Friday Fridge Clean-Out: Links for Writers -- April 7, 2017 Edition

> Can binge watching have a writing purpose? Reedsy editor (and novelist) Andrew Lowe thinks so, at least about a certain eight shows.

> Somewhat related: I learned about Belletrist, the young actor Emma Roberts's online book clue when she was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Only mildly interested, I perked up when I arrived at her website to see she'd interviewed Joan Didion about her latest book, South and West: From a Notebook.

> Good listening: an episode of the #CNF podcast features Jennifer Niesslein, founder/editor of the online essay site, Full Grown People.

> Traveling? Or trying to organize a book promotion tour? Check out "The Best Bookstore in Every State," via Real Simple and Yelp.

> Find yourself torn between devoting time to writing, and making sure you are tending to business aspects of a writing life? At Catapult, Melissa Febos asks, "Do you want to be known for your writing or your swift email responses?"

>Speaking of Melissa Febos, I heard her read from her new memoir, Abandon Me, this week at Halfway There, a newish quarterly reading series in Montclair, NJ (my literary backyard), and was impressed by how, in the middle of what she explained was a weeks-long, cross-country book tour, she made the material sound new and fresh, even  (it seemed at least ) to herself. If I ever do readings from any book of mine, I'm going to find a video of her reading, and study it.

> Looking to get involved in behind-the-scenes work at an online literary journal? Hippocampus Magazine is in need of volunteers for several different posts.

> Every week, novelist Elizabeth S. Craig compiles a long juicy list of links to writing advice and writing-related articles and posts that appeared that week on the web.

> That collective groan you heard last weekend was thousands of essay, memoir, and other nonfiction writers upset over the demise of the Lives column which will, after 19 years, no longer appear in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. (And the scratching was all of us crossing it off our publication bucket list. Sigh.)

> Three cheers for these high school student journalists who understand the value and power of fact-checking.

> Finally, from the department of that-sounds-completely-crazy-but-it's-still-(alleged)plaigarism, comes this story about how cultish hip-hop musicians apparently stole a poet's work.

Have a great weekend!

Image: Flickr/CreativeCommons-Rusty_Clark

Friday Fridge Clean-Out: Links for Writers - November 15, 2013 Edition (And, this one's OFFICIAL!)

Here I thought I was toiling alone on Fridays, clearing out my bloggy fridge. But then I learn (why did it take me six years to learn this?) that there's a official day named after this activity -- and, it is today. Yes, today is National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day, started I don't know when by who knows who (though some say it was Whirlpool in 1995.) So let's get those rubber gloves on and get to it!

> The Virginia Quarterly Review has begun a new series, "Writer Dad," the counterbalance perhaps to the mountains of words on how women writers juggle. The first, now up, features Tobias Buckell. 

> I'm a big fan of Roger Rosenblatt's nonfiction, so I loved this PBS interview with Judy Woodruff, in which he discussed the slightly different way in which he views memoir writing and memory (see especially the final 3 minutes).

> When I was a kid, my father gave me tips on how to ask for something from "higher ups" -- make eye contact, shake hands, etc. Today, we writers need to know how to ask for things (blurbs, an agent referral, an introduction to an editor) via email.

> Memoirist Constance Adler -- and her publisher, a reputable university press -- were nearly duped by a scam "book festival awards program". Rather than shrug and move on, Adler went into investigative reporting mode, named names, and emerged with a fine piece of nonfiction narrative, now up at Blackbird.

> From one bloomer boomer to another, thanks Kim Triedman for "Writing Out of Middle Age," over at Beyond the Margins.

> Maybe you've already seen Diane Lockward's post about the specific upside to some of her rejections, as it's been linked to a lot this week, but I think it's worth a little more passing  on. 

> On Small Business Saturday (two days after Thanksgiving), the workforce will grow at more than 100 independent bookstores, when authors will be hand-selling books to customers. The effort began with a challenge from Sherman Alexie in September, and by now, hundreds of authors have signed on. Indiebound has maps, lists, etc; in some stores, a half-dozen authors are volunteering, including a slew of meganames (including Cheryl Strayed, Margot Livesey, Richard Russo, Dave Barry, and Alexie), all interacting and recommending books based on shoppers' interests.

> Canadian author J. Kent Messum has some important words about something wonderful every writer needs:  tough love.

> Finally, in case you're interested in doing the hygiene deed, here are some no-nonsense, no-kidding tips for a healthy fridge cleanse (the real kind).

Have a great weekend.

