May 6th, 2010

Grub Street News

Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene sent out every Monday (except when it goes out on Thursday after the Muse) from the bacteria-free pool party 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.

All Mused Up!

What a weekend! Thank you so much to the 500+ participants, 100+ presenters, and the volunteers, donors and sponsors who made our Muse and the Marketplace weekend a huge success. And a special thanks, of course, to Chuck Palahniuk, for his inspiring and heartfelt speech. It is so wonderful to see a writer be so honest and open at the podium--it makes all of us want to write our best stuff! We're enjoying reading your feedback forms, emails, tweets and blog postings, and especially like Randy Susan Meyers' at http://www.randysusanmeyers.com/blog/ and Carrie Kei Heim Binas' at http://heimbinasfiction.blogspot.com/2010/05/muse-and-marketplace.html. John Perich wrote a great summary of Chuck's keynote at http://www.periscopedepth.com/2010/05/04/chuck-palahniuk/, and volunteer Nayiri Krikorian summarized her weekend of inspiration at http://10thirty.wordpress.com. If you attended the digital panel "Follow Me, Friend Me, Tweet Me, Trend Me -- But Please Read Me!" on Sunday (or if you're just interested in utilizing social media), check out the blog that presenters Michael Borum and Crystal King started: http://authorsgodigital.posterous.com/. And of course, if you're on Twitter yourself, just search for #Muse10 to read what others have been tweeting about the Muse. If you come across any other blog postings, tweets or articles you'd like us to link to, send them along! Thanks again for making the Muse weekend a pure joy from beginning to end. Stay tuned for more post-Muse news!

Thank you to our amazing volunteers

There's no way the Muse could have happened without the help from the following fantastic volunteers, so thank you thank you thank you to: Morgan Bentz, Sally Bunch, Joanne Carota, James Charlesworth, Cat Craft, Maria D'Alessandro, Aaron Devine, Kayla Dos Santos, Janice Dvorak, Christen Enos, Erica Ferdinandi, Kim Freeman, Kris Frieswick, Allison Grinberg Funes, Carina Hernandez, Drew Jameson, Althea Jones, Denny Kinlaw, Nayiri Krikorian, Sarah Leech-Black, Kathleen McKenna, Mary Ellen Murray, Aniko Nagy, Mark O'Sullivan, Jen Olsen, Nate Poole, Robin Regensberg, Robert Rice, Katherine Rocheleau, Matt Salesses, Jenn Scheck-Kahn, Michelle Seaton, Emma Sykora, Cam Terwilliger, Stephanie Thomas, Lara JK Wilson. You guys are our Muses!

And the winners are. . .

We promised that two people would be picked at random from our grand pile of Muse evaluations to win "something." Well, the lucky winners are Jay Schlickman and Dr. Jeanine Pfeiffer! Jay and Jeanine can pick their "something": a free Grub seminar, or a free one-year membership. Congratulations to both of you.

Donate to Grub Street's Young Adult Writers' Program (YAWP)

The YAWP Teen Writing Fellowship is an intensive 3-week fellowship for highschoolers interested in creative writing and the publishing world. Each year, over one hundred teens from all over the city apply to be part of the program. Lots of them come from schools that have had their arts funding cut or don’t offer creative writing courses. We accept the eighteen most talented and deserving teens, and every day for two weeks, they come to Grub and work on fiction and poetry, take field trips, meet authors and learn about the publishing industry. Not only is this program free for the teens, we actually PAY them a stipend for their time spent as working writers. Lots of the kids tell us that they wouldn’t be able to be in a program like ours if it didn’t pay, because they need the income they get from their summer jobs. The good news: This program, which will run for the thir year in a row this summer, is absolutely wonderful and transforms twenty-four teens into fledgling authors. The bad news: Due to the ongoing economic downturn, Grub Street needs to raise an additional $10,000 this year to hold the program. Last year, we did it through several small grants and donations from people just like YOU. Please, help us keep this program going this year too! Please consider making a donation today at http://www.grubstreet.org/index.php?id=197. Thank you so much!

Memoir Project Writers Inspire at the BPL

Thank you to the wonderful seniors from Mission Hill, Jamaica Plain and Hyde Park who read from their beautifully crafted and moving essays yesterday in the large auditorium the Boston Public Library. We are proud of you and look forward to reading the full texts of your work in Volume III of our anthology series, due out by Christmas 2010. Special thanks to Michelle Seaton for hosting and everyone at the City of Boston Elderly Commission for their support of this important project.

