Our writing craft book club selection

This May / June we are reading How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One by Stanley Fish.  Read and discuss with us online or in person at our Meetup Group:  http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Books-About-Writing-Book-Club/

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Hermosa Beach writers group starts Tuesday night

This is just a quick reminder that the Hermosa Beach writers group starts on Tuesday, April 10th (7:00pm - 9:30pm).

 

Sign up or get more info here

Also the next Writer Monkeys! show is Sunday, April 22nd at 7:00pm at M.i.'s Westside Comedy Theater.

Hello, Santa Clarita!

We wish our Santa Clarita, California charter writers group participants a fabulous and creative first night! Thank you and wishing you many creative writing nights to come!!

Article on how to be funny when writing comedy

It's not very often I come across an exceptional blog article that helps aspiring comedy writers improve their craft. Comedy writing often presents as easy to write because usually the writer or speaker makes it look so damn natural and easy.  It seems like magic. On more than one occasion, I've found myself gazing admiringly into a writer's eyes who just wrote something that lead my writers group into unexpected gasping and snorting fits of laughter. My many stand-up comedian friends used to say, "Comedy is serious business." So naturally, comedy writing must be REALLY serious business. Today Writer's Digest published an article called, 10 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING WHILE THINKING LIKE A COMEDY WRITER helps simplify it just a little bit, and every little bit helps.  The article lists ten excellent tips on penning with a more comedic angle. Do you know of any other good comedy writing blog posts or articles floating around on them there interwebs?  If so, please post them in the comments for our other readers to check out.

Our February Writing Craft Book Club Selection

    

Many thanks to everyone who showed up to our writing craft book club meeting today at NextSpace in Culver City to discuss:  Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them (P.S.). We were lucky to have a fantastic and intelligent group of writers attend, making the discussion both informative and interesting.  If you read the book but were not able to attend you can visit the message board and participate in an online discussion about the book.

Our February writing craft book club selection is:

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print

If you'd like to participate, join our free meetup group.

Love letters written to Brenda Ueland, a new book called Brenda, My Darling

For those of you who are eternally devoted fans of Brenda Ueland and her book, If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit as I am (if you are not, then you should read it immediately), then the new book release, Brenda, My Darling: The Love Letters of Fridtjof Nansen to Brenda Ueland edited by Eric Utne and published by the Utne Institute might be your next purchase.

Love letters to a writer?  A brave task indeed.  One that apparently, Ueland's lover, Fridtjof Nansen did with exceptional talent.

The book reprints love letters written to (not from, sadly) Brenda from the Norwegian explorer, humanitarian and winner of the 1922 Nobel Peace Prize Fridtjof Nansen from the time they met in New York City in 1929 until his death a year after their brief love affair.

Here is a link to Brenda, My Darling on sale from the publisher (the hardcover is not available yet on Amazon.com).

Here is a link to the kindle edition of Brenda, My Darling: The Love Letters of Fridtjof Nansen to Brenda Ueland on Amazon.com.

20 places you can submit your creative writing to before the end of the year

1.
Arroyo Literary Review is an award-winning national magazine with a West Coast orientation.  Looking for:  fiction, flash fiction, poetry, essays, and translation for our fifth issue.  Reading Period / Deadline:  Open reading period from December to May 31st.

2.

OccuPoetry is seeking poetry about economic justice/injustice, greed, protest, activism, and opportunity. Submissions need not be limited to Wall Street’s greed nor US-based poets; we consider the Occupy Movement a world-wide movement for a more just world. OccuPoetry accepts formal and free-verse, mail art, and collage poetry. 

3.
Silver Boomer Books seeks submissions for an anthology on the widowhood experience. They are interested in all aspects of widowhood—grief, memories, glitches, triumphs.  Either prose or poetry is acceptable. You can even send a 6-word memoir if you like. Submissions will be read between December 1, 2011 and January 31, 2012.

4.

Street Stories is looking for stories under 1000 words.  They will publish one great story each quarter.  Pays $20 upon publication.