Writer, Wean Thyself

I’m old enough to remember when the arrival of the postal mail, and the ring of the telephone, brought a writer all the good or bad news of the day. The postal mail delivered all of the rejections, and most of the acceptances. Occasionally the phone rang with an acceptance, often in the form of an actual editor at the other end, wanting to firm up details of an assignment, asking about rights, suggesting edits, offering a new (unsolicited) assignment, or even – yes, this really used to happen – just wanting to connect “in person”.

In those days, many factors, including substitute mail carriers, a too-small mailbox, and awful weather, messed with a writer’s confidence in that postal lifeline, and so one rented a post office box. Likewise, a dependable answering machine was required.

I’m not waxing nostalgic. I do have a point.


I had a post office box for 17 years, and somewhere during the first year or so I realized it was detrimental to my state of mind if I made the “post office run” early in the day. If the number of “Sorry, no,” “We’ll pass,” and “Not for us” missives outnumbered the quantity of “Yes, please send,” “We’d like to run this,” and “Are first rights still available?” notes, I’d notice a definite decline in my desire to dive back into the work once I got back home from the post office – a trip of oh, about, three minutes.


The phone, on the other hand, I always answered – on the second ring, at most. It was almost always good news -- except for the time a magazine editor in California called to say that in an office move, my article and photos had gone missing and could I please get him copies the next day? This involved two trips to the photo lab, a visit to the library to use the copy machine, and crossing my fingers as I handed the package across the desk at a newfangled company called Federal Express (see, I told you I’m old).


Fast forward. Email brings it all, all at once, right onto my desk, all day long – rejections, edit suggestions, acceptances, requests for photos or a bio, editorial decisions that require more copy, less copy, delays, and “our magazine has folded” announcements. Oh sure, the phone rings sometimes, but chances are it’s an assistant wanting to know the whereabouts of the signed contract.


Avoiding the email inbox for the bulk of the writing day gets harder all the time; don’t respond to email quickly and you’re a slacker, out of touch and who knows, maybe out of the solar system. Respond too quickly and you’re over-anxious and probably not busy enough.


Lately I’m thinking that having all the news, all the time, scrolling past my eyes all day – the one-line rejections, even the “good” rejections in which editors say nice things before saying no, the notes from writer friends who have accomplished something great for which I’m happy but also a little jealous – is not particularly productive and sometimes leaves me with that feeling I used to have on that three-minute walk back to my house after the post-office runs of yore.


Now that we have an additional computer in the house (four people, four computers, but who’s counting), I’ve been trying for the past two weeks to keep the (slow, old) computer on my desk in my upstairs office off-line most of the day, and the (new, fast) one downstairs near the kitchen, online. On a good day, this cuts my email-checking behavior down to equal the number of coffee and healthy snack runs. On a bad day, when it seems perfectly logical to me that marinating the chicken, unloading the dishwasher, searching for the hidden dark chocolate, or finishing the Times crossword puzzle will be hugely beneficial to whatever it is that’s going wrong – well, on those days, everyone probably hears back from me faster.


By the way, the FedEx package arrived in California on time. The editor called on the phone to tell me so.

P.S. I do LOVE email, sending copy electronically, this blog, connecting with other writers via social networking, teaching online and all of that. Truly. But I do miss the telephone, however, and have been known, once in a while, to actually call people on it. I love to hear the shock in their voices.

Debunked memoirists, thoughtless email writers: Who's to Blame?

►Does anyone else feel as if we are all just waiting for the other shoe to drop when it comes to the next debunked fictionalized memoir? In the meantime, you might want to read what Andrew F. Altschul has to say on the topic. Yes, Altschul has a new book to promote, which explains the timing of his remarks, but I also think he makes some interesting points about who is to blame, and it's not just the writers. It may be, or it may also be, the book buying market – meaning book buyers, meaning...us?

►Some time ago, a colleague "responded" to an email inquiry of mine by accidentally hitting reply and what I got, instead of an answer, were a few rude and crass remarks about me and my inquiry, which she had intended for a mutual acquaintance. (Think of intercepting a mean note about you sent from one teenage frenemy to another. Really, are we still in high school?) Instead of sending her immature ramblings to that third party, she had hit reply and it came right back to me. Oops. (Come to think of it, maybe "colleague" is no longer the word I ought to use to describe this person?) But her flub gives me the opportunity to pass along, via Seth Godin's blog, his exacting 36-point email checklist – things to think about before hitting "send." I especially like numbers 13 and 16, about not composing emails when angry, and not putting anything in writing you wouldn't be glad to have your boss see.

In the middle of reading (skimming?): The bills, junk mail, a few magazines and reams of newspaper that piled up while finishing off my creative manuscript so that I can actually, really, and finally get that MFA. Next month. Stay tuned.