February 8th, 2010
“As was his language, so was his life."
— Seneca, Roman dramatist, philosopher, & politician (5 BC - 65 AD)
Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene sent out every Monday from the underutilized sharpshooting range 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.
Open to all members and Grub Street students past and present: submit a piece of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry, 600 words or less, related to the theme of “blue.” What do we mean by “blue”? You tell us! We’ll pick two winners, who will read their submission at the "Grub Gone. . . Blue" event on Friday, March 12th. (To enter, you must be willing to read your work aloud.) Winners will also receive — wait for it — a free new membership or membership renewal. Wow! Send your submissions to chip@grubstreet.org. The deadline for submissions is Friday, February 26. Winners will be announced in the March 9th Rag. Happy writing!
Putting together the Department of Congratulations has started to feel almost like a full-time job, because there's so much great news pouring into our inboxes. First up, a Muse-related congrats. Mitchell Waters, an agent who has participated in our Manuscript Mart for four years now, wrote to tell us that he sold the novel Evenfall by Liz Michalski to Jackie Cantor at Berkley. Mitchell says: "The novel was on submission for less than a week. A few editors read it the first night and loved it, though Jackie was able to move fastest and had an offer in within two days. I met Liz two Muses ago. She was one of my one-on-one sessions and had only written a little bit of the novel at that point." We say, WOW! We followed up with Liz to congratulate her, and she said, "When writers ask me how I sold my first book, I tell them about Grub’s Muse and the Marketplace. The conference taught me how to refine my query letter and hone my plot. Even better, it introduced me to my agent, who sold my novel twenty-four hours after sending it out. It was the most valuable money I have ever spent." Congratulations to Liz and Mitchell. Next, Grubbie Carrie Kei Heim Binas, who's currently enrolled in our "Monsters and Mayhem" workshop, will have a "drabble" (100-word short fiction piece), Walking on Eggshells, published in the upcoming Spring 2010 edition of Boston Literary Magazine (http://www.bostonliterarymagazine.com/). Grubbie Monica Hileman let us know that her book, It's All in the Music, has been selected as one of ten finalists for the Bakeless Literary Prize in Fiction, which is administered through the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. Ron MacLean, fearless Master Fiction instructor and captain of the good ship Free Press, has a new short story out in an online mag, The Drunken Boat. Follow the link to see his smiling face, then click through to "The Night Dentist": http://www.drunkenboat.com/db11/02fic/maclean/index.php. Friend of Grub Laura Van Den Bergh's What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us is in illustrious company as a "notable book" selection in The Story Prize, where it joins the work of Robert Boswell, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Louise Erdrich, to name a few. Grubbie Stephen Hale's story "The Art of Alkimia" about a Barcelona dining experience was published in Clever Magazine (www.clevermag.com). Next, poetry instructor Ben Berman has proven he's a man of many talents with the following awards and publications: a Somerville Arts Council grant, an essay published in South Loop Review, and another piece that started as an essay in Michelle Seaton's 6 Weeks, 6 Essays class (but then turned into a prose poem-sequence) coming out in the Drunken Boat. Longtime Grubbie Varsha Kukafka has a poem and a short-short in the current issues of Salamander and AGNI Online. Sudha Menon wrote us from her new home in India to tell us that publishihg house Fortytwo Bookz Galaxy commisioned her to write a non-fiction book about inspiring Indian women who have made a difference with their work. The book is largely based on interviews with a selection of women CEOs, who are still a miniscule part of the corporate landscape in India. The book is scheduled for a likely launch in July 2010. Screenwriting student and Grubbie Jeff Travers's screenplay, "Identity Theft," a which he started writing in one of Jami Brandli's workshops, recently won the MovieScript Contest/Golden Brad Awards, in the comedy category. After seeing a few other Grubbies listed as winners in the Soul-Making Contest, Grubbie Mary Gordon wrote to tell us that she was delighted to receive notice of honorable mention in the contest for her short story, "The Meal." And last but not least, Randy Susan Meyers' new novel just keeps getting great reviews: this week it was picked by The L.A. Times as a "Knock-out Debut" http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-caw-dark-passages7-2010feb07,0,2188155.story. Congratulations to all you talented writers--keep on sending in the good news!
Cheers,
Whitney, Sonya, Chris, Chip and Alexis
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.
