Hey man. All I'm saying is there's a reason why the mannequin in front has one arm, and I swear it follows me with it's one eye.
Just so you know, Grub Street is located at 160 Boylston Street on the fourth floor, four stairs, four concrete slabs of construction protecting us feeble writers from the gangsters "antique" shop downstairs.
So here's my poem/letter to the old woman (in my mind, she's two-hundred and thirty-seven years old, six-foot seven with a big ol' rack, built like a Gorilla with chest hair thick like the perfect shag) who owns the store and the magic portal underneath it that transports her to whatever fifth-dimension she hails from:
Dear Gorilla-Woman,
I've seen the front of your store, explosively slipshod,
I've seen the dust powdered in dough-nut thick rings around your wares,
I've seen the hockey jersey slump next to the brass vase and poster
of an 80's hair-band,
but what I haven't seen makes me cross myself
before I cross that threshold.
shoulder
shoulder
forehead
chest.
and the way the teapot watches me
makes me tingle
way down
in my gibblets.
Oh yes, I'm on to you.
The dolls are your watchmen, the old clock with rat bites hides your portal,
(much like that movie "The Last Unicorn")
Oh yes, I've walked your floors and stooped at the sound of a quiet
'oof!'
What creatures do you hide underneath your living concrete grounds?
Where is your spaceship?
The laughter coming from inside sounds almost
human,
a rolling guffaw and toot,
but I don't believe you.
I thumb my nose,
a leg and a finger, at you.
You're not pulling no
fast one on me.
Not for a second.
But please,
keep the peace. What strange bargain you have with us
is fine enough
to me.
So I'll continue to ignore those slick eyes,
the strange lump-shaped
footprints
settling in the dust,
and I won't tread too hard on your floors.
But I worry about your obviousness,
obviously my genius
(coming from my powers as the unknown
Power Ranger Salmon)
betrayed your identity to me.
But I'll keep your secret if you keep mine.
Best wishes and luck,
xoxoxo,
Lillian.
JUST IN CASE:
Okay, this was really just a joke. I'm new to the blog thing and wanted to have a little fun, so that's all this is. There really isn't a giant man-eating octopus living in the basement of 160 Boylston, I swear. And to the people who actually own the charming shop downstairs: I'm sure your wares are very nice - and expensive. Please don't take offense, it was just a joke and I'm sure you're not towering chimps with big gazongas. But face it, don't lie, I saw the scotch-tape wrapped around the lid of that bronze jar.
In wary, weary dread,
with dreadful eyes,
dreading the people downstairs read this,
Lillian Ling
Friday, March 28, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
The Grub Street Rag, 3/24/08
March 24th, 2008
In this issue
Concise Grub Gossip
Effulgent Grub Events
Spreading the Love
"Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short."
~ Thoreau
Grub Street Gossip
Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene sent out every Monday by the attack dogs at Grub Street's world headquarters. As always, if you are receiving this e-mail in horror, please advance to the bottom of the page to unsubscribe yourself.
The final fifty: get your Muse on soon!
Our Muse and the Marketplace literary conference is five weeks away, and is now 85% full. We have fewer than fifty spots left (out of 330) for the full weekend and/or Saturday or Sunday only. For those of you interested in meeting with an editor or agent in our Manuscript Mart, only two editors and two agents remain. The conference features craft seminars led by some of the most established authors, panels and one-on-one manuscript consultations, and a keynote address by Jonathan Franzen. Check out the details and we'll see you next month!
Grub's growing!
Guess what? We're hiring! Grub Street is seeking a part-time Outreach Coordinator to join us in our bustling non-profit office. The candidate (you?) will coordinate all elements of Grub Street’s outreach programs and provide strong administrative support for the Grub Street office. If you have excellent management, communication and organizational skills, work experience, and love creative writing, go to www.idealist.org to read the full description, and submit your resume by March 28th.
Department of Heraldic Trumpets
As always, we have lots of great news to report. First, we are thrilled to announce that longtime Grub instructor Jenna Blum's second novel, The Stormchasers, has been sold to Dutton, a Penguin imprint. For more information on the novel's publication--and to follow Jenna on her third research round of stormchasing this May--please visit her at www.jennablum.com. Second, new Grub instructor Sara Pennypacker, who will be teaching the Fiction for Children course on June 28-29th, just won the Golden Kite award (given by the society of children's book writers and illustrators) for best picture book text of 2007 for her book Pierre In Love. Grub Street member Dr. Susan A. Berger has been working with Grace Talusan as her editor to complete writing her book: The Five Identities of Grief: How the Death of a Loved One Transforms You. Susan began writing her book proposal in 2000 after taking a class in creative non-fiction with instructor, Michelle Seaton. Working with her agent, Susan received significant interest from many major publishing houses, 4 offers, and finally accepted Shambhala Publications’ generous offer. The book is expected to be in stores in the Summer 2009. Next, Karen Dempsey, a student in Alexis Rizzuto's Master Memoir class, wrote in to let us know she just had an excerpt of her memoir, Tethered Cord: Liddy's First Years, accepted for publication in Brain, Child magazine. Next up, our 2007 Fiction Book Prize Winner, Stray by Sheri Joseph, is now available in paperback and also is a finalist for a Lambda Award. And last but not least, Grubbie Matt Frederick's book, 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School has been doing amazingly well. Since October (pub date September 30th) it's gone into three printings (37,500 copies to date, sold in six languages/territories, and just got on the Booksense bestseller list and is the number one architecture book at Amazon. Congratulations to all!
Cheers,
Whitney, Sonya and Chris
The P.S.: For all of you who signed up for the Manuscript Mart, this is a reminder to get your manuscript in by the deadline. Deadline? What deadline? That's April 2nd by 5pm. Don't forget!
In this issue
Concise Grub Gossip
Effulgent Grub Events
Spreading the Love
"Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short."
~ Thoreau
Grub Street Gossip
Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene sent out every Monday by the attack dogs at Grub Street's world headquarters. As always, if you are receiving this e-mail in horror, please advance to the bottom of the page to unsubscribe yourself.
The final fifty: get your Muse on soon!
Our Muse and the Marketplace literary conference is five weeks away, and is now 85% full. We have fewer than fifty spots left (out of 330) for the full weekend and/or Saturday or Sunday only. For those of you interested in meeting with an editor or agent in our Manuscript Mart, only two editors and two agents remain. The conference features craft seminars led by some of the most established authors, panels and one-on-one manuscript consultations, and a keynote address by Jonathan Franzen. Check out the details and we'll see you next month!
Grub's growing!
Guess what? We're hiring! Grub Street is seeking a part-time Outreach Coordinator to join us in our bustling non-profit office. The candidate (you?) will coordinate all elements of Grub Street’s outreach programs and provide strong administrative support for the Grub Street office. If you have excellent management, communication and organizational skills, work experience, and love creative writing, go to www.idealist.org to read the full description, and submit your resume by March 28th.
Department of Heraldic Trumpets
As always, we have lots of great news to report. First, we are thrilled to announce that longtime Grub instructor Jenna Blum's second novel, The Stormchasers, has been sold to Dutton, a Penguin imprint. For more information on the novel's publication--and to follow Jenna on her third research round of stormchasing this May--please visit her at www.jennablum.com. Second, new Grub instructor Sara Pennypacker, who will be teaching the Fiction for Children course on June 28-29th, just won the Golden Kite award (given by the society of children's book writers and illustrators) for best picture book text of 2007 for her book Pierre In Love. Grub Street member Dr. Susan A. Berger has been working with Grace Talusan as her editor to complete writing her book: The Five Identities of Grief: How the Death of a Loved One Transforms You. Susan began writing her book proposal in 2000 after taking a class in creative non-fiction with instructor, Michelle Seaton. Working with her agent, Susan received significant interest from many major publishing houses, 4 offers, and finally accepted Shambhala Publications’ generous offer. The book is expected to be in stores in the Summer 2009. Next, Karen Dempsey, a student in Alexis Rizzuto's Master Memoir class, wrote in to let us know she just had an excerpt of her memoir, Tethered Cord: Liddy's First Years, accepted for publication in Brain, Child magazine. Next up, our 2007 Fiction Book Prize Winner, Stray by Sheri Joseph, is now available in paperback and also is a finalist for a Lambda Award. And last but not least, Grubbie Matt Frederick's book, 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School has been doing amazingly well. Since October (pub date September 30th) it's gone into three printings (37,500 copies to date, sold in six languages/territories, and just got on the Booksense bestseller list and is the number one architecture book at Amazon. Congratulations to all!
Cheers,
Whitney, Sonya and Chris
The P.S.: For all of you who signed up for the Manuscript Mart, this is a reminder to get your manuscript in by the deadline. Deadline? What deadline? That's April 2nd by 5pm. Don't forget!
Friday, March 21, 2008
Dirty Little (Book) Secrets
Now, my fellow Grubbies, since most of you don’t know me from Adam, and since the rest of you probably have much more important things floating around in your skulls, I’m going to go ahead and divulge one of my dirty little secrets. Perhaps even my dirtiest, being that I talk a big game about reading only the best books.
I read everything. I mean it. I read magazines- Poets & Writers, Writers Chronicle, Fence, Dwell. I read informational brochures- real estate, natural beauty products, piddly writers’ conferences, new MFA programs. Personal blogs, Yahoo News, Bookslut.com, CNN.com, PerezHilton.com, Artjournal.com. And I read books. Of course I read books! Really, really good books.
But which books are good books? Granted, we all know who’s in the literary canon and that if you haven’t read The Brothers Karamazov, at least don’t admit it in a crowd of writers (or literature grad students. That can get really ugly). But what about the rest? Marilynne Robinson? Of course. Phillip Roth? Duh. Grace Paley. Oh yeah. Alice Munro? Yep. Now talk to me about Anne Rice. How about Anais Nin? Stephen King? I was once in attendance at a heated squabble where one side of the table argued red-faced that Sherman Alexie was the most important writer ever to come out of the northwest, while the other side brandished their beers and loudly yelled, “hack.” I have a friend in Chicago who swears that How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton changed her life. I read it. My life stayed exactly the same.
