Thursday, March 31, 2011
Should you read in the genre you write?
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Call for Submissions: Global Graffiti
Graffiti is…
Why Graffiti? Because it’s public, brash, offensive, suspect, state-run propaganda, boring, art, fucked, defacement, all surface, a style, compelling, loud, ubiquitous, co-opted, selling out, beautiful, illegal, annoying, etc.
How can you not want to submit to a mag who defines their content with such all-encompassing edginess?
Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives are deceitful, and everything conceals something else.”–Invisible Cities, Italo CalvinoGlobal Graffiti is an online journal dedicated to world literature, arts, and culture. Our first three issues have featured creative pieces and interviews with exciting local and international authors, along with edgy scholarly work.We are currently seeking creative work (poetry, stories, essays), critical essays (book reviews, academic articles), literary translations, and artwork centered on the theme of our fourth issue: CITIES. We conceive of this theme broadly, encompassing various perspectives of both urban and suburban spaces, lifestyles and experiences.Please send English-language submissions (foreign language works translated into English also gladly accepted) and your bio/c.v. to globalgraffmag@gmail.com by May 15, 2011.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Why Reading Books About Writing is Important
Reading books on the writing craft (and in your genre) is almost as important as writing. This is why LAwritersgroup.com has sponsored a free Book Club on Meetup.com specifically to read books about writing.
By way of evidence as to how beneficial this can be, here is a blog post by Author, Jody Hedlund: My Writing Success:The ONE Thing That Helped Me Most where she talks about how reading books on the writing craft helped her the most.
Join our Writing Craft Book Club! Our first meeting is Saturday, April 2nd at 11:00am at the 18th Street Coffee House in Santa Monica, CA. Our monthly meetings will alternate between West LA and the Los Angeles South Bay.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Writers Group Schedule Update - March and April 2011
- Miracle Mile / Koreatown writers group starts March 23, 2011, this Thursday! (Mid-City)
- Rancho Palos Verdes writers group also starts March 23, 2011, this Thursday! (South Bay)
- El Segundo April 2011 writers group is SOLD OUT (South Bay)
- Glassell Park / Glendale April 2011 group is now open to new members (San Fernando Valley, East Hollywood)
- Valencia / Saugus April 2011 writers group is now open to new members (Santa Clarita)
Do you write or aspire to write romance fiction?
Sunday - 27 March, 2011
Writer's Voice workshop by three multi-published authors Jane Porter, Liza Palmer and Megan Crane.
http://www.lararwa.com/calendar.html
"Voice Lessons – Writer’s Voice, that is!
Los Angeles Romance Author’s invites you to a rare opportunity to hear Jane Porter, Liza Palmer and Megan Crane - three dynamic speakers – talk on the subject of Voice. Join me, the thrilled programmer of this event, at the Sportsman’s Lodge Hotel in Studio City on Sunday, March 27th to learn more about how to improve your novel or script with Voice and style, Voice and theme, Voice and (best of all) the writer’s market.