EDITORIAL: Weekend of Manuscript Consultations: Saturday, February 13th, between 10am-3pm
Throughout this Saturday, various members of our creative writing faculty will be meeting individually for thirty minutes with writers who have submitted 25 pages of their work ahead of time. See all details, including the list of consultants, here: http://www.grubstreet.org/index.php?id=172.
*Deadline for submissions has passed.*
$140, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
LUNCHTIME WRITING WORKSHOP: Tuesday, February 23rd, 12:30 PM - 1:15 PM, Brown Bag Lunch Series
Do you work downtown and want to fit some writing into your day? Or do you have a schedule that gives you free afternoons instead of evenings? 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 the inimitable Mike Marano. Best of all, you’ll leave lunch with some new ideas to ponder for the rest of your day, and beyond. To reserve a spot, email sonya@grubstreet.org or call 617.695.0075.
FREE, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA
TEEN WRITING: Saturday, February 27th, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM, YAWP (Young Adult Writers Program)
Are you – or do you know – a teen who likes to write poems, lyrics, stories, novels or screenplays? Come to YAWP, a free monthly teen writing workshop for Boston-area teens 12-17. YAWP provides writing exercises in small groups, feedback from working writers, pizza and inspiration. You provide the energy to write, share your work, and try new things. This month, we’re offering two YAWP sessions: one from 10 AM to 12 PM for Freshmen and Sophomores, and a second from 1 PM to 3 PM for Juniors and Seniors. Please sign up in advance by emailing info@grubstreet.org or calling Chip Cheek at 617.695.0075. See website to sign up for specific groups such as poetry, screenwriting, fiction, graphic novel, songwriting, etc.
FREE, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
PARTY: Friday, March 12th, 7:30 PM, Grub Gone. . . Blue
The “Grub Gone…” series is back! This time, join visiting author Diana Joseph and host Steve Almond for a night of Grub authors, instructors and students reading work from their “blue” periods. What does that mean? Come and find out. In between and after the readings, there will be music, drinks, food and maybe even some dancing. A great way to reconnect with old Grubbie friends or make new ones. Readings begin at 8:30. Limited to 200; tickets sell out quickly! Call 617.695.0075 to buy. With special thanks to our beer sponsor, Boston Beer Company.
In Advance: $8/$5 members; at the Door: $10/$7 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
WEEKEND SEMINAR: Saturday, March 13th, and Saturday, March 20th, 9-4pm each day, The Art of Research: Write What You Want to Know
Instructor: Adam Stumacher
Description: Sooner or later, most writers find ourselves pulled to explore characters and settings outside our own experiences, whether we are bringing to life a different time period, inhabiting characters with different backgrounds from our own, or simply imagining the life inside closed doors we pass on the street. Over the course of two subsequent Saturday classes, this weekend workshop will give you the essential skill needed to make this fictional leap a rich and persuasive one: the art of research. The first week, participants will bring along a novel or short story that calls for further research, and we will discuss strategies and formulate a detailed research plan. During the intervening week, you will gather sources, and in the second meeting, you will bring your sources to class and we will delve through them together. By the end of the seminar, we will be ready to reinvent the adage: don’t just write what you know; write what you want to know. ***Please note that this class will meet again on Saturday, March 20th.
$220/$195 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
WEEKEND SEMINAR: Saturday & Sunday, March 13th - 14th, 9am - 4pm, The Hook and the Book
Instructor: Sorche Fairbank
Most literary agents receive at least one hundred query letters each week, yet respond positively to a very select few - generally less than two percent, and decisions on writing samples are often made within the first five pages. Would yours make the cut? Do you know the secrets to writing a winning query? Join agent Sorche Elizabeth Fairbank of Fairbank Literary Representation for a weekend of intensive query and writing critique, lessons on the basics of a powerful synopsis, help on the first five pages, review of a laundry list of Dos and Don’ts, and group and one-on-one analysis of your submission package.
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Please prepare and email to sonya@grubstreet.org no later than 5pm on Tuesday, March 9th, a query letter of no more than 400 words, and the first five pages of your manuscript (double spaced, single sided, 12pt font, pages numbered) for the instructor, and bring four copies of the query and the first five pages to the first class for group review. Limited to 12 students.
**
Important: On Day One, bring four copies of your query letter of no more than 400 words. Also bring four copies of the first five pages of your manuscript (double spaced, single sided, 12pt font, pages numbered). Note: you will be reworking your query and first five pages between classes.