Alright, alright. What am I really talking about here? High art verses entertainment? I can almost hear the ripple of sighs wash across the Grubbie atmosphere. Enough already, you say. We’ve had it up to here with you spoiled, overeducated, elitist, academic literary writers.
But Halt! Do not cast that first stone!
Because I love it. I love it all! I’ve read nearly every Anne Rice book to ever hit a chain store shelf, even the ones released under her pen name, A.N. Roquelaure. Ditto for Stephen King (let me go on record right now and say that I don’t think Stephen King has ever gotten the credit he deserves). Love me some Anais Nin and Henry Miller. I’ve read oodles of authors you’ve never heard of (and never will, trust me) and I’ve even forayed into self-help(ever heard of Tony Robbins? That’s right.). On the other hand, I’ve read Wuthering Heights nine times, completely deconstructed it line by line, and have memorized most of it- for fun. Same thing with Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body. If Carole Maso and I met I could tell her exactly when The American Woman in the Chinese Hat should have definitely gone back to New York. Give me a little Faulkner and I swoon. John Updike, how can I express my love for thee?
So there you have it: I swing both ways. I won’t be giving up my book-snob public persona anytime soon, but you might come across me in some out of the way coffee shop, sunglasses on and hat pulled low, inhaling This ‘N That: The Memoirs of Betty Davis as fast as my mocha. There’s a difference between good books and bad books to be sure, but perhaps that difference relies largely on opinion. Maybe it doesn’t matter, as long as we’re all reading.
In All Dreadfulness,
Carla
I read everything. I mean it. I read magazines- Poets & Writers, Writers Chronicle, Fence, Dwell. I read informational brochures- real estate, natural beauty products, piddly writers’ conferences, new MFA programs. Personal blogs, Yahoo News, Bookslut.com, CNN.com, PerezHilton.com, Artjournal.com. And I read books. Of course I read books! Really, really good books.
But which books are good books? Granted, we all know who’s in the literary canon and that if you haven’t read The Brothers Karamazov, at least don’t admit it in a crowd of writers (or literature grad students. That can get really ugly). But what about the rest? Marilynne Robinson? Of course. Phillip Roth? Duh. Grace Paley. Oh yeah. Alice Munro? Yep. Now talk to me about Anne Rice. How about Anais Nin? Stephen King? I was once in attendance at a heated squabble where one side of the table argued red-faced that Sherman Alexie was the most important writer ever to come out of the northwest, while the other side brandished their beers and loudly yelled, “hack.” I have a friend in Chicago who swears that How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton changed her life. I read it. My life stayed exactly the same.
Alright, alright. What am I really talking about here? High art verses entertainment? I can almost hear the ripple of sighs wash across the Grubbie atmosphere. Enough already, you say. We’ve had it up to here with you spoiled, overeducated, elitist, academic literary writers.
But Halt! Do not cast that first stone!
Because I love it. I love it all! I’ve read nearly every Anne Rice book to ever hit a chain store shelf, even the ones released under her pen name, A.N. Roquelaure. Ditto for Stephen King (let me go on record right now and say that I don’t think Stephen King has ever gotten the credit he deserves). Love me some Anais Nin and Henry Miller. I’ve read oodles of authors you’ve never heard of (and never will, trust me) and I’ve even forayed into self-help(ever heard of Tony Robbins? That’s right.). On the other hand, I’ve read Wuthering Heights nine times, completely deconstructed it line by line, and have memorized most of it- for fun. Same thing with Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body. If Carole Maso and I met I could tell her exactly when The American Woman in the Chinese Hat should have definitely gone back to New York. Give me a little Faulkner and I swoon. John Updike, how can I express my love for thee?
So there you have it: I swing both ways. I won’t be giving up my book-snob public persona anytime soon, but you might come across me in some out of the way coffee shop, sunglasses on and hat pulled low, inhaling This ‘N That: The Memoirs of Betty Davis as fast as my mocha. There’s a difference between good books and bad books to be sure, but perhaps that difference relies largely on opinion. Maybe it doesn’t matter, as long as we’re all reading.
In All Dreadfulness,
Carla
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Grub Street Rag, 3/17/08
March 17th, 2008
In this issue
* Brimming Grub Gossip
* Fluent Grub Events
* Spreading the Love
"Poetry is going on all the time inside, an underground stream. One can let down one’s bucket and bring the poem up."
~ John Ashbery
Grub Street Gossip
Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene sent out every Monday from the roadside lemonade stand at Grub Street's world headquarters. As always, if you are receiving this e-mail in horror, please advance to the bottom of the page to unsubscribe yourself.
Spring schedule: as welcome as warm weather would be, if we had it
We are proud to announce our spring schedule, now online in all its springy glory on our website. We have a wonderful lineup of seminars, weekend workshops, 6- and 10--week workshops, and free events. We're also excited to be offering our first-ever class in Jamaica Plain (Fiction I), a six-week Travel Writing class, and our first online course, How to Get Freelance Work. Click here to view the entire schedule, and call us at 617.695.0075 to reserve your spot today.
Step up to the plate, Hoss: do your thing
It's time to take your cleats out of the closet, dust off your jerseys and wax your mitt. The Grub Street Wordslingers, Boston's one and only, all-time, relentlessly defeated softball team is kicking into gear. If you have not been with us for the past three years, you have been missing so much fun. We swing. We miss. We swing and miss again. And we have a great time. Please come play with us. We are like The Bad News Bears, but wittier and with more publishing credits. We need players! In particular, we need women! Interested players should email Grub Ambassador Becky Tuch at softballmania08@gmail.com.
Agent of good fortune
Grub Street founder Eve Bridburg, now a literary agent at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth, just brokered a huge book deal for Grub Street instructor and writer Michelle Seaton and Boston psychologist Dr. Anthony Rao. More than a dozen major publishing houses were vying for Rao and Seaton's book, Odd Boys Out: Protecting Our Youngest Boys From Today's Climate of Unfair Expectations, High Demands, Quick Diagnoses and Pills, but they accepted a 4th pre-empt deal from HarperCollins that they couldn't refuse and cancelled twelve meetings in NCY to go with the pre-empt. The book is expected to be in stores by fall 2009. Hats off to an exciting Grub success story!
Week in review
Oh, what a week! Last Tuesday, over 100 seniors, their families and guests celebrated the launch of our first-ever Memoir Project anthology, Born Before Plastic, at Borders Bookstore in Back Bay. Senior authors from the North End, South Boston and Roxbury autographed copies of the book and heard tips from Chris, who instructed them in the best way to sign books for adoring fans (hint: cross out your printed name and scrawl your signature above it). Then on Thursday, a lively group gathered at Porter Square Books to hear tips and inspiration from Grub board member Bret Anthony Johnston's new book of writing exercises, Naming the World. The book includes essays on writing and over three hundred exercises to get your creative juices flowing (freebie: "Spend fifteen minutes finishing a paragraph that begins 'George would never have guessed a coffin could hold so many marbles'"). After the reading, a crew of fearless and fabulous Grubbies joined Bret and Grub staff at Tavern at Porter Square, where inspiration continued to flow (almost) as fast as the drinks. If you missed these events, we hope to see you next time, and thanks for everyone who made the events so special.
* Cheers,
* Whitney, Sonya and Chris
The P.S.: The Penny Dreadful makes its triumphant return to the blogosphere! Check out stories of eraser-clapping and more.
Grub Events
In addition to our ongoing workshops, Grub Street offers numerous writing-related events around town. See our website for a long-term view of all we do. Ready to sign up? Call us at 617.695.0075 and we'll get you on the list.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Two For One: Writing Fiction and Non-fiction
Join author Lynne Griffin for a discussion of how to nurture the fiction and nonfiction writer in you. She’ll take you through the process of identifying genre elements of each, creating environments conducive to accurate research as well as offer tips for navigating the marketplace. Lynne is the author of Negotiation Generation: Take Back Your Parental Authority Without Punishment and her novel, Life Without Summer, will be published next year. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Tears of Laughter
In this seminar taught by Sonya Larson, we’ll explore the special function of humor in fiction, in its power both to rivet a reader and give unnerving and surprising edge to a story’s emotions. Learn how humor can strengthen voice, energize dialogue, drive a scene, and complexify a character. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Cortiscrawl: Writing With the Brain in Mind
In this class, taught by Tim Horvath, we'll see how understanding a bit more about the brain can boost our own writing. We'll revisit staple topics like detail, description and character, learn how we can tap into the dreaming brain for inspiration, and even look at writer's block and hypergraphia (the compulsion to write) from this new vantage point. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, The Art of the Scene
This seminar, taught by Amy Marcott, will focus on the elements of scene writing in fiction: pacing, choreography, dialogue, subtext, description, character and theme development, and more. We'll look at the techniques various authors use, then practice these with in-class writing exercises designed to inspire and elevate your own writing. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
LUNCHTIME COURSE: Tuesday, March 25th, 12:30–1:15PM, Brown Bag Lunch Series
Bring your lunch and come on over to Grub Street for a Brown Bag Writing Workshop – a series recently profiled in the Boston Globe. For 45 minutes, you’ll meet fellow writers and get your creative juices flowing with some cool writing exercises. Led by one of our award-winning instructors or ambassadors. Best of all, you’ll leave lunch with some new ideas to ponder for the rest of your day, and beyond. Maximum of 15 students. To sign up, email sonya@grubstreet.org or call 617.695.0075.
FREE, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Wednesday, April 2nd, 7-10pm, Who Told You You Were a Writer?
