Thirty-two Statements About Writing Poetry ~

If you aren't familiar with Marvin Bell (and I wasn't until I came across this gem!), his Thirty-two Statements About Writing Poetry is a wonderful introduction to this astute and insightful man. This award-winning author and poet has succinctly and clearly enumerated several (thirty-two, in fact), thought-provoking observations. Different ones will speak to you each time you read through them.

Get Connected

It was only a matter of time. Variety.com has launched a social networking site focused, of course, on the entertainment industry. Or, as we -- and they -- like to call it, "The Biz."

Think craigslist on caffeine and toting its screenplay or headshot along everywhere. If this sounds a little close to home, know that you're in good company. And now, you know where to find that company online.

What's Your Semicolon IQ?

It's not often that a punctuation mark makes headlines in the New York Times. How thrilling that not only was this particular semicolon noticed; it was found remarkable enough for a journalist to write about, and for the editor to accept that article for publication! Heartening, yes, that something as simple as this could bring fame to the writer; this can be an inspiration to us all!

Congratulations to Beyond Baroque

Los Angeles is known as an industry town. We are lucky that it is an industry filled with creative people, and we are fortunate to have so many talented and hyper-creative people in our midst, but many industry people have creative interests that extend beyond just movie making and there are also many creative people here who are not associated with the movie industry. Los Angeles poets, for example, are an unsung and undiscovered gem in this town. Poets rarely get the kind of press here (and perhaps everywhere) that they deserve. Because Los Angeles is an industry town, many of the artistic services and support around town are focused on movie making, so when a literary arts center such as Beyond Baroque exists, we must relish and preserve it.

LAwritersgroup.com congratulates Beyond Baroque on it's survival and lease extension, and we extend our literary hand in friendship and well wishes to this Los Angeles gem.

Comparing Agent Web Sites

Check out the Poe's Deadly Daughters blog, where Darlene Ryan has written an informative blog post called Agent Check about how to compare literary agents sites and screen them based on their Web sites.

Besides, despite the fact that the mere mention of the word 'homework' makes me cringe (I can handle 'home' and I can handle 'work' just not both off them together), I'm automatically a fan of someone who compares agents to bras and writes:

"Do your homework. A good agent, like a good bra, can lift you to the next level."

Here Comes The Sun * * *

The Sun Magazine publishes essays, interviews, fiction and poetry. They tend to favor personal writing, but they're also open to thoughtful, well-written essays on political, cultural, and philosophical themes. In fact, they're open to just about anything except journalistic features, academic works or opinion pieces. They invite us to "surprise them:" they often don't know what they'll like until they read it. This generous attitude is matched by generosity of payment also:

• $300 to $3000 for essays and interviews
• $300 to $2000 for fiction
• $100 to $500 for poetry, the amount determined by length and quality

They may pay less for very short works. Contributors will receive a complimentary one-year subscription to The Sun. They also use 10 to 30 photographs in each issue, so if your creativity includes talent in that direction, The Sun is equally as generous on that score as well:

• $100 to $300 for one-time use of photographs inside the magazine
• $500 for those they use on the cover
• $500 to $1000 for photo essays

The give contributors four copies of the issue in which their work appears, as well as a complimentary one-year subscription. Please go to their website to check out the rest of their submission guidelines and also the snail-mail address to send your work.

The Beat Goes On

One of the last living Beat poets, Michael McClure, will be reading from his work, signing books, talking about his longtime friendship with Bob Dylan, and diving into discussion about the seminal artists community that defined the 60's counter-cultural movement. This rare chance to hear a living legend and award-winning writer will be March 20, at 8pm, at the Skirball Center.