**
For Day Two: Please bring thirteen copies of your reworked query and first five pages. If the class size is smaller than 12, you will be notified on the correct number of copies.
$220/$195 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
WEEKEND SEMINAR: Saturday & Sunday, March 13th - 14th, 9am - 4pm, How To Write A Lot
Instructor: Hillary Rettig
This weekend version of one of our most popular new courses asks: why do some writers seem to write effortlessly, turning out page after page, chapter after chapter, and book after book, while so many others
struggle over every word? Answer: the difference often comes down to how one relates to one's work. If you feel a lot of fear and ambivalence when you write, or set too-high expectations for productivity or quality, then writing will probably be hard. But if you can avoid those traps, it becomes easier and even a joy. Through workshops and exercises, this weekend workshop will teach you strategies to do just that. We'll begin by
identifying the forces that create procrastination and blocks, including our own fears, damaging societal messages, and the pernicious habits of perfectionism and negativity. Then we'll work on solutions, including "compassionate objectivity," writing without hesitation, writing through "the wall," and using timers and other tools.
$220/$195 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
WEEKEND SEMINAR: Saturday, March 13th, 9am - 4pm, Writing the Illness Narrative
Instructor: Grace Talusan and Nancy Nichols
The story of an illness often follows a traditional narrative arc. There’s a crisis, a journey or quest, setbacks, and triumphs. Exploring the relationship of the body and mind, especially through the lens of disease, with candor and artfulness is an opportunity to represent a central human experience. Whether you want to write about your own experience with illness, physical or mental, or from the perspective as a witness or caregiver, this one day class will prepare you to write medically-themed personal essays. While this class will focus on narrative nonfiction, fiction writers and poets can also benefit from discussions about what works in writing about health and the body. Through a combination of mini-lectures, discussions of published essays, writing exercises, small group feedback sessions, and a session on publishing plus a list of medically-themed publications, students will leave with many resources to further the writing of their illness narratives. Although not required, you are invited to bring in 3 double spaced pages (maximum) of a draft illness narrative with enough copies for the class. This class will be team-taught by Grace Talusan (published in Best American Medical Writing 2009) and Nancy Nichols (author of Lake Effect).
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
WEEKEND SEMINAR: Sunday, March 14th, 9am - 4pm, Reality Hunger
Instructor: David Shields
Seattle-based author David Shields, one of the most prominent (and sometimes controversial) voices in the world of non-fiction, will visit Grub Street for one day only to lead this seminar. David says: “We'll look at several theoretical essays and several personal essays as a way to get at such immemorial questions as: What is art? What is the relation of the artist to his or her material? What is the relation between 'fiction' and 'nonfiction'? What's public, what's private? What's remembered? What's imagined? What's 'true'? What's 'real'? Answers provided at the end of the day.”
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
WEEKEND SEMINAR: Sunday, March 14th, 9am - 4pm, Writing for Video Games
Instructor: Chris Zirpoli
A day-long version of the sold-out seminar from the summer term. Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a writer for games? Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a game designer? In this workshop, we will pull aside the veil that seems to hover around the video game industry and discuss the day-to-day role of a wordsmith when it comes to this fully interactive medium. See how a game designer – who is part scriptwriter, part story-teller, part marketing guru and tech mogul – uses such vehicles as cinematics, in-game cut-scenes, and missions not only to create a framework and backdrop for the mechanics that define the interactivity of the products, but to create a deeper and lasting gameplay experience.
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
WEEKEND SEMINAR: Sunday, March 14th, 9am - 4pm, Unruly Fictions
Instructor: Tim Horvath
All successful fiction is somewhat unruly. Any story that sticks its talons into our brains, gets under our skins, making us ponder or sending us sprawling, simply cannot be playing it entirely safe, “hugging the shore,” to use John Updike's expression. In any story with power, something is alive, mysterious, wild; the surface might be deceptively calm, but beneath is an undertow lurking and making its way toward us. In this class, we'll look in particular at works that have been dubbed "experimental," flagrantly challenging the conventions of narrative order and logic, cause and effect, plot and characterization, time and space. In several cases, they don't even look like stories. By trying out the exercises in this class, you will stretch yourself and explore some unconventional narrative modes. But this class is by no means geared exclusively toward those who already find themselves drawn to the literary avantgarde. The guiding assumption is that all writers can benefit from the ways in which such work galvanizes our minds and our pens, uncovering latent potential in whatever work we are already doing. By trying out everything from stream of consciousness to Oulipean games, montage to typology, you'll get fresh vantage points on your characters and storylines already in progress, whether in your mind or on the page. Optional: Bring in a draft of something in progress to which you can apply some of the techniques we'll cover.
