ movement, born in Italy, has demonstrated the intrinsic connection between ethics and aesthetics, responsibility and pleasure. In the new section we title Travel for Pleasure, we are looking to explore and expand upon this fundamental notion on TransitionsAbroad.com by emphasizing:

* Usable practical information gained from first-hand experience for readers who travel to immerse themselves abroad while respecting the culture and customs of the people whose countries (homes) are being visited and spending money in the local economies.
* Articles which inspire others to enjoy and explore off-the-beaten track travel which respects natives, their culture, and the land you are visiting.
* Sidebars which include resources not in the body of the article: e.g. websites and email addresses, contact names and addresses, telephone numbers, and costs.

The editors are unable to check all sources, so current and accurate information is essential. Well-researched supporting material and annotated web links in sidebars greatly increase the likelihood of publication.

What We Do Not Want

* Personal travelogues or lengthy descriptions of personal experiences (unless readers can use the practical details in your account to make their own travel plans).
* Articles that represent travel as a form of consumption and objectify the people of other countries.
* Information that is readily available in guidebooks or from government tourist offices.

Check the site for detailed guidelines and topic descriptions (includng Adventure and Sports Travel, Art Travel, Festival Travel, Spa/Relaxation/Meditation Travel, Slow Touring, Travel to Cook, Travel to Eat, Travel to Drink Wine, Travel to Shop (for local produce and products), and Vacation Homes. Payment is on acceptance, $50-$150.

Learning As I Go

Or, as the case may be, as I went--as in, as I went through ALL the markets listed in two of our e-books for their most recent updates.

That's right, the newest versions of two directories--for paying essay markets and for paying poetry markets--are now available! You'll find more than 115 markets in each guide, with all said markets checked.

First, I make sure each publication is still—well—publishing. It's unfortunate but true that between updates (these two guides were last revised in May 2006) some of them weaken and/or disappear altogether, which makes the fact that I manage to expand [and not inconsiderably] each e-book each time I revise it even more impressive (if I do say so myself!).

The research goes further to locate and enter any changes in links, contact information, guidelines, and pay rates. (Our e-books only include markets that tell you up front that they pay, and how much you can expect to receive for your work. Want to take a peek? Download free previews, with sample listings included, right here.)

Not surprisingly, checking each and every Web site means that I pick up a lot of useful information along the way. For just four examples:

1) Arc won't be accepting submissions between January 1, 2007 and March 31, 2007. So if you've been planning to submit to this Canadian poetry magazine, keep that in mind.

2) The Imperfect Parent has "a strong need right now for well-written 'op-ed' type pieces on social issues or politics, as well as anything winter holiday related. Essays on these topics will receive preferential treatment."

3) The Stinging Fly, an Irish literary magazine, has changed its stated pay rate to "a discretionary token payment," which means, sadly, that I've had to remove it from our listings. Beyond that, beginning in 2007, it will read submissions only during the first three months of the year. (As the guidelines state, March 31 is not the deadline; it's the cut-off point. So if you're interested in submitting it seems wise to do so on the early side.)

4) Strut, a Detroit-based women's magazine, is currently (and I mean very currently--deadline is November 15) reading essays on "Going Solo."

See what I mean?

(Notice, by the way, that these are not necessarily markets you see publicized everywhere else. We work hard to make our e-books exceptional!)

Residency Notes: Post #3

At the end of my previous post in this series, I promised to tell you about the daily routine I followed while at the Robert M. MacNamara Foundation this fall.

Meals were served up at MacBarn three times each day (except for Sunday morning breakfast). So at 8AM, noon, and 6PM you'd find me (and everyone else) up there. All of us (the seven residents plus staff members) sat around a gorgeous table and ate. The cooking was very high-level (much fancier than I'm used to). Our first breakfast, for instance, included scrambled eggs; chicken and apple sausaged; hot blueberry muffins; English muffins; cereal; yogurt; fruit; juices; coffee/tea. In other words, there was something for everyone. Lunch was, thankfully, usually lighter! Dinners often included fish/seafood (absolutely fresh--we were in Maine, after all!). One happy night we had a huge lobster fest.

