August 30th, 2010
"The process of writing will always be trying to repair something that doesn't exist with tools you have to invent on the spot."
— George Saunders
Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene sent out every Monday from the Center for Unique House Pets 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.
We had a great response rate for our survey and wanted to thank you all for taking the time to fill it out. The free workshop drawing will be held soon, and the two winners will be notified by email and announced on our homepage by Wednesday of this week.
We're not sure if it's our swanky new online registration capabilities or the amazing lineup of fall workshops, but our classes are filling faster than ever. Spaces are still available in gems like Writing the Smart Page-Turner, Fiction I, Finding Your Book, Screenwriting II, Six Weeks Six Stories, Reading Like a Writer, and others, though many will sell out soon. To see the complete list of fall offerings (and to search for the ideal class for you), please go to http://www.grubstreet.org/index.php?id=402. The online registration process is very easy, but if you have questions or need help selecting a course, please call 617.695.0075 and any of our staff will be happy to assist you.
Cheers,
Whitney, Sonya, Chris, Chip, and Eve
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: Tuesday, August 31st, 7:00-10:00pm, Creating Complex Characters
Instructor: Lisa Borders
Through a combination of exercises and discussion, this seminar will show you how to create characters whose human contradictions make them vivid and memorable.
*SOLD OUT* $65.00/$50.00 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Tuesday, August 31st, 7:00-10:00pm, Art of the Scene
Instructor: Amy Marcott
This class will look at the way scenes work and strategies employed by various authors. We’ll focus on pacing, choreography, dialogue, tension, details, subtext, and more and practice these with in-class writing exercises designed to inspire and elevate your own writing.
*SOLD OUT* Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Tuesday, August 31st, 7:00-10:00pm, Crafting the Pitch
Instructor: Ethan Gilsdorf
In this seminar, you will how to write killer cover letters for submitting essays to literary magazines, non-fiction book proposals to agents, and articles to editors of magazines, newspapers and online publications.
*SOLD OUT* $65.00/$50.00 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Tuesday, August 31st, 7:00-10:00pm, Book Smarts: A Novel Approach to Marketing Your Work
Instructor: Marisa Pagano
Writers receive a lot of bad advice. They are told to submit widely and often, be persistent, and say yes to every opportunity. They are expected to trust their agent as they “shop” their work and believe wholeheartedly in their publisher as they position it. Writers make themselves available for tours and readings post-publication, but no one explains how to act once the public (and the publisher’s) interest winds down. Taught by a ten-year publishing veteran who has worked with the industry’s top talent, this course not only demystifies the process of getting your work into print but also recommends the right approach to a successful publication and career. Strategies discussed include targeting the best agent for your specific work, evaluating the publication options presented to you by your agent, optimizing the promotional plan devised by your publisher, and solidifying the success of your work post-publication. The seminar applies to commercial and noncommercial works in multiple genres and will primarily interest novelists, memoirists, poets, short-story writers, and nonfiction writers.
*3 SPOTS LEFT* $65.00/$50.00 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
LUNCHTIME WRITING WORKSHOP: Wednesday, September 9th, 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. Taught by Amanda Keil.
FREE, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, September 11th, 9:00am-4:00pm, The Terrible Familiar: Writing Literary Darkness Tastefully and Effectively
Instructor: Adrian Van Young
The one-day version of the popular weekend seminar! 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 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.
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, September 11th, 9:00am-4:00pm, Crash Course in Guerrilla Book Promotion
Instructor: Ethan Gilsdorf
If you're about to publish a book, you've probably got questions about how to best publicize and sell it -- as well as wondering what to expect. In this expanded version of his popular seminar, Ethan Gilsdorf reports on the lessons learned from his 50+ city budget book tour and six month guerrilla effort to promote his book Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms. Whether you have a big or small publisher, or chose self-publishing, there are both traditional and non-traditional methods to identify and reach your target audience and build an audience in various potential book-buying communities. We'll discuss setting up a promotional budget; creating a book tour (and not just at bookstores but other venues) and brainstorming special contests, promotions and giveaways unique to your book; establishing yourself as an expert and tying in your book to current events; using traditional media like print, TV and radio; and jumping on social media to develop a fan base and create buzz. We'll also over what your publisher should do and what you can do, and the problems that self-publishing creates. Come with questions.