Co-sponsored by The Writers' Room of Boston with panelists Anita Shreve, Mameve Medwed and Stephen McCauley
Who supported you as a child, teen, and emerging adult, in the pursuit of becoming a writer? Who didn't support you? For many writers, this issue is core, speaking to what we've internalized, not always consciously. It can affect not only our ability to write, but our ability to perceive of ourselves as writers. Our moderator will offer a psychological framework for these issues; our three super-illustrious writers will describe their own journeys. NOTE: The final hour of the seminar will be a meet-and-greet downstairs at Remington’s, which includes a drink and complimentary appetizers.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Wednesday, April 2nd, 7-10pm, Writers' Paradise: The Truth About Residencies
In this seminar, Jamie Cat Callan will guide you through researching the residency that's right for you, how to write a winning project description, the secrets to being accepted and how to get the most out of your time in paradise. The final hour of the seminar will be a meet-and-greet downstairs at Remington’s, which includes a drink and complimentary appetizers. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Wednesday, April 2nd, 7-10pm, Out of the Slush Pile and Into Print (Non-Fiction)
Do you have a book proposal or memoir that agents have passed over? Do some of your essays strike out at literary magazines? In this class, we'll discuss strategies to help you catch the attention of editors and agents. The instructor, Pagan Kennedy, has been working as a writing coach for over ten years and will share with you many of the tricks that have helped her clients leap into print. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
Be sure to check out our events calendar for a comprehensive view of upcoming events.
Spreading the Love
Grub Street wants to promote YOU!!! Please send events for consideration to whitney@grubstreet.org. Our apologies in advance if we cannot fit you in.
--SEMINAR: Saturday, March 22, from 3-4:30pm, "Yoga for Writers"
Yoga for Writers is an all-levels class designed to address practical concerns to writers (wrist, shoulder, low-back issues) and to explore the creative process of writing and how yoga can enhance this process. You don't need to be a writer to participate. All are welcome--especially those new to yoga! South Boston Yoga is on the Red Line (Broadway stop). Cost is $15/$10 for students. on at the South Boston Yoga Studio.
--READING: Monday, March 2nd, Blacksmith House Poetry Series presents Linda Pastan and Rachel Pastan
Linda Pastan reads from her new poetry collection, Queen of a Rainy Country, with Rachel Pastan, author of the novel Lady of the Snakes. The Blacksmith House Poetry Series was founded in 1973 by poet Gail Mazur and is sponsored by CCAE.
$3, Blacksmith House, 56 Brattle Street, Harvard Square.
--JOB OPPORTUNITY: Copywriter positions at Grand Circle
Responsibilities: Conceptualize and write promotional copy for direct mail catalogs, letter packages and collateral communications; update and edit existing copy from various sources according to project specifications, marketing directives, and new product information; review circulated copy and implement changes and edits as necessary; serve as freelance liaison as needed. Position Requirements & qualifications: B.A. in English or journalism preferred; Strong writing skills with 2-5 years direct mail experience (or other professional travel-related writing), catalog, letter, and "advertorial" experience a plus; passion for travel and knowledge of faraway cultures; must be deadline-oriented; able to manage multiple projects simultaneously. Salary: $43,815 - $65,196. Application deadline: 03/19/2008. Send cover letters and resumes to Laura Vater at lvater@gct.com.
--CALL FOR INTERNS: Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency
Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary and Entertainment Agency is looking for candidates for its summer internship program. Intern duties consist of both clerical and project development work specifically including phones, filing, computer research, proofreading, evaluating manuscripts and developmental editing. Candidates must be motivated, dependable, energetic, cheerful and possess standard computer skills. Please contact Mary Beth Chappell at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth via email at mchappell@zshliterary.com.
Welcome to the end of the e-mail, where, like a fool with a pot of gold, we offer you the chance to win a prize. Writer a limerick about Boston and St. Patrick's Day. Best limerick, as judged by Master Limerick Judger Whitney, wins. E-mail your answers to Whitney. First correct answer wins a gift certificate to any local J.P. Licks.
Answer to last week's quiz: On March 4th, 1952, Ernest Hemingway wrote a letter to his publisher, telling him that he'd finished his latest novel, The Old Man and the Sea. He was working on a huge novel that he called The Sea Book, and The Old Man and the Sea was originally written as an epilogue to the novel, but he thought it was good enough to publish by itself. In the letter to his publisher, Wallace Meyer, Hemingway wrote, "I know that it is the best I can write ever, for all of my life I think. . . . [It's] an epilogue to all my writing and what I have learned, or tried to learn, while writing and trying to live." Winner: No one.
In this issue
* Brimming Grub Gossip
* Fluent Grub Events
* Spreading the Love
"Poetry is going on all the time inside, an underground stream. One can let down one’s bucket and bring the poem up."
~ John Ashbery
Grub Street Gossip
Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene sent out every Monday from the roadside lemonade stand at Grub Street's world headquarters. As always, if you are receiving this e-mail in horror, please advance to the bottom of the page to unsubscribe yourself.
Spring schedule: as welcome as warm weather would be, if we had it
We are proud to announce our spring schedule, now online in all its springy glory on our website. We have a wonderful lineup of seminars, weekend workshops, 6- and 10--week workshops, and free events. We're also excited to be offering our first-ever class in Jamaica Plain (Fiction I), a six-week Travel Writing class, and our first online course, How to Get Freelance Work. Click here to view the entire schedule, and call us at 617.695.0075 to reserve your spot today.
Step up to the plate, Hoss: do your thing
It's time to take your cleats out of the closet, dust off your jerseys and wax your mitt. The Grub Street Wordslingers, Boston's one and only, all-time, relentlessly defeated softball team is kicking into gear. If you have not been with us for the past three years, you have been missing so much fun. We swing. We miss. We swing and miss again. And we have a great time. Please come play with us. We are like The Bad News Bears, but wittier and with more publishing credits. We need players! In particular, we need women! Interested players should email Grub Ambassador Becky Tuch at softballmania08@gmail.com.
Agent of good fortune
Grub Street founder Eve Bridburg, now a literary agent at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth, just brokered a huge book deal for Grub Street instructor and writer Michelle Seaton and Boston psychologist Dr. Anthony Rao. More than a dozen major publishing houses were vying for Rao and Seaton's book, Odd Boys Out: Protecting Our Youngest Boys From Today's Climate of Unfair Expectations, High Demands, Quick Diagnoses and Pills, but they accepted a 4th pre-empt deal from HarperCollins that they couldn't refuse and cancelled twelve meetings in NCY to go with the pre-empt. The book is expected to be in stores by fall 2009. Hats off to an exciting Grub success story!
Week in review
Oh, what a week! Last Tuesday, over 100 seniors, their families and guests celebrated the launch of our first-ever Memoir Project anthology, Born Before Plastic, at Borders Bookstore in Back Bay. Senior authors from the North End, South Boston and Roxbury autographed copies of the book and heard tips from Chris, who instructed them in the best way to sign books for adoring fans (hint: cross out your printed name and scrawl your signature above it). Then on Thursday, a lively group gathered at Porter Square Books to hear tips and inspiration from Grub board member Bret Anthony Johnston's new book of writing exercises, Naming the World. The book includes essays on writing and over three hundred exercises to get your creative juices flowing (freebie: "Spend fifteen minutes finishing a paragraph that begins 'George would never have guessed a coffin could hold so many marbles'"). After the reading, a crew of fearless and fabulous Grubbies joined Bret and Grub staff at Tavern at Porter Square, where inspiration continued to flow (almost) as fast as the drinks. If you missed these events, we hope to see you next time, and thanks for everyone who made the events so special.
* Cheers,
* Whitney, Sonya and Chris
The P.S.: The Penny Dreadful makes its triumphant return to the blogosphere! Check out stories of eraser-clapping and more.
Grub Events
In addition to our ongoing workshops, Grub Street offers numerous writing-related events around town. See our website for a long-term view of all we do. Ready to sign up? Call us at 617.695.0075 and we'll get you on the list.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Two For One: Writing Fiction and Non-fiction
Join author Lynne Griffin for a discussion of how to nurture the fiction and nonfiction writer in you. She’ll take you through the process of identifying genre elements of each, creating environments conducive to accurate research as well as offer tips for navigating the marketplace. Lynne is the author of Negotiation Generation: Take Back Your Parental Authority Without Punishment and her novel, Life Without Summer, will be published next year. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Tears of Laughter
In this seminar taught by Sonya Larson, we’ll explore the special function of humor in fiction, in its power both to rivet a reader and give unnerving and surprising edge to a story’s emotions. Learn how humor can strengthen voice, energize dialogue, drive a scene, and complexify a character. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Cortiscrawl: Writing With the Brain in Mind
In this class, taught by Tim Horvath, we'll see how understanding a bit more about the brain can boost our own writing. We'll revisit staple topics like detail, description and character, learn how we can tap into the dreaming brain for inspiration, and even look at writer's block and hypergraphia (the compulsion to write) from this new vantage point. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, The Art of the Scene
This seminar, taught by Amy Marcott, will focus on the elements of scene writing in fiction: pacing, choreography, dialogue, subtext, description, character and theme development, and more. We'll look at the techniques various authors use, then practice these with in-class writing exercises designed to inspire and elevate your own writing. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
LUNCHTIME COURSE: Tuesday, March 25th, 12:30–1:15PM, Brown Bag Lunch Series
Bring your lunch and come on over to Grub Street for a Brown Bag Writing Workshop – a series recently profiled in the Boston Globe. For 45 minutes, you’ll meet fellow writers and get your creative juices flowing with some cool writing exercises. Led by one of our award-winning instructors or ambassadors. Best of all, you’ll leave lunch with some new ideas to ponder for the rest of your day, and beyond. Maximum of 15 students. To sign up, email sonya@grubstreet.org or call 617.695.0075.
FREE, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Wednesday, April 2nd, 7-10pm, Who Told You You Were a Writer?
Co-sponsored by The Writers' Room of Boston with panelists Anita Shreve, Mameve Medwed and Stephen McCauley
Who supported you as a child, teen, and emerging adult, in the pursuit of becoming a writer? Who didn't support you? For many writers, this issue is core, speaking to what we've internalized, not always consciously. It can affect not only our ability to write, but our ability to perceive of ourselves as writers. Our moderator will offer a psychological framework for these issues; our three super-illustrious writers will describe their own journeys. NOTE: The final hour of the seminar will be a meet-and-greet downstairs at Remington’s, which includes a drink and complimentary appetizers.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Wednesday, April 2nd, 7-10pm, Writers' Paradise: The Truth About Residencies
In this seminar, Jamie Cat Callan will guide you through researching the residency that's right for you, how to write a winning project description, the secrets to being accepted and how to get the most out of your time in paradise. The final hour of the seminar will be a meet-and-greet downstairs at Remington’s, which includes a drink and complimentary appetizers. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Wednesday, April 2nd, 7-10pm, Out of the Slush Pile and Into Print (Non-Fiction)
Do you have a book proposal or memoir that agents have passed over? Do some of your essays strike out at literary magazines? In this class, we'll discuss strategies to help you catch the attention of editors and agents. The instructor, Pagan Kennedy, has been working as a writing coach for over ten years and will share with you many of the tricks that have helped her clients leap into print. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
Be sure to check out our events calendar for a comprehensive view of upcoming events.