Cheers,
Whitney, Sonya, Chris, Chip and Alexis

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.

LUNCHTIME WRITING WORKSHOP: Wednesday, May 5th, 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. For 45 minutes, you’ll meet fellow writers and get your creative juices flowing with some cool writing exercises. Best of all, you’ll leave lunch with some new ideas to ponder for the rest of your day, and beyond. No need to reserve a spot; just come to 160 Boylston Street, 4th Floor. Led by the talented and fierce Tom Meek.
FREE, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.

SATURDAY MORNING SERIAL: Saturday, May 8th, 10-noon, Sales Boot Camp For Authors
Learn 10 tips to promote, set up events and sell your book,even if you're not a salesperson.  Also learn to connect with buyers and how to get reorders.  Most of learn how to be comfortable with cold calls and turn them into hot book sales.  Janet Spurr has been in sales for over 25 years and the author of Beach Chair Diaries, Summer Tales from Maine to Maui.  She has taught at Publisher's University, National Writers Union and sold over 2700 copies of her book.  www.beachchairdiaries.com 
FREE, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.

ONE-DAY WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, May 15th, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Mapping the Memoir
Instructor: Ethan Gilsdorf
This jam-packed, expanded one-day version of the popular one-night seminar will help writers who are beginning to write a memoir (or want to write a memoir) find a shape and form for their story. We will begin by defining what makes a good memoir. Your idea might be to plumb the depths of your childhood, explore your coming of age or family dynamic, or tell the story of a trauma. Or, if your life alone seems not all that memorable, your "story" might be a book-length "not all me" memoir (or series of connected essays) that combines the personal with travel, pop culture, some quirky interest, passion or quest. We will discuss how to use and adapt your life experiences in memoir, and examine some common structures for telling the story, with the goal of ultimately helping you find the heart of what story to tell. In class exercises will help you "map" your memoir's scope and deal with time and flashback. We will also help you master scene vs. exposition, and discuss dilemmas of "truth" and memory. In terms of marketplace, we'll also look at how to establish your voice and expertise, via blogging and publishing articles, and create a game plan where shorter pieces may lead to a full-fledged book. Come to class with 15 copies of "an elevator pitch" for your potential or existing memoir (compelling title and 150 word blurb that summarizes and encapsulates your work), a list of five memoirs that are similar to yours; and one copy of the memoir you've written (could a single chapter or essay, or an entire manuscript) to refer to as we discuss and do exercises.
*3 SPOTS LEFT* $115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.

ONE-DAY WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, May 15th, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Cinefiction: Learning Fiction From Film
Instructor: Tim Horvath
According to the Internet Movie Database, twenty-thousand films have been derived from novels. Clearly, the written word stirs filmmakers’ imaginations, but how can fiction writers also gain from a scrutiny of the medium of film? We’ll look at stories and books that have been adapted to the screen, from Brokeback Mountain and The Ice Storm to Slumdog Millionaire, and discuss what has been gained and lost. Then, we’ll look at effective cinematic examples of character and plot and consider how techniques such as point of view shots, subjective shots, montage, jump cuts, close-ups, establishing shots, dissolves, cutaways, and so forth might be pulled from the large screen onto the page.
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.

ONE-DAY WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, May 15th, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Our Lives in the Middle Ages
Instructor: Judah Leblang
This is a workshop for writers of a certain (middle) age, according to their own definition. Based partly on James Atlas’ book My Life in the Middle Ages, and partly on the instructor’s own experience in facing ‘50’ and beyond, this session will explore how we can use the universal themes of aging—letting go, dealing with physical illness, the earning of hard-earned wisdom, and laughing at our own foibles—as the raw material for personal essays, memoir vignettes, radio commentaries, etc. In this day-long session, we will examine the work of writers such as Nora Ephron, David Sedaris and others, and then write on a series of prompts, which touch on themes of growing older and (hopefully) wiser. We will share ideas to strengthen and further develop these drafts. Finally, we’ll share ideas about getting our work ‘out there’ through publication in various media, including literary journals, newspapers, and on-line publications.
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, May 15 - Sunday, May 16th, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM each day, The Terrible Familiar: Writing Literary Darkness Tastefully and Effectively
Instructor: Adrian Van Young
Writing a dark domestic drama but can’t quite make the conflict pop? Penning a tale of the supernatural that wants to be taken seriously? Inhabiting a villain or scoundrel who refuses to be plausible? This weekend workshop is geared towards writing from the dark side without the melodrama or the sometimes fatal constriction of genre. By looking at the dark successes of some of our best writers, and through lively in-class exercises in everything from non-linear narrative structure to writing first-person unreliability, you will become a seasoned hand in writing violence, both physical and emotional, creating nuanced, relatable villains, mastering the finer points of dark and uncanny description, and making the dark hopes and desires of your characters seethe upon the page, among other strange things not dreamt of in our philosophy.
$220/$195 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.