Date: Sunday, 27th March, 2011
Time: 9:00am - 3:00pm
(two breaks, lunch and book signings after presentation)
Cost: $25 through PayPal at http://www.lararwa.com/calendar.html
(includes continental breakfast; does not include lunch)
Place: Sportsmen's Lodge Hotel
12825 Ventura Blvd
Studio City, CA 91604
Toll Free: 800.821.8511
Local: 818.769.4700
Map: http://www.lararwa.com/wherewemeet.html
Speaker Bios:
Jane Porter - http://www.janeporter.com/index.php
Megan Crane - http://www.megancrane.com/index.html
Liza Palmer - http://www.lizapalmer.com/aboutliza.html
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Why Los Angeles is the Best Place in the World for Writers
On Saturday, March 26, 2011, Heritage Square Museum’s annual Vintage Fashion Show and Tea will take a bold step forward, presenting “Fashions from Literature”.Beginning at 11:00 a.m., see what Elizabeth Bennett, Dorian Gray, Scarlet O’Hara, Jane Eyre, Daisy Buchanan and other favorite literary heroes and heroines would have worn in their respective eras. Learn why only in the imagination of the printed word could there be such a thing as a bodice ripper! Excerpts from some of the most famous works ever written will come to life as historically accurate recreations of the costumes of the period are displayed before you.With the museum’s historic Longfellow-Hastings Octagon House as the backdrop for the show, models will promenade in men’s and women’s vintage or period accurate reproduction clothing based on historical patterns from the 15th Century through the 1940s – all with a literary twist. After the show, visitors may also sample items commonly enjoyed at an afternoon tea, view a vintage clothing display inside the Hale House, shop in our Museum Store or Vendor Market, and much more. The annual fashion show is sponsored by Costumer’s Guild West, Folkwear, the Perfume Station (Alhambra) and Councilman Ed Reyes, District 1.As the Vintage Fashion Show and Tea often sells out, reservations are required. Call (323) 225-2700 ext. 223 to secure your seats, as no tickets will be sold at the door. Admission is $20 for adults and $10 for children 6 to 12. Heritage Square Museum members receive a 25% discount on the ticket price. As this is a special event, no regular tours of the museum’s historic structures will be given on the day of the fashion show.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
The Difference Between Idioms and Cliches
Friday, March 18, 2011
Blogs About Writing and Our Favorite Posts
Good Books for Learning Different Writing Skills by Mary Carol MoorePoint of View in Fiction by Writerly Life.comFive Writing Excuses You Should Eliminate Now by Procrastinating WritersThe Quick and Easy Cheaters Guide to Writing Plotlines by Flash Fiction Chronicles (If we gave out gold starts for great blog posts, this one would get tripple gold stars)What Editors are Looking For by Pub Rant's Agent KristinPB, MA, YA, What does it all mean? by Sarvenaz Tash
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Call for Submissions: Some Ways to Disappear
Always fans of art inspiring more art, we just got a call for submissions from Some Ways to Disappear (what a fantastic name for a literary journal) and for this upcoming issue, they are asking writers to look at their Flickr Pool of photos for inspiration, and inspire they do. A fantastic collection of photos such this one should not go unbrowsed, even if you're not planning to submit. Delicious.
Here is one such photo:
Their Call for Submissions:
Some Ways to Disappear is a biannual publication of new Photography and Literature, with no advertising or extraneous fluff. Currently, Some Ways to Disappear is inviting literary submissions, considering all styles, genres, and formats for Issue III.
For this issue, we are encouraging applicants to take a look at our Flickr pool before submitting. If you wish to submit any work please e-mail it directly to:
somewaystodisappear[*at*]hotmail.co.uk
Please e-mail us with either a PDF or word document. Submissions should be no longer than 3000 words. All styles, genres and formats considered.
The deadline for all submissions for the third issue is 1st May 2011.
For further information please visit www.somewaystodisappear.co.uk or contact us at somewaystodisappear(at)hotmail.co.uk
Advanced Writers Workshop & Retreat in the British Isles
Friday, March 11, 2011
Agent Blog Post on Writing Non-Fiction Query Letters
We are on a mission to bring you the best writing-related articles we can find online. We usually post them on twitter and facebook. Should we post them here too or is that repetitive?
Here is an example, an article written by a literary agent:
Let's talk about non-fiction query letters for a minute
Let us know in the comments.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Time to Write
Though I've been writing stories and poems since I was seven years old, I've most certainly had this problem.
Throughout my formative years I loved to write and was pretty good at it. But after graduating from college, I was tending bar at a high-end club in downtown Nashville while clerking at a law firm and working on local political campaigns. I was meeting girls, making good money, and, every night when I came home to the stars spread above my studio apartment on the outskirts of town, it seemed my muse was waiting for me.
There was only one problem: I wasn't actually writing.
At first it seemed natural. I'd just graduated. I was making a living. I needed a break.
But as summer moved into fall and fall into winter, I discovered that even when I'd carved out some random time to write, I either had writer's block or simply didn't have the energy to write in the first place. That was when I knew something had to change.
So I went to my mother and explained the problem. And pretty quickly we came to a solution: Establish a schedule and never deviate from it.
"All great artists have a work routine," she said. "You're not going to write if you don't force yourself to. It's too hard."
So we spent the afternoon looking at my finances and at my day-to-day schedule. With a little tweaking we discovered I could cut back my work schedule a bit and write 2-3 hours a day if I got up at 6 am.