Spreading the Love
Grub Street wants to promote YOU!!! Please send events for consideration to whitney@grubstreet.org. Our apologies in advance if we cannot fit you in.
--SEMINAR: Saturday, March 22, from 3-4:30pm, "Yoga for Writers"
Yoga for Writers is an all-levels class designed to address practical concerns to writers (wrist, shoulder, low-back issues) and to explore the creative process of writing and how yoga can enhance this process. You don't need to be a writer to participate. All are welcome--especially those new to yoga! South Boston Yoga is on the Red Line (Broadway stop). Cost is $15/$10 for students. on at the South Boston Yoga Studio.
--READING: Monday, March 2nd, Blacksmith House Poetry Series presents Linda Pastan and Rachel Pastan
Linda Pastan reads from her new poetry collection, Queen of a Rainy Country, with Rachel Pastan, author of the novel Lady of the Snakes. The Blacksmith House Poetry Series was founded in 1973 by poet Gail Mazur and is sponsored by CCAE.
$3, Blacksmith House, 56 Brattle Street, Harvard Square.
--JOB OPPORTUNITY: Copywriter positions at Grand Circle
Responsibilities: Conceptualize and write promotional copy for direct mail catalogs, letter packages and collateral communications; update and edit existing copy from various sources according to project specifications, marketing directives, and new product information; review circulated copy and implement changes and edits as necessary; serve as freelance liaison as needed. Position Requirements & qualifications: B.A. in English or journalism preferred; Strong writing skills with 2-5 years direct mail experience (or other professional travel-related writing), catalog, letter, and "advertorial" experience a plus; passion for travel and knowledge of faraway cultures; must be deadline-oriented; able to manage multiple projects simultaneously. Salary: $43,815 - $65,196. Application deadline: 03/19/2008. Send cover letters and resumes to Laura Vater at lvater@gct.com.
--CALL FOR INTERNS: Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency
Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary and Entertainment Agency is looking for candidates for its summer internship program. Intern duties consist of both clerical and project development work specifically including phones, filing, computer research, proofreading, evaluating manuscripts and developmental editing. Candidates must be motivated, dependable, energetic, cheerful and possess standard computer skills. Please contact Mary Beth Chappell at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth via email at mchappell@zshliterary.com.
Welcome to the end of the e-mail, where, like a fool with a pot of gold, we offer you the chance to win a prize. Writer a limerick about Boston and St. Patrick's Day. Best limerick, as judged by Master Limerick Judger Whitney, wins. E-mail your answers to Whitney. First correct answer wins a gift certificate to any local J.P. Licks.
Answer to last week's quiz: On March 4th, 1952, Ernest Hemingway wrote a letter to his publisher, telling him that he'd finished his latest novel, The Old Man and the Sea. He was working on a huge novel that he called The Sea Book, and The Old Man and the Sea was originally written as an epilogue to the novel, but he thought it was good enough to publish by itself. In the letter to his publisher, Wallace Meyer, Hemingway wrote, "I know that it is the best I can write ever, for all of my life I think. . . . [It's] an epilogue to all my writing and what I have learned, or tried to learn, while writing and trying to live." Winner: No one.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Clap On.
This is my final semester in college, and my English department advisor told me that I should get an internship, and countless real, live grownups have told me they’re useful. So I applied to a bunch, interviewed at a bunch, and liked Grub the best. I like the idea of “classes” being held there, so that if I ever decide to enroll, I can have new notebooks and hand in homework and stuff. It’s kind of like school, minus the lunch ladies and loudspeakers. Grub Street seems to encourage this nostalgia, because it has the one thing that I will miss most about being a kid- a real, live, dusty blackboard.
When I saw it, I was jolted back to the first grade, where my two favorite jobs were to empty the pencil sharpener and clap the blackboard erasers. The pencil sharpener was done on an as-needed basis; so careful monitoring and a little luck on my part were necessary. But the erasers, that was a job assigned to one incredibly lucky, enthusiastic student. Like the line-leader, hot-lunch counter and the gym class ball-gatherer, the eraser-clapper got a few moments to herself each Wednesday and Friday to consider the world without the interruption of the less fortunate first graders, who only had lunch and recess as time for themselves.
This job afforded me the opportunity to skip show and tell. I hated show and tell. I didn’t (and still do not) care about Caitlin’s Mickey ears or Dave’s new skateboard. So I got to skip out on that, leave through the side door of the classroom- a forbidden portal for anyone without my authority- and shook the chalk dust from the erasers. I always stole the show, coming back in during the middle of a showing and telling, covered in a fine white powder, like Tony Montana in a navy blue jumper.
It gave me a sense of purpose, this little job. I never missed school on Wednesdays or Fridays, and for special occasions, would wipe down the chalkboard with a blue sponge. I like to think of it as my first internship, really. While it didn’t necessarily give me “real-world” experience, I was earning my stripes through grunt work, toward the eventual goal of a great recommendation (hopefully to next year’s teacher, “Marie is a diligent clapper.”).
Unfortunately, this is no longer a classroom job. There are unemployed elementary schoolers, now, kids who do not know chalky snot, dusty corduroys, and the piece-of-chalk-in-the-eraser prank that I used to thwart! My job was outsourced to the low-dust dry-erase marker. Who wants their lessons in color? Black and white is as simple as it gets. There are no teachers with comical chalk lines on their butts from leaning on the ledge at the bottom of the blackboard anymore, either. There was nothing more endearing than that look, I’ll tell you. It said something about what you did, like the grease under the nails of a mechanic.
I loved clapping the erasers. I loved pounding my name out in eraser marks on the brick wall of the cafeteria. Tattooing the building was my way of staying there, giving next year’s students an idea to do the same. It gave us presence, a little bit of our energy left in the walls of the school, and now it’s washed away with the dust.
It’s a comforting feeling that, as I approach the final days of my formal education, there is that last vestige of my dusty childhood schoolhouse manifested in this hip, urban writer’s workshop. I like to think that it sort of represents where I’ve been and where I’m going.
-Marie McIntosh
When I saw it, I was jolted back to the first grade, where my two favorite jobs were to empty the pencil sharpener and clap the blackboard erasers. The pencil sharpener was done on an as-needed basis; so careful monitoring and a little luck on my part were necessary. But the erasers, that was a job assigned to one incredibly lucky, enthusiastic student. Like the line-leader, hot-lunch counter and the gym class ball-gatherer, the eraser-clapper got a few moments to herself each Wednesday and Friday to consider the world without the interruption of the less fortunate first graders, who only had lunch and recess as time for themselves.
This job afforded me the opportunity to skip show and tell. I hated show and tell. I didn’t (and still do not) care about Caitlin’s Mickey ears or Dave’s new skateboard. So I got to skip out on that, leave through the side door of the classroom- a forbidden portal for anyone without my authority- and shook the chalk dust from the erasers. I always stole the show, coming back in during the middle of a showing and telling, covered in a fine white powder, like Tony Montana in a navy blue jumper.
It gave me a sense of purpose, this little job. I never missed school on Wednesdays or Fridays, and for special occasions, would wipe down the chalkboard with a blue sponge. I like to think of it as my first internship, really. While it didn’t necessarily give me “real-world” experience, I was earning my stripes through grunt work, toward the eventual goal of a great recommendation (hopefully to next year’s teacher, “Marie is a diligent clapper.”).
Unfortunately, this is no longer a classroom job. There are unemployed elementary schoolers, now, kids who do not know chalky snot, dusty corduroys, and the piece-of-chalk-in-the-eraser prank that I used to thwart! My job was outsourced to the low-dust dry-erase marker. Who wants their lessons in color? Black and white is as simple as it gets. There are no teachers with comical chalk lines on their butts from leaning on the ledge at the bottom of the blackboard anymore, either. There was nothing more endearing than that look, I’ll tell you. It said something about what you did, like the grease under the nails of a mechanic.
I loved clapping the erasers. I loved pounding my name out in eraser marks on the brick wall of the cafeteria. Tattooing the building was my way of staying there, giving next year’s students an idea to do the same. It gave us presence, a little bit of our energy left in the walls of the school, and now it’s washed away with the dust.
It’s a comforting feeling that, as I approach the final days of my formal education, there is that last vestige of my dusty childhood schoolhouse manifested in this hip, urban writer’s workshop. I like to think that it sort of represents where I’ve been and where I’m going.
-Marie McIntosh
Monday, March 10, 2008
The Grub Street Rag, 3/10/08
March 10th, 2008
In this issue
* Cordial Grub Gossip
* Convivial Grub Events
* Spreading the Love
"The short story is like an old friend who calls whenever he is in town. We are happy to hear from it; we casually fan the embers of past intimacies, and buy it lunch."
~ R. Z. Sheppard
Grub Street Gossip
Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene sent out every Monday by the marshmallow-toasters around the woodburning stove at Grub Street's world headquarters. As always, if you are receiving this e-mail in horror, please advance to the bottom of the page to unsubscribe yourself.
Born Before Plastic debuts at Borders Books
Come celebrate Born Before Plastic, the first anthology of the Memoir Project. Seniors whose work is featured in the anthology will be celebrating with friends and family and signing copies of the book. Mayor Menino and our favorite Artistic Director, Chris, will introduce the book and The Memoir Project, which brings writing workshops to elderly seniors in Boston neighborhoods. Born Before Plastic celebrates a generation’s unique histories and gives voice to stories that have been undocumented until now. Details below.