After breakfast I usually returned to "my" place and started working. Since Internet access was pretty limited (no high-speed connections; up at MacBarn I could use the "public" computers and in my Irish House room I dialed-up through my own account but that got expensive) I was able to focus a little better than I do at home! When I needed to research on the 'net, though, I did get a little frustrated.

Anyway, I tended to take a quick jog late in the morning, just before lunch. The afternoon was more or less the same as the morning--writing and reading--though I often snuck a nap in, too. What a life!

Fridays had their own routine. After breakfast, we were all driven into the nearest town-with-a-laundromat (Damariscotta). We spent the morning doing our laundry (while my laundry was drying I usually walked on over to the nearby public library or bookstore or ran a couple of other small errands).

As you can probably tell, it was a relaxing, refreshing experience all around!

Save the Dates!

Two more events to let those of you in the Boston area know about.

On Saturday, December 2, I'll be running my ever-popular "Publishing Your Short Stories" seminar at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. Check it out here. And for more information on my own short story publications/credits, click here. (And if you're not local, stay tuned for news about the next online version of this course, coming early in 2007.)

Then, on December 7 (Thursday evening), I'm heading over to Grub Street HQ in downtown Boston to lead a seminar on "Getting to Know Your Characters." Read more about it here.

Hope to see some of you at one (or both!) of these events.

Technology Writers Sought (Pays: $500-$600/column)

A "popular, domestic inflight magazine" is seeking freelance technology writers/reporters to contribute to a monthly technology column. "The column, written for a consumer audience, focuses on the latest in tech gadgets and consumer-technology trends."

Read the announcement for application information. I checked the domain name for the contact provided; my guess is that the magazine in question is either Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air.

(Another find from Online Writing Jobs.)

Money & More Magazine (Pays: $.15/word)

If you have the expertise and can make the deadline (November 15--that's soon!) you may be interested in a call for submissions from Money & More (TM) magazine. The bimonthly is based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and pays $.15/published word. Topics for the upcoming January/February issue include:

1.Ways of Saving To Pay For Taxes
2.Making Sure You Have The Proper Documents For Your Tax Preparer
3.Investment Options For Tax Returns
4.Paying Taxes Online-Benefits and Detriments

For more information, see the announcement at the Online Writing Jobs bank.

Changes at ByLine Magazine

Changes (including new editors, [some] new pay rates, and a new pay-on-publication policy) are afoot at ByLine Magazine. Check the revised guidelines for this magazine for writers here.

Contest/Story Insights from Storyglossia

If you want some sincere first-person insights into how one contest administrator/judge goes about his work, check out the recent posts over on the Storyglossia blog, where Steven McDermott has been detailing the process he went through awarding the prizes for stories that appear in Storyglossia's current fiction prize issue. He's also talking in depth about each of the winning stories--a good way to see "what worked" for him as (an extremely knowledgeable) fiction editor/judge.

Residency Notes: Post #2

Here's the second installment of a short series of posts about my recent residency at the Robert M. MacNamara Foundation.

In my previous post, I discussed the application process--how I found this particular opportunity and what I was thinking as I applied. Now I'll tell you what I found when I got there.

The place--both the Foundation's buildings and the general location (an hour north of Portland)--is stunning. Residents are housed in one of two buildings: MacBarn (pictured elsewhere on the blog) and what's called the "Irish House." I was assigned to the Irish House. I had an upstairs bedroom/bath (practically the size of my entire apartment at home). Take a look at the photo included with this post to see the back porch.

Alas, all's not perfect even in paradise! The Irish House is about one half-mile down the road from MacBarn; I was ultimately very glad that I had my car, especially when returning from evening meals/gatherings at MacBarn; street lights aren't exactly as common in rural Maine as they are in my urban hometown. I'm also not quite "a dog person"; apparently, leash laws aren't uppermost in some of the Foundation's neighbors' minds.

My room was, simply, huge. I wrote (typed) at a table, and read most of the books previously listed in a big, green chair right by the window. For variation (when it wasn't too cold) I read outside on the porch.

Since I drove up from Massachusetts, I was able to bring more "stuff" than I'd brought with me to previous residencies (when I'd traveled by air or bus). But so much was provided--down to extra toothpaste in case I'd forgotten it--that I didn't need some of what I'd brought.

