Friday Fridge Clean-Out: Links for Writers - December 6, 2013 Edition

> It's nomination season for the Pushcart Prizes, Best American Series, and other literary awards. Henry Tonn, who has an essay on the Pushcart nomination list this year, talks "Literary Prizes and the Selection Processes" on his blog, Reading, Writing, and Rejection Slips. I was simultaneously reassured and dismayed by part of the backstory: "This is very nice, and I am happy to be selected, but it behooves me to point out that this particular memoir-essay had previously been rejected by no fewer than 82 publishers. I know, I know, I keep railing on about rejection slips, but the irony here is too much."

> If freelancing is part of your writing life, check in with Yael Grauer, on 20 things she learned (the hard way) in her first four years.

> On the Missouri Review blog, managing editor Michael Nye, speaking as a writer, offers a different take on getting published in "The False Promise of Acceptance and Publication."

> At Utne Reader, William Bradley discusses "Resources for Finding Great Essays," helpful for those who teach, study, read, write and love the essay form.  (hat tip Kate Hopper).

> I've been trying to include here other writers who do Friday link round ups, and am happy this week to point you over to Delia Lloyd's Friday Pix. Delia's an American journalist living in London, and her selections are always interesting, often funny, and never dull.

> Are you making a book trailer on your own? One author offers 20 things she did before, during, and after creating hers.

> Lots of literary journals claim to publish "both new and emerging writers." Writer/blogger Michael Alexander Chaney offers a look at a few major journals that seem to deliver.

> Finally, here's what happened when 425+ British writers of note signed a protest letter to The Times of London over its apparent devaluing of children's literature: The Times ignored the letter. But Nicola Morgan, who has a prominent writing blog, did not.

Have a great weekend.

Friday Fridge Clean-Out: Links for Writers, May 4, 2012 Edition

► Michael Steinberg, founding editor of Fourth Genre, one of the few literary journals fully devoted to nonfiction, has links to several useful articles about creation nonfiction craft at his brand-new blog (scroll down left margin for craft essay links). 


►I'm loving the new email newsletter from the Review Review  (a site that reviews literary journals), overflowing with links out to up-to-the-minute articles, posts, contests, and other things literary, from many sources.


► Nicola Morgan (Britain's "Crabbit Old Bat" blogger) reminds us that publishers are "in it for the money," so we'd all best just get over it.


► Book trailers: fan, skeptic, or on the fence?  Randy Susan Meyers has a few thoughts – and some great video examples.


►A friend recently asked me for tips on writing a nonfiction book proposal, and while I couldn't locate the excellent template I found just last week (and was certain I had bookmarked!), I could pass along these worthwhile resources, found here, and here, and here, and here. 


► Finally, what Alison Espach thought twice about listing as a writing business expense on her taxes. Almost makes me want to go back and re-do my own taxes.


Have a great weekend!

Friday Fridge Clean-Out: Links for Writers, July 23rd Edition

►Novelist Janet Fitch has 10 Writing Tips That Can Help Almost Anyone. I concur.

► Neiman Storyboard did it again, this week with a Q/A with Rebecca Skloot (author of recent NYT bestseller The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks), on the subject of writing narrative history. You'll want to click over just for the photo of Skloot's visual organizing board.

► Do you like interviews? Mark Twain clearly didn't. I found this over at the UMagazinology blog, which concerns itself with the material carried in, and the creation of, magazines published by colleges and universities.

►At the Guide to Literary Agents blog, a step-by-step outline of a proposal for a (reported or prescriptive) nonfiction book. (hat tip to Nathan Bransford).

► Harriet Brown, a brave women writer (who edited the Feed Me! collection in which I had an essay), debuts the book trailer for her forthcoming memoir, Brave Girl Eating, about her family's efforts to help one of her daughters overcome anorexia.

► Ever take on a writing project specifically to rev up a non-writing part of your life? One of my New Jersey writing buddies Steph Auteri got a taste recently.

Have a great weekend.

Friday Fridge Clean-Out: Links for Writers, July 16th Edition

►At The Paris Review blog, poets review songwriters. Or is that like saying poets review poets?

► Do you puzzle over when, how and whether you should use cultural references in your work?

► Blogs worth checking out: Work in Progress, a new blog from the publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux; author Allegra Goodman's; and freelance writer Kelly James-Enger’s Dollars and Deadlines (hat to Erika Dreifus for the latter two).

► Writer Jesse Kornbluth’s Head Butler offers sometimes offbeat reviews of, and other musings about, music, books, movies, writing and more.

► At the Nieman Storyboard (which is always full of great material), Peggy Nelson looks at how short attention spans and technology may be affecting narrative.

►The literary journal Ploughshares has a good blog. I liked this guest post by Aimee Nezhukumatathil – with lots of photos – on the spaces where writers create.

► The Colorado writer who blogs at A Writing Life is sharing her experiences in a workshop with author Pam Houston, like this one, on Houston’s advice about that “analytical bitch in the closet.”

► Finally, if you haven’t seen it yet, Dennis Cass’s quietly funny Moby Award winning best performance by an author in a book trailer. Procrastinators, Luddites and lazy authors who would rather write than promote books will love this.

Have a great weekend.