Department of horn-tooting
Grubbies are winners! The 2007 L.L. Winship/PEN New England Awards were just announced, and not one but TWO Grubbies have won awards, which are given annually to New England authors for books with New England settings. Former Grub student and Grub board member, Rishi Reddi, was the fiction award winner for Karma and Other Stories, and Ann Killough was the poetry winner for Beloved Idea. Huge congratulations to both of these wonderful writers! Next up, a Grubbie publishing success story: Grub instructor Ethan Gilsdorf was a student in agent Sorche Fairbank's "The Hook and The Book: How To Snare An Agent With Your Query And First Five Pages " weekend workshop last February. Based on some random memoir chapters, he wrote a proposal, and she signed him as a client. One year later, she sold his memoir-travelogue Escape Artists: Travels through the Worlds of Role Playing Freaks, Online Gaming Geeks, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms to Lyons Press, to be published fall 2009. Ethan says: "Now I've just gotta write it. . . Were it not for Grub, this never would have happened. . ." Hurrah to Ethan--we are so psyched for you! Also, for all you would-be writers, Sorche will be attending the Muse and the Marketplace and participating in the Manuscript Mart, so get a spot with her while you can.
Thanks for sticking
A huge thank-you to Lillian Ling, Alyssa Mazzarella, Sunny Davidson, and Mo Hanley for helping us send out our postcard mailing last week. Thanks also to the many people who offered to help later in the week once we were (happily) done with the mailing. Don't worry, we'll have many more opportunties to volunteer coming up.
O spring schedule, where art thou?
As our winter classes wrap up, many of you are calling and emailing wondering when you can get your next Grub fix. Rest easy: the spring schedule, in all its springy glory, will be online by the end of the week. Check it out and give us a call to register or get advice on what class might be right for you.
* Cheers,
* Whitney, Sonya and Chris
The P.S.: The Penny Dreadful makes its triumphant return to the blogosphere! After a hiatus based solely on our staff being too busy to blog, the Dreadful returns with more tales of literary life in Boston and beyond. Check it out.
Grub Events
In addition to our ongoing workshops, Grub Street offers numerous writing-related events around town. See our website for a long-term view of all we do. Ready to sign up? Call us at 617.695.0075 and we'll get you on the list.
BOOK SIGNING: Tuesday, March 11th, 6:00 - 7:30pm, Born Before Plastic book signing
Come celebrate the release of the Memoir Project’s first anthology of true stories written by forty seniors from three of Boston’s most vibrant and enduring neighborhoods: the North End, South Boston, and Roxbury. These stories vividly bring to life the individual and collective experiences of a generation, as well as a city’s history. Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Christopher Castellani will introduce the program and the book. The evening will close with food, refreshments, and conversation among the seniors, their families and guests, readers, and anyone who wants to learn more about the book and speak with the authors.
Borders Books in Back Bay, 511 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
BOOK PARTY: Thursday, March 13th, 2008, 7-9pm, Naming The World
Come celebrate the publication of Naming the World: And Other Exercises for the Fiction Writer, an exciting new anthology edited by acclaimed author (and Grub Street board member) Bret Anthony Johnston. The book features exercises by the country’s most eminent writers and is an irresistible interactive guide to the craft of narrative writing. At this event, we’ll hear some examples from some of our favorite local writers who’ve contributed to the book, and try some of the exercises on-the-spot. Followed by drinks and appetizers at a local bar and restaurant.
FREE, Porter Square Books.
TEENS: Saturday, March 15th, 12-4pm, YAWP! (Young Adult Writers Program)
Do you like to write poems, lyrics, stories, novels or screenplays? Come to YAWP, a free monthly teen writing workshop for Boston-area high schoolers like you. YAWP provides writing exercises in small groups, feedback from experienced writers, pizza and inspiration. You provide the energy to write, share your work, and try new things. Please sign up in advance by emailing yawp@grubstreet.org or calling 617.695.0075.
FREE (includes lunch), Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Two For One: Writing Fiction and Non-fiction
Join author Lynne Griffin for a discussion of how to nurture the fiction and nonfiction writer in you. She’ll take you through the process of identifying genre elements of each, creating environments conducive to accurate research as well as offer tips for navigating the marketplace. Lynne is the author of Negotiation Generation: Take Back Your Parental Authority Without Punishment and her novel, Life Without Summer, will be published next year. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Tears of Laughter
In this seminar taught by Sonya Larson, we’ll explore the special function of humor in fiction, in its power both to rivet a reader and give unnerving and surprising edge to a story’s emotions. Learn how humor can strengthen voice, energize dialogue, drive a scene, and complexify a character. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Cortiscrawl: Writing With the Brain in Mind
In this class, we'll see how understanding a bit more about the brain can boost our own writing. We'll revisit staple topics like detail, description and character, learn how we can tap into the dreaming brain for inspiration, and even look at writer's block and hypergraphia (the compulsion to write) from this new vantage point. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, The Art of the Scene
This seminar, taught by Amy Marcott, will focus on the elements of scene writing in fiction: pacing, choreography, dialogue, subtext, description, character and theme development, and more. We'll look at the techniques various authors use, then practice these with in-class writing exercises designed to inspire and elevate your own writing. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
Be sure to check out our events calendar for a comprehensive view of upcoming events.
Spreading the Love
Grub Street wants to promote YOU!!! Please send events for consideration to whitney@grubstreet.org. Our apologies in advance if we cannot fit you in.
--CALL FOR WRITERS: Can you review?
Grubbie Becky Tuch is looking for writers for The Review Review, her new website dedicated to reviewing contemporary literary magazines. Reviewers will choose or be assigned a lit mag to review. This is a chance to have your writing read by editors around the country, while also familiarizing yourself with the style and culture of various lit mags. If you are interested, please send two 700-word writing samples to Becky Tuch, along with a brief bio. Your bio shouldn’t be a list of publications but rather something that shows who you are and why you’re interested. Please paste your writing into the email text or send as an attachment to 99review@gmail.com.
--LECTURE: Tuesday, March 11th, 7PM, Janice Pieroni, founder of Story Arts Management
In this relaxed and informative event, literary manager/agent, writer, editor, and consultant Janice Pieroni guides experienced and novice writers through the steps of creating a marketable book proposal. In addition, Janice will provide tips for finding representation, discuss strategies for proceeding once a book proposal is finished, and suggest ways of building an audience for a book even before it is published. She also will note important industry trends. (Fun trivia: Janice is also Martin Scorcese's former assistant.) Newtonville Lecture Series. www.newtonvillebooks.com.
--READING AND PARTY: Sunday, March 16, 2008, 7pm, The Dirty Water Reading Series presents "Get Lucky"
"Get Lucky" is a St. Patty's-themed reading at Grub Street Headquarters, featuring mad-libs of famous Irish writers and short readings by Sommer Browning, Steve Himmer, Nina MacLaughlin, and Felicia C. Sullivan. Organized by local journals Quick Fiction, Redivider, and Fringe, along with Black Ocean Press. Free food and drinks, plus door prizes. Come on down and have a pint!
FREE, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
Welcome to the end of the e-mail, where, like the aroma of despair, we offer you the chance to win a prize. On this day in history, a writer wrote a letter saying he had finished a new book. He considered the book an epilogue to everything he had ever written. Name the author, the title of the book, and who the letter was addressed to. E-mail your answers to Whitney. First correct answer wins a gift certificate to any local J.P. Licks.
Answer to last week's quiz: No one has guessed correctly yet, so we're trying again. I guess Google has failed you at last. Mwah ha ha ha ha! Winner: Not Google.
In this issue
* Cordial Grub Gossip
* Convivial Grub Events
* Spreading the Love
"The short story is like an old friend who calls whenever he is in town. We are happy to hear from it; we casually fan the embers of past intimacies, and buy it lunch."
~ R. Z. Sheppard
Grub Street Gossip
Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene sent out every Monday by the marshmallow-toasters around the woodburning stove at Grub Street's world headquarters. As always, if you are receiving this e-mail in horror, please advance to the bottom of the page to unsubscribe yourself.
Born Before Plastic debuts at Borders Books
Come celebrate Born Before Plastic, the first anthology of the Memoir Project. Seniors whose work is featured in the anthology will be celebrating with friends and family and signing copies of the book. Mayor Menino and our favorite Artistic Director, Chris, will introduce the book and The Memoir Project, which brings writing workshops to elderly seniors in Boston neighborhoods. Born Before Plastic celebrates a generation’s unique histories and gives voice to stories that have been undocumented until now. Details below.
Department of horn-tooting
Grubbies are winners! The 2007 L.L. Winship/PEN New England Awards were just announced, and not one but TWO Grubbies have won awards, which are given annually to New England authors for books with New England settings. Former Grub student and Grub board member, Rishi Reddi, was the fiction award winner for Karma and Other Stories, and Ann Killough was the poetry winner for Beloved Idea. Huge congratulations to both of these wonderful writers! Next up, a Grubbie publishing success story: Grub instructor Ethan Gilsdorf was a student in agent Sorche Fairbank's "The Hook and The Book: How To Snare An Agent With Your Query And First Five Pages " weekend workshop last February. Based on some random memoir chapters, he wrote a proposal, and she signed him as a client. One year later, she sold his memoir-travelogue Escape Artists: Travels through the Worlds of Role Playing Freaks, Online Gaming Geeks, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms to Lyons Press, to be published fall 2009. Ethan says: "Now I've just gotta write it. . . Were it not for Grub, this never would have happened. . ." Hurrah to Ethan--we are so psyched for you! Also, for all you would-be writers, Sorche will be attending the Muse and the Marketplace and participating in the Manuscript Mart, so get a spot with her while you can.
Thanks for sticking
A huge thank-you to Lillian Ling, Alyssa Mazzarella, Sunny Davidson, and Mo Hanley for helping us send out our postcard mailing last week. Thanks also to the many people who offered to help later in the week once we were (happily) done with the mailing. Don't worry, we'll have many more opportunties to volunteer coming up.
O spring schedule, where art thou?
As our winter classes wrap up, many of you are calling and emailing wondering when you can get your next Grub fix. Rest easy: the spring schedule, in all its springy glory, will be online by the end of the week. Check it out and give us a call to register or get advice on what class might be right for you.
* Cheers,
* Whitney, Sonya and Chris
The P.S.: The Penny Dreadful makes its triumphant return to the blogosphere! After a hiatus based solely on our staff being too busy to blog, the Dreadful returns with more tales of literary life in Boston and beyond. Check it out.