I arrived early on a Friday afternoon. By the end of the day, all seven of us were there: five visual artists and two writers. We came to the residency from six different states (two of us from Massachusetts). The first evening began with drinks and hors d'oeuvres up at MacBarn, followed by dinner, giving us the chance to get acquainted with each other and the very dedicated Foundation staff.

I'll tell you more about my daily routine next time.

Personal Stories Sought (Pays up to $1,000)

Common Ties seeks personal stories (maximum 2,000 words, "less than 1,000 is far preferred") "from people all over the world" for its story blog:

Common Ties publishes personal stories, whether told in the 1st person about yourself or in the 3rd about others. For examples please visit the 'Lives' column in the New York Times Magazine or listen to the sound clips on storycorps.net or from This American Life. Personal stories can involve breaking news if you were part of that story--for instance, stories from 9/11. When writing about others please state explicitly in your submission to us that you have obtained permission from those in the story to publish, and if you cannot please do not use their real names.

Pays $200 per story, up to $1,000 in "extraordinary" cases. Note that you may include photo and/or audio clips "that enrich the stories." See full guidelines: here. (via JournalismJobs.com)

Reform Judaism Prize Winner Announced

Congratulations to Tamar Yellin, who recently won the Reform Judaism Prize for Jewish Fiction for her collection, Kafka in Brontëland and Other Stories (Toby Press). I had the pleasure of reviewing that book last winter for JBooks.com; like the judging panel, I'm a fan, too.

Residency Notes, Post #1

Well, you asked to hear more about the residency, so here's the first in a series of posts I'll be making about it.

Let's start with some background. Last September (2005) I submitted my application for a residency at the Robert M. MacNamara Foundation. I frankly knew little about the Foundation or the residency program, because I could not find a dedicated Web site (I suspected that might dissuade a number of potential applicants, which might be helpful to my own application chances). So initially, my main source for information was the Foundation's listing on the Alliance of Artists Communities Web site.

I had to request the application materials (something else that I suspected might discourage applicants who might limit themselves to programs with downloadable materials). And when I received those materials I was immediately intrigued by a number of things:

1) The professionalism of the program description;
2) The generosity of the residency, including six weeks' accommodation (private room and bath for each artist) plus all meals and a stipend for travel/materials;
3) The idea of spending time in coastal Maine;
4) The absence of an application fee (or any residency fee);
5) The relative simplicity of the application process (and the serendipity of my request, which arrived with time to spare before the single, annual September application deadline).

The Foundation runs four residency periods (for up to seven artists and writers at a time) each year. Last January I heard back: I'd received my third choice, a fall 2006 residency. As it happened, this worked out beautifully considering personal/family matters that developed after my application had been submitted (I would have had to turn down my first-choice summer assignment). And I imagined that fall in Maine would be pretty spectacular. I was right about that, as you can glimpse from the photo I've included with this post.

Six weeks away seemed a real luxury, and I began plotting how to maximize my freelance/teaching time before the fall. Ultimately, however, I was unable to stay the full six weeks, in part so I could work at the conference I referenced in yesterday's post. Another artist had to leave when I did, too, four weeks into the program; this is by no means the ideal way to go about things.

I drove from Cambridge to Westport Island (about an hour north of Portland) the last Friday in September. I'll tell you what happened after that the next time I post within this "series"!

This Weekend's Conference

I'm putting the finishing touches on my handouts for this weekend's workshop on "Branching Out: Building Your Writing Career," which I'll be leading at Cambridge Center for Adult Education's Ninth Annual Fall Writer's Conference. I'm told there's still a bit of space available, so if you've delayed registration, it's not too late!

Writing for Encyclopedias/Reference Texts

Did you catch my article on writing for encyclopedias and reference texts? (It was published while I was away).

And speaking of encyclopedias and reference texts...contributors are needed for a 2-volume project to be published by Facts on File, Day By Day: The 1920's. Read the full announcement here. Note: "We are assigning each contributor 1 year of daily entries for the 1920s. Each month of entries consists of approximately 7,500 words. From experience with this series, we estimate 1 month of entries requires approximately 30 hours of research and writing. The first deadline is March 7, 2007, for a minimum of 7 months of entries per contributor. The payment for each 12-month assignment is $2,500."