5.
GOT TRUTH?  THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FACT International Journal of Literary Nonfiction is looking for literary nonfiction essay, memoir, commentary 1000-5000 words, literary nonfiction narrative poetry, black & white art and photography.  Submission Deadline December 31.

6.

Crate is looking for fiction and non-fiction (up to 7500 words), poetry (up to 5 poems) and short dramatic works (10 minute plays). Submission deadline is January 1, 2012.  Deadline for all submissions is Sunday, January 1st. 

7.

LQQK Magazine is a new science fiction magazine currently looking for new writers. They are interested in stories that speculate about the future of contemporary phenomena like social networking, mobile devices, filesharing, hacking, and online lifestyles. They are also interested in far-out, surrealist, or anarchic stories in general, with or without lulz. 

8.

Peripheral Surveys is a monthly literature and arts magazine with assorted pieces focused on a certain theme.  Deadline: December 20.  They are looking for poetry, prose (fiction and nonfiction) and photography submissions.

9.

The anthology, Submitted: Women Finding and Leaving Extreme Religion (to be published by Seal Press in Spring, 2013), will chronicle the lives of women from a variety of restrictive religious backgrounds who chose a religious path only to eventually reject it or alter it in whole or in part. 

They are seeking contributions from women of all faiths, as well as all ages and backgrounds. 

10.

Mandala Journal is open for poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and art submissions from October 15 through February 15.  Please refer to the submission guidelines on their website for information about this year's theme.

11.

The Meadowland Review will be considering submissions of poetry, fiction, photography and art pieces from December 1-February 1.

12.

burntdistrict is now accepting poetry submissions for our inaugural issue to be published Winter/Spring of 2012. 

13.

The Indian River Review is currently soliciting submissions for its inaugural issue slated for publication in late spring 2012. The theme for this issue is "Time and Place." The deadline for submissions is

January 15, 2012. Genres include short fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, critical essays, black and white photography, and book reviews.

14.

CavanKerry Press will be having an open submission period from January 1-31, 

2012 for its Laurel Books imprint.  LAURELBOOKS are collections of poetry or prose memoirs that explore in depth poignant and critical issues associated with personally confronting serious and life-threatening physical or psychological illness. CavanKerry seeks work written from a personal perspective by the individual who has experienced the illness or by the individual personally and deeply involved with the person who suffered from the illness.

15.

Little Patuxent Review call for Submissions: Audacity Issue. LPR invites you to explore the various aspects of audacity ("audacity defines the best and worst within us. It is boldness or daring, accompanied by confident or arrogant disregard for personal safety, conventional thought or other restrictions. It is also effrontery, insolence or shamelessness") for their Summer 2012 issue. Submit well-crafted poetry, prose, artwork or photography between December 1, 2011 and March 1, 2012

16.

Valparaiso Fiction Review, which has just released its inaugural issue, is now seeking works of short fiction for its upcoming Spring and Fall 2012 issues. VFR publishes two editions a year, in December and in May, and it features fiction from established or emerging writers. 

17.

straight forward is a new online poetry journal looking for clear, concise, emotionally honest poetry. They are taking poetry submissions, with no restrictions on form, length, or style, for our debut March 2012 issue. 

18.

The Vermillion Literary Project (VLP) is now taking submissions for our Spring 2012 issue of the annual VLP Magazine. This is a student-produced journal sponsored by the VLP, the University of South Dakota's only student literary and creative writing organization. We are seeking  submissions of poetry, short fiction, essay, and black & white art.   The deadline is 12/30/11, and there is no reading or submission fee.

19.

Conclave: A Journal of Character is a literary and arts journal that focuses on great characters. They strive to print the best poetry and fiction submitted by emerging and established writers.

20.

cream city review is a non-profit literary magazine devoted to publishing memorable and energetic fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, and comics that push and undermine the boundaries of stable definitions of “literature”. The magazine also features reviews of contemporary literature and criticism, as well as author interviews and artwork.