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, September 11th, 9:00am-4:00pm, Plotting the Novel
Instructor: Michelle Hoover
Starting with Aristotle and working through three contemporary authors’ ideas about plotting, this course will offer several plot forms to help you rethink your novel’s structure and the vital connection between character and plot.
*Sorry, this class is sold out. Please email chip@grubstreet.org to be put on a waiting list.*$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Sunday, September 12th, 9:00am-4:00pm, The Time of Your Life
Instructor: Hillary Rettig
One of the keys to success in writing is using your time properly. That can be tough when you have a job, family, home or other major commitments – and when occupational hazards like procrastination and writer’s block rear their ugly heads. The good news is that all of these issues can be addressed once you’ve figured out the root causes of your time “issues” and applied some practical strategies to address them. (Hint: it’s not that you’re lazy or uncommitted—so stop blaming yourself! Another hint: it is not so difficult to create and stick to a time “budget” and schedule that will help you achieve your goals.) Author Hillary Rettig (The Lifelong Activist) will help you achieve these goals with two three-hour seminars offered on the same day: “Time Management” first, then a lunch break, then “Stop Procrastinating!” The best news of all is that once a writer actually starts solving his or her procrastination problems or blocks and starts managing his/her time better, change can happen amazingly fast!
*3 SPOTS LEFT* $115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Sunday, September 12th, 9:00am-4:00pm, 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.
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Sunday, September 12th, 9:00am-4:00pm, How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book
Instructor: Mary Carroll Moore
Whether you're a nonfiction author, memoirist, or novelist, and whether you have a book almost finished or merely a concept for one, this workshop will help you get to know your book--what it is about, how to structure it, how to finish it!
*SOLD OUT* $115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
Be sure to check out our website for a comprehensive view of upcoming events.
Grub Street wants to promote YOU! Please send events for consideration to whitney@grubstreet.org. Bonus points and undying gratitude for submitting your event info in the same format as the events below. 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 cannot 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.
--READING: Monday, August 30th, 8pm, Nerdnite featuring Ethan Gilsdorf and Azriel Ghadooshahy
Drink, eat, see nerdy talks, buy an autographed book! The Program: Talk 1: “Mind Control and Optogenetics: How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Virus” By Azriel Ghadooshahy. Talk 2: “Tolkien, D&D, RPGs, MMOs and me: One geek’s personal journey there and back again through fantasy and gaming subcultures.” by Grub instructor (and awesome geek) Ethan Gilsdorf.
$5 at the door,
Middlesex Lounge, 315 Mass Ave, in Central Square, Cambridge
--FELLOWSHIPS: Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Announces Four New Fellowships
The Solstice Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program of Pine Manor College is pleased to announce the addition of four new $1,000 fellowships for writers: The Dennis Lehane Fellowship for Fiction; the Michael Steinberg Fellowship for Creative Nonfiction; the Jacqueline Woodson Fellowship for a Young People’s Writer of African or Caribbean Descent; and the Sharon Olds Fellowship for Poetry. All fellowship awards are based on the quality of a writing sample. Fellowship applications are due October 15, 2010 (not a postmark date; materials must be received in our offices before or on October 15). Fellowship applicants are strongly encouraged to apply early. Notification letters will be mailed to winners only on November 1, 2010. Awards must be applied toward the winter residency/spring semester directly following acceptance; fellowships cannot be deferred or applied toward a summer residency/fall semester start. Check out their site for more info: http://www.pmc.edu/mfa
--Call for submissions from people who love objects
Life with Objects is looking for kick-ass 500-word flash pieces highlighting the relationships to objects in our lives. Check out http://www.lifewithobjects.com for submission guidelines and an object list. Stories published weekly.
--READING: Tuesday, September 7, 7pm, Daphne Kalotay reads from Russian Winter
Brookline author, B.U. alum and Grub friend Daphne Kalotay (Calamity and Other Stories) returns to the Booksmith for the launch of her first novel. A rumination on art and beauty under oppression, Russian Winter tells the tale of a former Bolshoi ballerina who flees to Boston but is followed by her past.
FREE, Brookline Booksmith.
Welcome to the end of the e-mail, where like playing hopscotch on the highway, we offer you the chance to win a prize. How many Shakespearian heroines disguise themselves as men? Email your answer and your postal address to whitney@grubstreet.org. First correct respondent wins a J.P. Licks gift card.
Last week's answer: According to Jonathan Swift, most Roman Catholic babies are born nine months after lent, according to the narrator in Swift’s A Modest Proposal. Winner: Jane Geisler.