More on Swink (see below): Until March 15 they are accepting entries on the theme of lying, cheating, stealing. Read more and then submit.
Tag Archives: Writing & publishing
Swink
Everyone over at Maud Newton and elsewhere is abuzz about Swink magazine, which is neat and new, and will be serving online-only writing in addition to their print journal. They have a contest for fiction and poetry, the due date for which is April 1. The poetry will be judged by Tony Hoagland, who I …
Agent provocateur
From Teresa Nielsen Hayden, regarding the need for and quality of literary agents: “A bad agent is worse than no agent at all. A really bad agent is worse than not being a writer. Getting past the
Summarizing in three to five pages
Maud Newton continues the discussion of the problems with synopsis-based publishing. Her starting point is Robert McCrum’s article, “The Curse of the Synopsis,” which is both insightful and depressing. Yesterday in my writing group, we worked on the synopsis of one member’s nonfiction book. This member (J) has read at least a half-dozen books on …
The Thing in My Pants
A short bit of nonfiction by Maud Newton. Also see the Gothamist Interview with Maud. Funny and talented!
The morning routine
Confessions of a New Coffee Drinker: “I’m thinking about getting addicted to cigarettes! I’m going to buy the patch and work my way up! Now I see why all these things are so popular. I’m totally serious. This isn’t satire. I have a lot of catching up to do! I wonder where I would be …
Stranger than fiction
Larry Ellison has married a fiction writer, and apparently people are speculating that he has a hand in writing her books. Having worked for Mr. Ellison at Oracle, I can say that a lot of the documentation and marketing that came out of that company was fiction, and perhaps still is. He is very good …
Not enough hours in the day
Danny Gregory scolds us, albeit gently, for not finding time during the day to exercise our creative energies.
Gaming the system
A system error makes clear what everyone expected but couldn’t demonstrate: Writers and their friends anonymously give their own works high reviews on Amazon. “Close observers of Amazon.com noticed something peculiar this week: the company’s Canadian site had suddenly revealed the identities of thousands of people who had anonymously posted book reviews on the United …
My photocopying technique is unstoppable
“Then the world blossomed into a rainbow of possibility: I was approached by someone who said he enjoyed reading My New Fighting Technique Is Unstoppable. This flummoxed me because I had not given him a copy for Christmas as I did not know him. Was he perhaps on the review committee for the grant? No. …