Grub Events
In addition to our ongoing workshops, Grub Street offers numerous writing-related events around town. See our website for a long-term view of all we do. Ready to sign up? Call us at 617.695.0075 and we'll get you on the list.
BOOK SIGNING: Tuesday, March 11th, 6:00 - 7:30pm, Born Before Plastic book signing
Come celebrate the release of the Memoir Project’s first anthology of true stories written by forty seniors from three of Boston’s most vibrant and enduring neighborhoods: the North End, South Boston, and Roxbury. These stories vividly bring to life the individual and collective experiences of a generation, as well as a city’s history. Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Christopher Castellani will introduce the program and the book. The evening will close with food, refreshments, and conversation among the seniors, their families and guests, readers, and anyone who wants to learn more about the book and speak with the authors.
Borders Books in Back Bay, 511 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
BOOK PARTY: Thursday, March 13th, 2008, 7-9pm, Naming The World
Come celebrate the publication of Naming the World: And Other Exercises for the Fiction Writer, an exciting new anthology edited by acclaimed author (and Grub Street board member) Bret Anthony Johnston. The book features exercises by the country’s most eminent writers and is an irresistible interactive guide to the craft of narrative writing. At this event, we’ll hear some examples from some of our favorite local writers who’ve contributed to the book, and try some of the exercises on-the-spot. Followed by drinks and appetizers at a local bar and restaurant.
FREE, Porter Square Books.
TEENS: Saturday, March 15th, 12-4pm, YAWP! (Young Adult Writers Program)
Do you like to write poems, lyrics, stories, novels or screenplays? Come to YAWP, a free monthly teen writing workshop for Boston-area high schoolers like you. YAWP provides writing exercises in small groups, feedback from experienced writers, pizza and inspiration. You provide the energy to write, share your work, and try new things. Please sign up in advance by emailing yawp@grubstreet.org or calling 617.695.0075.
FREE (includes lunch), Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Two For One: Writing Fiction and Non-fiction
Join author Lynne Griffin for a discussion of how to nurture the fiction and nonfiction writer in you. She’ll take you through the process of identifying genre elements of each, creating environments conducive to accurate research as well as offer tips for navigating the marketplace. Lynne is the author of Negotiation Generation: Take Back Your Parental Authority Without Punishment and her novel, Life Without Summer, will be published next year. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Tears of Laughter
In this seminar taught by Sonya Larson, we’ll explore the special function of humor in fiction, in its power both to rivet a reader and give unnerving and surprising edge to a story’s emotions. Learn how humor can strengthen voice, energize dialogue, drive a scene, and complexify a character. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Cortiscrawl: Writing With the Brain in Mind
In this class, we'll see how understanding a bit more about the brain can boost our own writing. We'll revisit staple topics like detail, description and character, learn how we can tap into the dreaming brain for inspiration, and even look at writer's block and hypergraphia (the compulsion to write) from this new vantage point. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, The Art of the Scene
This seminar, taught by Amy Marcott, will focus on the elements of scene writing in fiction: pacing, choreography, dialogue, subtext, description, character and theme development, and more. We'll look at the techniques various authors use, then practice these with in-class writing exercises designed to inspire and elevate your own writing. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
Be sure to check out our events calendar for a comprehensive view of upcoming events.
Spreading the Love
Grub Street wants to promote YOU!!! Please send events for consideration to whitney@grubstreet.org. Our apologies in advance if we cannot fit you in.
--CALL FOR WRITERS: Can you review?
Grubbie Becky Tuch is looking for writers for The Review Review, her new website dedicated to reviewing contemporary literary magazines. Reviewers will choose or be assigned a lit mag to review. This is a chance to have your writing read by editors around the country, while also familiarizing yourself with the style and culture of various lit mags. If you are interested, please send two 700-word writing samples to Becky Tuch, along with a brief bio. Your bio shouldn’t be a list of publications but rather something that shows who you are and why you’re interested. Please paste your writing into the email text or send as an attachment to 99review@gmail.com.
--LECTURE: Tuesday, March 11th, 7PM, Janice Pieroni, founder of Story Arts Management
In this relaxed and informative event, literary manager/agent, writer, editor, and consultant Janice Pieroni guides experienced and novice writers through the steps of creating a marketable book proposal. In addition, Janice will provide tips for finding representation, discuss strategies for proceeding once a book proposal is finished, and suggest ways of building an audience for a book even before it is published. She also will note important industry trends. (Fun trivia: Janice is also Martin Scorcese's former assistant.) Newtonville Lecture Series. www.newtonvillebooks.com.
--READING AND PARTY: Sunday, March 16, 2008, 7pm, The Dirty Water Reading Series presents "Get Lucky"
"Get Lucky" is a St. Patty's-themed reading at Grub Street Headquarters, featuring mad-libs of famous Irish writers and short readings by Sommer Browning, Steve Himmer, Nina MacLaughlin, and Felicia C. Sullivan. Organized by local journals Quick Fiction, Redivider, and Fringe, along with Black Ocean Press. Free food and drinks, plus door prizes. Come on down and have a pint!
FREE, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
Welcome to the end of the e-mail, where, like the aroma of despair, we offer you the chance to win a prize. On this day in history, a writer wrote a letter saying he had finished a new book. He considered the book an epilogue to everything he had ever written. Name the author, the title of the book, and who the letter was addressed to. E-mail your answers to Whitney. First correct answer wins a gift certificate to any local J.P. Licks.
Answer to last week's quiz: No one has guessed correctly yet, so we're trying again. I guess Google has failed you at last. Mwah ha ha ha ha! Winner: Not Google.
Friday, March 7, 2008
The thing that writing does
"Some magazine was asking writers what they would have become if they hadn't become a writer, and I said that I would have been stabbed to death in the parking lot outside a bar in Florida at 24, or something like that. I really believe that, actually. I think writing saved my life." -- Russell Banks
What is it about writing that heals us? How does it not only fix our ailments, but make us think better? As a student who has worked across the fields of medicine, policy, youth programming, and not least of all, creative writing, I'm interested in the intersection point of these areas, and I hope I'm not forcing them together. Yet I can't help but notice the similarities in writers' experiences with writing, and patients with mood disorders who have improved health outcomes after writing. In Tal Ben-Shahar's Positive Psychology at Harvard College, which consistently attracts hundreds of students, he argues that the act of writing down our negative perceptions of reality will improve emotional well-being. He emphasizes that writing, not talking or thinking, will cause one to be more realistic and objective. A large part of the class is based on research papers that validate the theory, which is also the backbone for some of the most effective therapies out there. This writing that patients do is often done through some kind of psychological intervention, whether it is journaling, individual therapy, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT actually seems the most akin to writing to me, as the premise is that we will distort our perceptions of reality all the way until we actually write the event down. It is once we have the event on paper that we can stand back objectively and avoid magnifying the errors we've made, and learn to view reality head on. Writing sets us free, but how? The mechanism, or as epidemiologists would call it, the "black box," remains elusive. One revered writer said of her reasons, "I don't know why, and I hope I never find out."
So who cares? Why is academic thesis on a grub street blog? Along with nearly a dozen other dedicated writers, I help run Grub Street's Young Adult Writer's Program (YAWP), whose mission is to recruit high schoolers from all over Massachusetts, regardless of race, income, or ethnicity, to come together once a month and write and share work for 4 hours. Our alums have gone on to publish columns and short stories, while others go onto creative writing programs at Brandeis and Sarah Lawrence. Concurrent to this mission is to have our teachers come into schools and teach kids about the transformative power of creative writing. We wouldn't have used the term "transformative" if we didn't mean it. Recruiting students from nearly a hundred different high schools all over New England, I've seen kids from some tough neighborhoods come in and treat YAWP as though it were a sanctuary, and it kind of is. I know that the act of writing makes these kids feel better, but I can't run a randomized control trial to prove it. Hopefully, though, more evidence on the positive effects of writing will accumulate (what is the cost versus benefit of being more thoughtful about yourself?), more caregivers and community leaders will notice it, and hopefully we will see even more writers reach out to the ailing.
--William Rafelson
What is it about writing that heals us? How does it not only fix our ailments, but make us think better? As a student who has worked across the fields of medicine, policy, youth programming, and not least of all, creative writing, I'm interested in the intersection point of these areas, and I hope I'm not forcing them together. Yet I can't help but notice the similarities in writers' experiences with writing, and patients with mood disorders who have improved health outcomes after writing. In Tal Ben-Shahar's Positive Psychology at Harvard College, which consistently attracts hundreds of students, he argues that the act of writing down our negative perceptions of reality will improve emotional well-being. He emphasizes that writing, not talking or thinking, will cause one to be more realistic and objective. A large part of the class is based on research papers that validate the theory, which is also the backbone for some of the most effective therapies out there. This writing that patients do is often done through some kind of psychological intervention, whether it is journaling, individual therapy, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT actually seems the most akin to writing to me, as the premise is that we will distort our perceptions of reality all the way until we actually write the event down. It is once we have the event on paper that we can stand back objectively and avoid magnifying the errors we've made, and learn to view reality head on. Writing sets us free, but how? The mechanism, or as epidemiologists would call it, the "black box," remains elusive. One revered writer said of her reasons, "I don't know why, and I hope I never find out."
So who cares? Why is academic thesis on a grub street blog? Along with nearly a dozen other dedicated writers, I help run Grub Street's Young Adult Writer's Program (YAWP), whose mission is to recruit high schoolers from all over Massachusetts, regardless of race, income, or ethnicity, to come together once a month and write and share work for 4 hours. Our alums have gone on to publish columns and short stories, while others go onto creative writing programs at Brandeis and Sarah Lawrence. Concurrent to this mission is to have our teachers come into schools and teach kids about the transformative power of creative writing. We wouldn't have used the term "transformative" if we didn't mean it. Recruiting students from nearly a hundred different high schools all over New England, I've seen kids from some tough neighborhoods come in and treat YAWP as though it were a sanctuary, and it kind of is. I know that the act of writing makes these kids feel better, but I can't run a randomized control trial to prove it. Hopefully, though, more evidence on the positive effects of writing will accumulate (what is the cost versus benefit of being more thoughtful about yourself?), more caregivers and community leaders will notice it, and hopefully we will see even more writers reach out to the ailing.
