Innehållsförteckning för September 2019 från The Writer

Recently, I found myself spiraling face-first into a nasty bout of Not Writing. I had time. I had energy. I knew what I should write next. And yet the thought of opening my draft was so fearsome, I reorganized my sock drawer nine times rather than face the blank page. We have published dozens upon dozens of authors in our pages who say writer’s block does not exist. I happen to agree with them: There’s no plot tangle or weak character that can’t be fixed without a combination of good feedback, a determined mind, and ample amounts of butt-in-chair time. No, I don’t think writer’s block exists. But writers do get blocks, and it usually has little to do with writing. Mine was fear, plain and simple. I got close…

Anthologies for authors These two star-studded tomes are worthy additions to your fall reading list. The Writer’s Reader: Vocation, Preparation, Creation Edited by Robert Cohen and Jay Parini Flannery O’Connor. Julia Alvarez. Zadie Smith. Jorge Luis Borges. Italo Calvino. David Foster Wallace. The table of contents in The Writer’s Reader: Vocation, Preparation, Creation reads like a Who’s Who of All-Time Writing Greats. And as the subtitle suggests, Middlebury College professors Robert Cohen and Jay Parini’s anthology is divided into three sections: Vocation, Preparation, and Creation. In the first section on vocation, readers can find titles like “My Vocation” from Natalia Ginzburg and “Letter to a Young Gentleman who Proposes to Embrace the Career of Art” from Robert Louis Stevenson; in the second, works like Henry Miller’s “Reading in the Toilet”…

A few months ago, there was an article on the foodie site thekitchn.com that caused quite a stir. It said that baking a beautiful birthday cake for someone, far from being kind, is actually an act of self-centeredness, a veiled attempt to draw attention away from the birthday celebrant and onto the baker. It suggested giving only ugly cakes as a way to avoid turning the focus on oneself. Not surprisingly, the article drew a range of responses, most of which were of the, “Are you kidding me?” variety, and a few of which suggested the writer, Ariel Knutsen, might have a point. I was firmly in the AYKM camp. Loads of years ago, I dated a man whose family was in the baking business. He had grown up baking…

Jené Luciani, New York-based author of The Bra Book, once signed copies at the Salvation Army, where she did brassiere fittings for women in need, then presented them with bras and copies of her book. “I like doing events like the fittings at the Salvation Army because I feel it’s a way that I can give back,” Luciani says, recalling one such event that featured a giant inflatable dinosaur wearing a bra. “In general, signings can get monotonous,” she adds. “I’m glad that over the last nine years, and two editions of the book, mine have been really interesting.” On a tour designed to get the word out about a newly published project, many authors opt to appear at bookstores to read from and sign their new work. Others, worrying…

Many writers want to hone their craft but don’t want to commit to or pay for a full-blown MFA program. Luckily, many local and online classes, workshops, and certificate programs can support writers’ needs without obliging them to commit several years and multiple paychecks to the cause. While MFA programs are valuable for many reasons, local craft workshops can be helpful as well. Consider these options: • Writing centers. Most big cities have a writing center that offers work space, breakout sessions, and critiques. • Libraries. The place where the written word is most sacred often plays host to writing groups. • Colleges and universities. Not only will you be instructed by top-level writers, but chances are you’ll also come out of your course with a certificate in hand. •…

Time is running out! Our summer writing contest will be over in a flash. Submit your 1,000-word short story or essay by Aug. 15 for your chance to win $1,000 and publication in a future issue of The Writer. We can’t wait to read your work. (And if you miss this contest, don’t despair: Our fall fiction contest is just around the corner.) The hottest books of fall 2019 When the kids head back to school, head to our blog to see the most-buzzed-about books of fall. We’ll also highlight upcoming page-to-screen film adaptations and share all the newest writing books hitting shelves this season. Survey: What should we cover in 2020? What do you want to see more of in future issues of The Writer? Take our reader survey…