ONE-DAY WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Sunday, May 16th, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Jumpstart Your Writing
Instructor: Grace Talusan
This one-day weekend version of one of our most popular courses has a very clear mission: spend the day writing. Through a series of fun directed writing exercises, we will explore the terrain of fiction and some non-fiction: mining for material, constructing characters and settings, shaping vivid dialogue, understanding point of view, and finding your voice. We will discuss the process of writing and the strengths and weaknesses of the work we produce in class. We will read and discuss published stories in regards to craft, then write exercises inspired by the stories. A supportive and generative experience for both new and practicing writers. Limited to 15 students.
*FOUR SPOTS LEFT* $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.

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. Please note that we do the best we can to evaluate requests, and do privilege requests from members, but can not be held responsible for the quality of these events and programs or the legitimacy of contests. We expect that readers will do their own due diligence before sending their work or their money to any individual or organization.

--BENEFIT: Tuesday, May 18th, 6:30pm, 826 Boston's Spring Benefit
Please join featured authors Charles Coe, Andre Dubus III, Julian Houston, Sue Miller, and special guest Mayor Thomas Menino as they celebrate Boston’s newest authors: the students of Greater Egleston High School, who are releasing a full-color anthology of their original photography and writing:We Turned Back to See Where We Came From. There will be live music, food, drink, and a sweeping view of the city and harbor. The event is free and open to the public. Donations are suggested to support 826 Boston’s free writing and tutoring programs for students ages 6 to 18. Guests are encouraged to RSVP to ryan@826boston.org / tel: 617-442-5400.
Donation levels vary, WilmerHale’s 26th floor suite, 60 State Street, Boston, MA.

--WORKSHOP: May 31st, 9am, The Craft and Business of Cinematic Storytelling: A Day-long Workshop for Writers & Producers (and those who want to be)
Topics to be covered: Elements of great screen stories & why the world needs them; Creating rich, intriguing & compelling characters; Crafting haunting moments on the screen; The best way to introduce a character to the audience; Endings that send satisfy & delight viewers; The current commercial landscape in Hollywood; How to get started as a screenwriter or producer; Ethics & societal meaning of the movies. Space is limited to 30 participants, so register soon!  Led by Barbara Nicolosi and Charles Carner.   Barbara Nicolosi is a screenwriter and the founding director of the acclaimed Act One program in Hollywood.  She is also an Adjunct Professor of Cinema at Pepperdine University and lectures internationally on cinema and screenwriting.  She is the co-writer of the 2011 Lionsgate/MGM release Mary, Mother of the Christ.  Charles Carner works in Hollywood as a writer, director and producer for both film and television.  He has written over 50 screenplays and directed 12 of his projects for some of Hollywood's top companies, including the Lionsgate 2008 release Witless Protection. More info at http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/QZLLCUXQWBGRBDATDISI/cinematicstorytelling.
$125/person Students (w/ID): $100. Gordon College, 225 Grapevine Rd., Wenham, MA

--SCREENWRITING: September 29th - October 2nd, Robert McKee Story Seminar, hosted by the Loft
Support our friends at the Loft and learn about screenwriting from the best! For over 25 years, Robert McKee's Story Seminar has propelled and inspired over 50,000 screenwriters, filmmakers, TV writers, novelists, industry executives, actors, producers, directors, playwrights, advertising executives, journalists, attorneys and politicians--anyone who works with a narrative story. Running through four intense days (Wed, Sep 29 - Sat, Oct 2, 2010), Robert McKee's course teaches the principles involved in the art and craft of screenwriting and story design, and proves the essence of good story is unchanging and universal. Whether on the big screen, on television, in novels, on stage and in ALL creative work, everything works in the shadow of classic story design. Robert McKee's seminar sells out worldwide and actors, writers and directors often travel to attend it. There are only 320 seats available for this special event and The Loft expects it to sell out very quickly. Don't miss your chance to learn from one of the masters of storytelling! Register now: http://www.loft.org/mckee-at-the-loft.

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