--William Rafelson
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Read, Enjoy, Love?
For months, I've been seeing people reading Eat, Pray, Love on the subway. Many people. Like one day--no exaggeration--there were four women in the same car as me, all reading this book. I like Elizabeth Gilbert (if you haven't read her short story collection, Pilgrims, I highly recommend it), so even though I'm not so into journeys of self-discovery, or memoirs of any stripe for that matter, I decided to give it a try.
Here's my general reaction: Huh.
I just can't quite see what all the fuss is about. It's fine. Gilbert is a great writer, so there are moments that are beautiful, funny, sad. But for the most part, I felt like it's just a book where someone kvetches about the things that are wrong in her life, and then kvetches about how hard it is to change her life and fix all the things that are wrong.
I probably should admit this, but I often find this to be true with memoirs, and that's why I don't read as many of them as the general populace. I don't mean this to just be a post that rags on Gilbert--instead, I put this out there to all of you, o readers of memoir: Lead me to a memoir that was so good it changed your life! Show me how good memoir can be!
And thanks.
In dread,
Whitney Scharer
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The Grub Street Rag
March 4th, 2008
In this issue
--Helter-skelter Grub Gossip
--Orderly Grub Events
--Spreading the Love
"I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry: that is, prose = words in their best order; poetry = the best words in the best order."
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Grub Street Gossip
Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene sent out every Monday (except when we are handing in a Mass Cultural Council grant application) from the meditation cave at Grub Street's world headquarters. As always, if you are receiving this e-mail in horror, please advance to the bottom of the page to unsubscribe yourself.
Mansion of Congratulations
We have so much great news to report, we've built a beautiful mansion to house it in! First up on our tour, in the expansive gourmet kitchen, is Grub Street Free Press managing editor Ron MacLean, whose short story “Last Seen, Hank’s Grille” will be reprinted this spring in Chautauqua magazine’s 20th anniversary issue. We also can't wait to read Ron's short story collection, Why the Long Face, out this August from Swank Books. Next up, in the East Wing, is longtime Grubbie (and great comic writer) Matthew Sandel, who won a contest you saw advertised right here in the Rag! Matthew's short story, "A Fistful of Goobers," won the Love & Dumpsters Writing Contest, which was a tie-in to an anthology of true stories, Things I've Learned from Women Who've Dumped Me, presented by Harvard Book Store. Read Matthew's prizewinner at http://harvard.com/events/thingsivelearned.html. Next, in the gazebo on the manion's grounds, Grub instructor Michelle Seaton just got word that her essay, "How To Work a Locker Room," first written for Ron MacLean's Structure of Short Fiction class last year, has been accepted by The Pinch. In the library and trophy room, we find Linda Mazurek, whose 10th article in the past 13 months just appeared in Heart of New Hampshire Magazine. Lounging in the parlor, Grub member Rose MacDowell has a hardcover novel due out from Random House/Bantam Dell on March 25th. Called Turning Tables, Rose wrote it with her identical twin, Heather, and you can read about it at www.turning-tables.com. Marea Beeman has a short story appearing this week in Meeting House, an on-line publication. In the 13th guest bedroom, we'll find Katherine Ozment, who has an essay in the March edition of Skirt! magazine. Annie Weatherwax has a story coming out in the Carolina Quarterly and in Quarterly West, and she says that "the story coming out in Quarterly West is being published in part because of the excellent feedback I got in a Grub Street class." In the ballroom, Nina MacLaughlin had a short-short accepted to Issue 12 of Quick Fiction. And last but never least, relaxing in the billiard room is Randy Susan Meyers, whose novel excerpt, "Mixed Prayers," was published in the Fog City Review. Congratulations to all!
Muse and the Marketplace 2008: filling fast!
You like it, you really really like it! We are surprised and pleased at how quickly our conference is filling up this year. Maybe it's the amazing author lineup, maybe it's the first-ever Agent Idol, or maybe it's the sure-to-be-inspiring keynote address by Jonathan Franzen. Whatever the reason, spots are filling fast, so if you're planning on attending we recommend registering sooner rather than later. This is especially true if you are interested in participating in the optional Manuscript Mart (which is already halfway sold out!)
Help stick stamps on postcards at your favorite non-profit
The Grub Street staff and interns are hard at work mailing out our Muse and the Marketplace postcards. If you'd like to stop by and help us this week, we would LOVE to have you, and will treat you to the Starbucks beverage of your choice as a small thank-you. Hours for the mailing are Wednesday - Friday, 10-6pm. Please email whitney@grubstreet.org to let us know when you'll be coming, and thanks!
Cheers,
Whitney, Sonya and Chris
Grub Events
In addition to our ongoing workshops, Grub Street offers numerous writing-related events around town. See our website for a long-term view of all we do. Ready to sign up? Call us at 617.695.0075 and we'll get you on the list.
*RESCHEDULED* ALL-DAY SEMINAR, Saturday, March 8th, 2008, 9AM – 4PM, Creative Problem Solving for Novels In Progress
Instructor: Crystal King
This workshop will help you learn how to use new and practical creativity exercises – unlike any of those usually taught in writing workshops – to expand and enhance your existing ideas for your novel. Limited to 15 Novelists In Progress--read more on our website.
$95/$85 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston.
BOOK SIGNING: Tuesday, March 11th, 6:30 pm, Born Before Plastic book signing
Come celebrate the release of the Memoir Project’s first anthology of true stories written by forty seniors from three of Boston’s most vibrant and enduring neighborhoods: the North End, South Boston, and Roxbury. These stories vividly bring to life the individual and collective experiences of a generation, as well as a city’s history. Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Christopher Castellani will introduce the program and the book. The evening will close with food, refreshments, and conversation among the seniors, their families and guests, readers, and anyone who wants to learn more about the book and speak with the authors.
Borders Books in Back Bay, 511 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
BOOK PARTY: Thursday, March 13th, 2008, 7-9pm, Naming The World
Come celebrate the publication of Naming the World: And Other Exercises for the Fiction Writer, an exciting new anthology edited by acclaimed author (and Grub Street board member) Bret Anthony Johnston. The book features exercises by the country’s most eminent writers and is an irresistible interactive guide to the craft of narrative writing. At this event, we’ll hear some examples from some of our favorite local writers who’ve contributed to the book, and try some of the exercises on-the-spot. Followed by drinks and appetizers at a local bar and restaurant.
FREE, Porter Square Books.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Two For One: Writing Fiction and Non-fiction
Join author Lynne Griffin for a discussion of how to nurture the fiction and nonfiction writer in you. She’ll take you through the process of identifying genre elements of each, creating environments conducive to accurate research as well as offer tips for navigating the marketplace. Lynne is the author of Negotiation Generation: Take Back Your Parental Authority Without Punishment and her novel, Life Without Summer, will be published next year. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Tears of Laughter
In this seminar taught by Sonya Larson, we’ll explore the special function of humor in fiction, in its power both to rivet a reader and give unnerving and surprising edge to a story’s emotions. Learn how humor can strengthen voice, energize dialogue, drive a scene, and complexify a character. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Cortiscrawl: Writing With the Brain in Mind
In this class, we'll see how understanding a bit more about the brain can boost our own writing. We'll revisit staple topics like detail, description and character, learn how we can tap into the dreaming brain for inspiration, and even look at writer's block and hypergraphia (the compulsion to write) from this new vantage point. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, The Art of the Scene
This seminar, taught by Amy Marcott, will focus on the elements of scene writing in fiction: pacing, choreography, dialogue, subtext, description, character and theme development, and more. We'll look at the techniques various authors use, then practice these with in-class writing exercises designed to inspire and elevate your own writing. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
Be sure to check out our events calendar for a comprehensive view of upcoming events.
Spreading the Love
Grub Street wants to promote YOU!!! Please send events for consideration to whitney@grubstreet.org. Our apologies in advance if we cannot fit you in.
--READING: Tuesday, March 4th, 7pm, Scott Heim
Scott Heim reads from his riveting new novel, We Disappear. Check out the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8Xl3TKx7mw. Or, check out an article about the book in Time Out.
Brookline Booksmith, 247 Harvard Street, Brookline.
--EVENT/FUNDRAISER: Saturday, March 8th, 7-9pm, 826 Boston Announces Greater Boston Research Institute’s Product Testing Seminar
826 Boston invites all curious and non-litigious literati to register for the upcoming Product Testing Seminar at the Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute on Saturday, March 8, 2008, from 7-9 PM. Reservations are required ($50 per person) and can be made online only at www.826Boston.org. All participants will receive a first-run GBBRI t-shirt and the inimitable GBBRI Wilderness Survival Bundle. Wine and beer will be served. All proceeds from this memorable product testing seminar help support 826 Boston’s free writing and tutoring programs for local youth. Questions, call 617-442-5400 or email info@826Boston.org. Be you a Bigfoot believer or Sasquatch skeptic, be warned: be there.
3035 Washington Street, Egleston Square, Roxbury, MA 02119. See www.826Boston.org for detailed directions.
--CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Howl Press (Deadline is March 27th)
Howl Press is looking for topical essays or short stories (800-900 words) that are stimulating and thought provoking. Our audience is 35+, in the top 10% of earners and includes politicians, entertainers and CEO’s. This is a very unique, captive audience. Recyclable material is accepted. Pay - $200 - $250. Contact Lisa at lrehfuss@hotmail.com. Please include your submission in the email instead of as an attachment.
--WRITERS' RETREAT, JUNE 22-27 2008, Wakefield New Hampshire Retreat
Private room in historic house, mornings for writing, afternoons for technique class--teachers published writers and university teachers--and MSS workshop. Catered community dinner in restored barn. $500 fee includes room and board and classes. 8-10 serious writers. Please submit statement of purpose and 15-20 pages of your work to elizbarrett@gmail.com or 3 Downing Court Exeter, NH 03833 prior to April 1. Rolling admissions.