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
Be sure to check out our events calendar for a comprehensive view of upcoming events.
--CONVERSATION: Wednesday, February 17th, 6:30 p.m., Steven Pinker and Rebecca Goldstein, Mind-Body Problems: A Conversation About Science, Fiction and God
Steven Pinker is Harvard College Professor and Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. Pinker is one of the world's leading authorities on language and the mind, and the author of seven books, including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, Words and Rules, The Blank Slate, and The Stuff of Thought. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is a philosopher, scholar, and award-winning novelist. Her latest novel is 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction. Her books include the novels The Mind-Body Problem, Properties of Light, and Mazel, and nonfiction studies of Kurt Gödel and Baruch Spinoza. A recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1996, Goldstein has also received Guggenheim and Radcliffe fellowships and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
FREE, Thompson Room, Harvard Center for the Humanities, Barker Center, 12 Quincy St., Cambridge.
--PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: The Writer’s Group
Writers: achieve your writing dreams and goals through the Writer’s Group, an innovative program that blends the personal and professional development writers need to succeed. Overcome writing, publishing and personal blocks. Address the issues that prevent you from writing what you want or as often as you want. Discover ways to develop your ideas, your concentration and your momentum. Learn to calm your fears and strengthen your creative voice. Adopt effective ways to quiet that nagging inner critic. Learn to handle criticism and rejection. Exercises tailored to writers’ needs as well as group discussions help free you from unproductive beliefs that inhibit your creative expression. Learn to establish reasonable expectations about the creative process and the publishing world. All writers are welcome: published and unpublished, all professions and genres. Whether you are working on a book, a story, an essay, fiction, or non-fiction; if you want to be writing, but you’re not, or you are having a hard time with the process, than the Writer’s Group will teach you to write from a position of health, mindfulness, and curiosity. The Writer’s Group is an ongoing group that meets every other Tuesday night from 8-9:30PM. For more information or to arrange an informational interview, call Marcia Weiss at 617.868.0660 or e-mail info@successfulmuse.com with “Writer’s Group” in the subject line. Individual coaching and therapy for writers available as well. About Marcia Weiss Psychotherapist and writer Marcia Weiss has been in private practice since 1981. She specializes in helping writers succeed. In 2008 she created the Successful Muse (www.successfulmuse.com) to give voice to her approach to working with writers and to publicize her workshops and courses.
--RETREAT: Writing Retreat Offers Special Rate to Grub Street Community
Star Mountain Farm (aka Sitio Serra da Estrela), a retreat for writers and artists high in the coastal mountains between Rio and Sao Paulo which hosted several Grub Street staff a few years ago, has just reopened after a complete renovation and is offering Grub Street members 25% off its normal rates until the end of May. Charles Barclay, a veteran print journalist who runs the retreat, says: "Your winter weather happens to coincide with some of our loveliest conditions so we thought some Grub Streeters might want a break. Perhaps I am a little biased but I think Star Mountain Farm is the perfect place to unblock writing. It is only a night flight away from Boston and yet it is truly another world — beautiful, tranquil and utterly private. The seclusion and the unobtrusive hospitality are conducive to creativity, and there are lots of inspiring spots to work on the property." Charles has three rooms currently available, each with lovely mountain or garden views. Guests also have the use of the living room, library and TV room as well as their choice of numerous places, indoor and out, for working without interruption. The normal rate per week including all meals, maid service and laundry is US$500 but the Grub Street offer reduces this to $375. For more information, email Charles Barclay at cnbarclay@mac.com.
Welcome to the end of the e-mail, where, like writing our memoirs one Facebook status update at a time, we offer you the chance to win a prize. Nobody got this right last week, so we're trying one more time: Chuck Palahniuk's books often have really iconic and memorable covers. How many different covers has his novel Fight Club had?
Last week's quiz answer: Someone guessed ther were forty-four Fight Club covers. He's a great guy, but his answer wasn't correct.