Make your daily commute less painful with these fun on-the-go products. “Language exerts hidden power, like the moon on the tides.” —Rita Mae Brown BOOKBAG, MEET BOOK BAG Tote your latest bookstore haul home with this adorable library-themed sack. $19, amazon.com OLD-SCHOOL E-BOOKS This vintage-inspired Kindle case lets e-readers still experience the pleasure of having a bound book in their hands. $25, etsy.com LOVE YOUR LAPTOP Keep your computer snugly protected with this laptop sleeve designed with book lovers in mind. $39, society6.com LIT KICKS These bookish sneakers are bound to put a pep in your step on your way to work or play. $20-30, amazon.com A THIRST FOR BOOKS Stay classy (and hydrated) with these sleek S’well bottles from Out Of Print, currently available in Alice in Wonderland, Great…

I recently finished writing a YA contemporary thriller, and as so often happens with a first draft, the story was there, but it wasn’t yet…thrilling. The suspense was MIA. That makes sense, though, because the first draft is where writers tell the story to themselves. Essentially, it’s them figuring stuff out. The next draft(s) are for other people, and that’s when the suspense really needs to ramp up as we tell the story to our readers. So, how can our revision processes crank up the suspense so that readers don’t dare put the book down? Here are the strategies I’ve been using to good effect to make my thriller, well, thrilling. THE POWER OF CLOCKS. There’s no time for a story to meander when some type of countdown is in…

In June 2019, the new online history magazine Contingent put out a call for short essays that explore the influential blockbuster film Forrest Gump. “The 25th anniversary of Forrest Gump is nigh,” editors wrote on Twitter. “And for better or worse, it’s how a lot of us learned the late 20th-century US history we didn’t get to in class: the counterculture, Vietnam, Watergate, the AIDS epidemic.” Also in June, Contingent editors solicited “research postcards” – four to eight images or two-minute video/audio clips that document contributors’ field research locations, as a way to illustrate the experience of conducting historical studies. As a colorful and appealing magazine geared toward a general audience, it features essays and interviews and reviews, and also short films, poems, and comic strips related to historical events…

An accomplished short story and essay writer, Kristen Arnett won the 2017 Coil Book Award for her debut short fiction collection, Felt in the Jaw. The highly anticipated release of Arnett’s debut novel, Mostly Dead Things, did not disappoint. The book tells the story of a grieving family in the taxidermy business, exploring family dynamics, loss, and love, all set in her home state of Florida and wonderfully punctuated by dark humor. Arnett also writes a hilarious popular column for Literary Hub based on her experiences as a librarian. On taxidermy Living in Florida, there’s a ton of taxidermy everywhere. I don’t have any hands-on experience, but I do have a lot of family and friends who’ve performed taxidermy. I’m very interested in writing about the body, and this seemed…

The other day one of my Facebook friends who makes his living as a screenwriter-slash-writing professor posted some advice he’d received years ago from one of his own instructors: A crappy first draft is worth more than a nonexisting one. He followed the post with this endorsement: Words to live by. As an author and writing teacher myself, I read this counsel and had two reactions. First, is nonexisting a word? (Isn’t the proper term nonexistent?) Second, here we go again with the trash talking. I certainly agree that any start is better than a blank page. But why do so many writing authorities insist on name calling when it comes to first drafts? Take Ernest Hemingway, who warned his many disciples, “The first draft of anything is s**t.” And…

When the author’s copies of my debut novel arrived at my house, I hugged the UPS guy. I thought about calling my neighbor, a good friend, over to celebrate. I thought about filming an unboxing video. I imagined I’d include my dog in this video. (At the time, Sprocket had some 350 Facebook friends, and exactly eight of them in common with me.) But really, it was all window dressing for what was actually growing inside of me. The hug and the Facebook post and the Twitter post and even the sentiment that I really should post an unboxing video – all of that was gauzy curtains over the huge black hole in my chest that was labeled NOW WHAT? And subtitled I AM SO BORED or WHAT IS WRONG…

You’ve probably already checked your email a few times today. This likely stands true even if you’re reading this article first thing in the morning, because if you’re like millions of others, you opened your inbox before even getting out of bed. Email marketing, and more specifically an email newsletter, is a tried-and-true method of reaching people. However, I’ve noticed many in the publishing world are not taking advantage of its full power. Instead, I often see it treated as a more of a passive thing: have a sign-up form on your website, occasionally send an email. We can do better. Email, done right, takes time, skill, and strategy. While it may require a learning curve and some trial and error, it’s a communication tool nearly anyone can learn to…