Welcome to the end of the e-mail, where, like a giraffe with a crick in his neck, we offer you the chance to win a prize. On this day in history, a writer wrote a letter saying he had finished a new book. He considered the book an epilogue to everything he had ever written. Name the author, the title of the book, and who the letter was addressed to. E-mail your answers to Whitney. First correct answer wins a gift certificate to any local J.P. Licks.
Answer to last week's quiz: The Pulitzer Prize was established with a fortune derived from yellow journalism. Winner: Jon Woodward.
Forward email
This email was sent to whitney@grubstreet.org, by whitney@grubstreet.org
Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy.
Email Marketing by
Grub Street, Inc. | 160 Boylston Street | Boston | MA | 02116
In this issue
--Helter-skelter Grub Gossip
--Orderly Grub Events
--Spreading the Love
"I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry: that is, prose = words in their best order; poetry = the best words in the best order."
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Grub Street Gossip
Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene sent out every Monday (except when we are handing in a Mass Cultural Council grant application) from the meditation cave at Grub Street's world headquarters. As always, if you are receiving this e-mail in horror, please advance to the bottom of the page to unsubscribe yourself.
Mansion of Congratulations
We have so much great news to report, we've built a beautiful mansion to house it in! First up on our tour, in the expansive gourmet kitchen, is Grub Street Free Press managing editor Ron MacLean, whose short story “Last Seen, Hank’s Grille” will be reprinted this spring in Chautauqua magazine’s 20th anniversary issue. We also can't wait to read Ron's short story collection, Why the Long Face, out this August from Swank Books. Next up, in the East Wing, is longtime Grubbie (and great comic writer) Matthew Sandel, who won a contest you saw advertised right here in the Rag! Matthew's short story, "A Fistful of Goobers," won the Love & Dumpsters Writing Contest, which was a tie-in to an anthology of true stories, Things I've Learned from Women Who've Dumped Me, presented by Harvard Book Store. Read Matthew's prizewinner at http://harvard.com/events/thingsivelearned.html. Next, in the gazebo on the manion's grounds, Grub instructor Michelle Seaton just got word that her essay, "How To Work a Locker Room," first written for Ron MacLean's Structure of Short Fiction class last year, has been accepted by The Pinch. In the library and trophy room, we find Linda Mazurek, whose 10th article in the past 13 months just appeared in Heart of New Hampshire Magazine. Lounging in the parlor, Grub member Rose MacDowell has a hardcover novel due out from Random House/Bantam Dell on March 25th. Called Turning Tables, Rose wrote it with her identical twin, Heather, and you can read about it at www.turning-tables.com. Marea Beeman has a short story appearing this week in Meeting House, an on-line publication. In the 13th guest bedroom, we'll find Katherine Ozment, who has an essay in the March edition of Skirt! magazine. Annie Weatherwax has a story coming out in the Carolina Quarterly and in Quarterly West, and she says that "the story coming out in Quarterly West is being published in part because of the excellent feedback I got in a Grub Street class." In the ballroom, Nina MacLaughlin had a short-short accepted to Issue 12 of Quick Fiction. And last but never least, relaxing in the billiard room is Randy Susan Meyers, whose novel excerpt, "Mixed Prayers," was published in the Fog City Review. Congratulations to all!
Muse and the Marketplace 2008: filling fast!
You like it, you really really like it! We are surprised and pleased at how quickly our conference is filling up this year. Maybe it's the amazing author lineup, maybe it's the first-ever Agent Idol, or maybe it's the sure-to-be-inspiring keynote address by Jonathan Franzen. Whatever the reason, spots are filling fast, so if you're planning on attending we recommend registering sooner rather than later. This is especially true if you are interested in participating in the optional Manuscript Mart (which is already halfway sold out!)
Help stick stamps on postcards at your favorite non-profit
The Grub Street staff and interns are hard at work mailing out our Muse and the Marketplace postcards. If you'd like to stop by and help us this week, we would LOVE to have you, and will treat you to the Starbucks beverage of your choice as a small thank-you. Hours for the mailing are Wednesday - Friday, 10-6pm. Please email whitney@grubstreet.org to let us know when you'll be coming, and thanks!
Cheers,
Whitney, Sonya and Chris
Grub Events
In addition to our ongoing workshops, Grub Street offers numerous writing-related events around town. See our website for a long-term view of all we do. Ready to sign up? Call us at 617.695.0075 and we'll get you on the list.
*RESCHEDULED* ALL-DAY SEMINAR, Saturday, March 8th, 2008, 9AM – 4PM, Creative Problem Solving for Novels In Progress
Instructor: Crystal King
This workshop will help you learn how to use new and practical creativity exercises – unlike any of those usually taught in writing workshops – to expand and enhance your existing ideas for your novel. Limited to 15 Novelists In Progress--read more on our website.
$95/$85 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston.
BOOK SIGNING: Tuesday, March 11th, 6:30 pm, Born Before Plastic book signing
Come celebrate the release of the Memoir Project’s first anthology of true stories written by forty seniors from three of Boston’s most vibrant and enduring neighborhoods: the North End, South Boston, and Roxbury. These stories vividly bring to life the individual and collective experiences of a generation, as well as a city’s history. Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Christopher Castellani will introduce the program and the book. The evening will close with food, refreshments, and conversation among the seniors, their families and guests, readers, and anyone who wants to learn more about the book and speak with the authors.
Borders Books in Back Bay, 511 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
BOOK PARTY: Thursday, March 13th, 2008, 7-9pm, Naming The World
Come celebrate the publication of Naming the World: And Other Exercises for the Fiction Writer, an exciting new anthology edited by acclaimed author (and Grub Street board member) Bret Anthony Johnston. The book features exercises by the country’s most eminent writers and is an irresistible interactive guide to the craft of narrative writing. At this event, we’ll hear some examples from some of our favorite local writers who’ve contributed to the book, and try some of the exercises on-the-spot. Followed by drinks and appetizers at a local bar and restaurant.
FREE, Porter Square Books.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Two For One: Writing Fiction and Non-fiction
Join author Lynne Griffin for a discussion of how to nurture the fiction and nonfiction writer in you. She’ll take you through the process of identifying genre elements of each, creating environments conducive to accurate research as well as offer tips for navigating the marketplace. Lynne is the author of Negotiation Generation: Take Back Your Parental Authority Without Punishment and her novel, Life Without Summer, will be published next year. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Tears of Laughter
In this seminar taught by Sonya Larson, we’ll explore the special function of humor in fiction, in its power both to rivet a reader and give unnerving and surprising edge to a story’s emotions. Learn how humor can strengthen voice, energize dialogue, drive a scene, and complexify a character. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, Cortiscrawl: Writing With the Brain in Mind
In this class, we'll see how understanding a bit more about the brain can boost our own writing. We'll revisit staple topics like detail, description and character, learn how we can tap into the dreaming brain for inspiration, and even look at writer's block and hypergraphia (the compulsion to write) from this new vantage point. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 24th, 2008, The Art of the Scene
This seminar, taught by Amy Marcott, will focus on the elements of scene writing in fiction: pacing, choreography, dialogue, subtext, description, character and theme development, and more. We'll look at the techniques various authors use, then practice these with in-class writing exercises designed to inspire and elevate your own writing. Read more on our website.
$45/$40 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
Be sure to check out our events calendar for a comprehensive view of upcoming events.
Spreading the Love
Grub Street wants to promote YOU!!! Please send events for consideration to whitney@grubstreet.org. Our apologies in advance if we cannot fit you in.
--READING: Tuesday, March 4th, 7pm, Scott Heim
Scott Heim reads from his riveting new novel, We Disappear. Check out the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8Xl3TKx7mw. Or, check out an article about the book in Time Out.
Brookline Booksmith, 247 Harvard Street, Brookline.
--EVENT/FUNDRAISER: Saturday, March 8th, 7-9pm, 826 Boston Announces Greater Boston Research Institute’s Product Testing Seminar
826 Boston invites all curious and non-litigious literati to register for the upcoming Product Testing Seminar at the Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute on Saturday, March 8, 2008, from 7-9 PM. Reservations are required ($50 per person) and can be made online only at www.826Boston.org. All participants will receive a first-run GBBRI t-shirt and the inimitable GBBRI Wilderness Survival Bundle. Wine and beer will be served. All proceeds from this memorable product testing seminar help support 826 Boston’s free writing and tutoring programs for local youth. Questions, call 617-442-5400 or email info@826Boston.org. Be you a Bigfoot believer or Sasquatch skeptic, be warned: be there.
3035 Washington Street, Egleston Square, Roxbury, MA 02119. See www.826Boston.org for detailed directions.
--CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Howl Press (Deadline is March 27th)
Howl Press is looking for topical essays or short stories (800-900 words) that are stimulating and thought provoking. Our audience is 35+, in the top 10% of earners and includes politicians, entertainers and CEO’s. This is a very unique, captive audience. Recyclable material is accepted. Pay - $200 - $250. Contact Lisa at lrehfuss@hotmail.com. Please include your submission in the email instead of as an attachment.
--WRITERS' RETREAT, JUNE 22-27 2008, Wakefield New Hampshire Retreat
Private room in historic house, mornings for writing, afternoons for technique class--teachers published writers and university teachers--and MSS workshop. Catered community dinner in restored barn. $500 fee includes room and board and classes. 8-10 serious writers. Please submit statement of purpose and 15-20 pages of your work to elizbarrett@gmail.com or 3 Downing Court Exeter, NH 03833 prior to April 1. Rolling admissions.
Welcome to the end of the e-mail, where, like a giraffe with a crick in his neck, we offer you the chance to win a prize. On this day in history, a writer wrote a letter saying he had finished a new book. He considered the book an epilogue to everything he had ever written. Name the author, the title of the book, and who the letter was addressed to. E-mail your answers to Whitney. First correct answer wins a gift certificate to any local J.P. Licks.
Answer to last week's quiz: The Pulitzer Prize was established with a fortune derived from yellow journalism. Winner: Jon Woodward.
Forward email
This email was sent to whitney@grubstreet.org, by whitney@grubstreet.org
Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy.
Email Marketing by
Grub Street, Inc. | 160 Boylston Street | Boston | MA | 02116
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