I tried it for a week and the results were obvious. I was reading poetry that had been gathering dust over a year on the bookshelf, and I was writing and revising poems left and right.
Of course, back then I was just a kid. No wife, no kids, no mortgage. Well, that's all changed now (minus the kids), and I still get up at 6 am every weekday and read and write for at least four hours. That's 20 hours a week of writing folks— not bad considering I have six part-time jobs, have been married for five years to a career woman, edit an online poetry journal, and live in the second most expensive city in the country.
I'm not saying everyone has to get up at 6 am or that writing several hours a day is required to create the works you have in you to create.
What I'm saying is simpler than that.
Establish a routine and don't let anything change the plan.
Try it for a week and let the results speak for themselves!
Collection about Barry Hannah seeks Essay, Poetry, Stories
louis-bourgeois(at)hotmail.com
The essays can be any length. Initially the essays will appear at Drunken Boat but eventually they will be collected and published in a book via VOX PRESS. There may be money involved when VOX takes over the project in earnest. All rights revert back to VOX and the authors. Also, we are seeking poems or stories about Barry Hannah.
Call for Submissions about the Inland Empire in So Cal: Inlandia
Inlandia: A Literary Journey, the online literary journal for the Inlandia Institute, is currently reading submissions.
We are primarily seeking stories, poems, novel excerpts, memoir, images, etc., by writers and artists whose work is in some way grounded in the Inland Empire, works that will give readers around the globe a sense of the region and its people.
To give a clearer picture of where this region is located, it is in the southeastern corner of California and encompasses all of Riverside and San Bernardino counties from the heights of San Gorgonio Mountain to the lows of Death Valley, from the wineries of Temecula to the shuttered citrus packing houses of Riverside, and all points in-between.
Above all else, we want fresh, compelling writing.
Please visit the Inlandia website for complete submission guidelines and to review our current issue, which includes works by Shin Yu Pai, Rebecca K. O'Connor, Stephanie Barbe Hammer, Louise Mathias, and many more.
Scribblers May Writers Conference
Scribblers' Retreat Writers' Conference
St. Simons Island, GA
May 12-14
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 8, 2011
Fasten your seatbelts and get ready for adventure, suspense, mystery, and history. Our May Conference is sure to tantalize and inspire you on your own writing journey. If you have been wondering about how to make your writing a true success story, you will really get a lot out of this conference. We are proud to present a very interesting mix of inspiring experts from a variety of backgrounds and geographies. From "thriller" novelists to writers of enchanting poetry and award-winning juvenile fiction writers-this conference has it all!
Seating is limited so register today!
King and Prince Beach and Golf Resort,
620 Arnold Rd. St. Simons Island
Call for Submissions: Sliver of Stone: Fiction, Poetry, Essay, Creative Non-Fiction
Sliver of Stone is proud to announce that its second issue is now available online. Featured authors include Dan Wakefield, Allison Joseph, and Matthew Sharpe. Interviews with Susan Orlean, Les Standiford, Mark Vonnegut, and artist Kristin Meyers. Check out our past contributors, such as Kim Barnes, John Dufresne, Denise Duhamel, and many talented others.
We're now looking for submissions for our third issue!
DEADLINE: June 15, 2o11
Sliver of Stone is a bi-annual, online literary magazine dedicated to
the publication of work from both emerging and established poets,
writers, and visual artists from all parts of the globe. We publish
work that is surprising and inventive.
We're interested in the following:
Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Essays (3,500 words or less).
Poetry, any form or genre (No more than 5 poems)
Visual art
Multi-authored works are not eligible.
No previously published works.
Simultaneous submissions are acceptable but we must be notified
immediately should your work be accepted elsewhere for publication.
For complete submission guidelines, please visit www.sliverofstone.com
Short short story contest (no fee): Shenandoah
As you may know, we no longer publish writing contests on this blog unless they have no fee. Here is a no-fee contest! Thank you, Shenandoah for not charging writers to submit their work.
The Bevel Summers Prize in the Short Short Story is open to all authors of stories of up to 1,000 words. Stories should be sent to Bevel Summers/Shenandoah, Mattingly House, 2 Lee Ave., Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA 24450 and must be received by March 31.
Send two copies, one with name and contact information, including e-mail address, and a duplicate with no identifying information, along with an sase for notification. The winner will receive a $250 prize and be featured prominently on Shenandoah's first online issue. There is no entry fee for the 2011 contest. A judge has not yet been selected.
Call for poetry and mixed-genre chapbooks: Slash Pine Press
Call for Chapbook Manuscripts (Poetry and Mixed-Genre): Postmark May 1, 2011
Housed in the Department of English at The University of Alabama, SLASH PINE PRESS locates itself in an intellectual space where forms and intuitions make writing a process of risk and otherness—a space where the high stakes of creative inquiry make self-effacement impossible.
Slash Pine fosters work that investigates the dimensions of place, whether construed as location or situation. Such work is, like the slash pine itself, able to survive in swamps and sandhills, to thrive in salt and heat, to occupy an imaginative landscape that is raw and abrasive, and to expand its territory toward the interior. Neither cynical nor rhetorically meek, the work is concerned with but not limited by the map; its logic is global, written against the grain of history and biography. And where there is a cut, a thick sap flows.
Guidelines:
- Deadline: Postmark by May 1, 2011.
- Multiple submissions are acceptable; so are simultaneous submissions, but please notify us if manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
- Include two copies of manuscript with two title pages; one with title only; one with title, author's name, and full contact information.
- Manuscripts should be no longer than 24 pages and be either poetry or mixed-genre.
- No more than one poem or mixed-genre piece per page, please. No electronic submissions.
- Do not send SASE. Manuscripts will be recycled.
- All manuscripts receive a blind reading.
- Faculty, students, and graduates of The University of Alabama are not eligible for publication.
- Reviewers: Francine J. Harris, Nathan Hauke, Abraham Smith, Patti White, Joseph P. Wood
- Manuscript selections will be announced on our web site and Facebook page in late August.
Call for poetry submissions: Poemeleon
Poemeleon: A Journal of Poetry is celebrating its 5th year in operation!
We have dubbed our next issue, Volume V Issue 2, The Open Issue, scheduled for launch June 2011. Unlike past issues, The Open Issue is not focused on any one particular kind of poetry but instead will strive to include as wide a variety as possible. Please send only your best work, any length, any style. Deadline for this issue: March 31, 2011
Expect a response within 1 - 3 months after close of submissions. If you have not heard from us after 3 months please inquire. Please visit the website for complete guidelines and a link to our submission manager, and while you're there check out our latest issue, Prime Time Poetry, featuring the work of Prime Time Poets Tony Barnstone, Robert Pinsky, Molly Peacock, Red Shuttleworth, Mark Halliday, David Kirby, David Graham, Martha Silano, and many others!
Call for poetry, fiction submissions: Gertrude
Gertrude, the biannual literary and arts publication of Gertrude Press seeks submissions of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction for its upcoming issue.
Gertrude accepts manuscripts from new and established writers and artists. Subject matter need not be LGBTQA-specific and we welcome writers and artists from all backgrounds. We accept simultaneous submissions with notification. We do not accept previously published work. Please note that we do not publish novels. We read chapbook manuscripts ONLY through our annual competition (currently open). Gertrude accepts surface mail submissions and electronic submissions submitted through our online submission form only. For surface mail include a cover letter and a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) for reply. Do not place your name directly on manuscripts. Submissions that do not include an SASE will be discarded. We shred and recycle all unused manuscripts.
For electronic submissions, please use our online submission form only:
http://www.gertrudepress.org/submit/
Poetry: Submit up to six poems of any subject matter. There is no line limit; however, poems less than 60 lines are preferable. Fiction/Novel Excerpts*/Creative Nonfiction:Submit one to two pieces, double-spaced, up to 3000 words, of any subject matter. Include a word count for each piece in your cover letter.
Interviews: Please query the editor by email with your proposal.
Art: Gertrude showcases one visual artist per issue, including full-color cover and six to eight black and white images inside the journal. To submit artwork for future issues, please send slides, prints (do not send originals), or a website URL to the attention of the art editor.
Send all manuscripts and artwork to:
Gertrude Press
PO Box 83948
Portland OR 97283
*Gertrude Press does not publish novels at this time.