February 14th, 2011
"Life can't ever really defeat a writer who is in love with writing, for life itself is a writer's lover until death -- fascinating, cruel, lavish, warm, cold, treacherous, constant."
—Edna Ferber
Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene sent out every Monday from the surprisingly un-flower-bedecked office at Grub Street's World Headquarters (c'mon, longtime significant others, where's the love?!) As always, if you are receiving this e-mail in horror, please advance to the bottom of the page to unsubscribe yourself.
Grub Street Executive Director Eve Bridburg was chosen by Boston Magazine this month as one of Boston's 50 Most Powerful Women. Eve appears alongside other Boston powerhouses like Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, CEO of Greater Boston Food Bank Catherine D'Amato, Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust and Director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Anne Hawley. We are thrilled that Boston Magazine has recognized Eve--and through her, writing and the literary arts--as a force to be reckoned with in our city. Congratulations, Eve!
You may have noticed something different last Thursday. A nicer smell in the air. Pavement with slightly less ice on it. Your hair a bit longer and more lustrous. Well, we aren't sure that we can attribute it all to the launch of Grub Street's new blog, but we can try! The Grub Street Daily is indeed live as of last week, and we hope you'll choose your favorite way of connecting to stay up all all that's Grubby and writerly: subscribe to it, add it to your favorite RSS reader now, or just follow it on Twitter (@GrubWriters).
We had a late addition to our winter schedule: the fantastic Blueprint Your Book course, which begins this Thursday and still has some spaces available in it. It's the perfect class for anyone who has a great book idea, and needs a plan for how to get the f*#@er written. Check out the description and sign up online before it's too late!
Today, Salon.com revealed the winner of their first-ever Good Sex Awards: a very hot scene from James Hyne's beautiful book Next. All of the Top Ten picks were worth reading, and made us realize how good sex can be when it's written by an author who knows what they're doing. How good sex writing can be, we mean. Check out Salon's full list, and if you're inspired to write some sexy scenes of your own, check out the great seminar coming up at Grub, "How to Write H-O-T Sex Scenes Without Even Blushing!" It's led by Steve Almond, so it's pretty much guaranteed to be fun, hilarious and informative.
Did you know that it costs Grub Street over $100,000 to put on our annual literary conference, The Muse and the Marketplace? Each year, our fantastic sponsors help underwrite the cost of the event, and get the opportunity to advertise their businesses while supporting a great non-profit. If you own your own business or work somewhere that would benefit from advertising to an active arts audience of over 10,000 people, sponsoring the Muse might be right for you! Check out the sponsorship packages online, and email whitney@grubstreet.org for more details. Benefits of sponsorship include acknowledgement on all promotional materials, tickets to the conference, invitations to special VIP parties with visiting authors and agents, and much more.
Cheers,
Whitney, Sonya, Chris, Chip, and Eve
The P.S.: The Grub Street office will be closed next Monday (President's Day), but if you are taking a Monday class, it may still be going on. Please check with your instructor to find out.
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.
VOLUNTEER MEETING : Tuesday, February 15th, 5pm, Fundraiser Planning Meeting
Reminder: Many of you have signed up to attend our first planning meeting for our annual fall fundraiser. This year, we're shaking things up and changing the event, so we need a lot of volunteers, and a lot of energy and enthusiasm! Learn more at the planning meeting, and find out how you can get involved. No need to RSVP--just come!
$305.00/$280.00 members, $115.00/$95.00 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
SIX-WEEK WORKSHOP: 6 Thursdays, 6:30pm-9:30pm, beginning February 17th, Blueprint Your Book
Intelligent planning is not the enemy of creative genius! That is the most important thing to know. In this 6-week class, writers will learn the key concepts of scene, theme, series, and order, while designing the blueprint for their book idea. We will also address the related concepts of revision, voice, links, segmentation and unity. By the end of the session you will have entered your material in a new way, and become aware of how your genuine interests and motives can assist you in developing a project that is as fun and enlivening to work on as it is to read!
The Book Architecture Method has helped New York Times-bestselling authors of fiction and non-fiction alike “tackle my book, not just tinker with it.” When completed sequentially this method can greatly enhance the quality of your finished product and the speed of its creation. The class is open to all writers of fiction and narrative non-fiction, and writers do not need to have one word of their manuscript written. But you’re going to have to start some time!
Instructor: Stuart Horwitz
$305.00/$280.00 members, $115.00/$95.00 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
TEEN WRITING: Saturday, February 26th, 10am - 12pm or 1pm - 3pm, Young Adult Writers Program (YAWP)
Do you like to write poems, lyrics, stories, novels or screenplays? Join Grub Street’s Young Adult Writers Program (YAWP), a FREE creative writing workshop for Boston-area high schoolers. Our students, age 13-18, come from a wide variety of schools in the Boston area, and enjoy cool writing exercises, mingling with fellow young writers, snacks, and an optional open mic. After four great years YAWP has already been recognized by the Boston Globe as Boston's hub for writing teenagers.
Morning and afternoon sessions focus on fiction and poetry. View all the sessions and reserve your FREE space in the class of your choice.
EDITORIAL HELP: Saturday, March 5th, 10:00am-3:00pm, Weekend of Manuscript Consultations
Looking to polish your work before an agent sees it at The Muse and the Marketplace? Want to get immediate, one-on-one feedback from a Grub instructor? 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. The 25-page writing sample -- usually long enough to include a complete short story, a novel chapter, a substantive personal essay, a short play, a series of poems, or a screenplay excerpt -- is often needed when applying to MFA programs, teaching positions, fellowships, residencies, etc. The session includes yummy coffee and doughnuts. All consultations will take place on Saturday, March 5th, 2011, between 10am-3pm. Deadline for submissions is 12:00pm on Thursday, February 17th. See all details here.
$140.00, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 7th, 6:30-9:30pm, Crafting the Pitch
In this seminar, you will learn 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. We'll look at the basic elements of a pitch, or "query," letter, explain what editors look for, talk about ways to tailor pitches to specific publications, and examine real pitch letters that actually worked. We'll also look at top mistakes that writers make and show how to leverage your background and expertise to best present yourself (even if you don't have much publishing experience). Bring 15 copies of a draft of any pitch letter for a non-fiction project you are currently working on (optional), and we'll critique as many of them as we can.
Instructor: Ethan Gilsdorf
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 7th, 6:30-9:30pm, You’ve Decided to Self-Publish: What Now?
So, you’ve decided to self-publish? Congratulations! But...what now? With an infinite number of options for how to proceed, this choice is difficult. It’s also highly strategic, with the potential to shape your writing career. This seminar will give you the tools to self-publish in a way that will help you meet your specific self-publishing goals. After examining those goals and the reasoning behind them, it will walk you through the various options, including budgetary considerations, and help you determine which one is the best match for you.
Instructor: Sharon Bially
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 7th, 6:30-9:30pm, Guided Open Mic With Steve Almond
Here’s your chance to show off your writing skills by reading your work to an eager audience and any guest authors, editors or literary agents who drop by. What makes this particular open mic extra special (and unforgettable!) is that it will be hosted by author Steve Almond, who is known for giving excellent readings. Steve will be on hand to talk about what makes a good reading – from how to pick the right excerpt to how to perform that excerpt like a professional. To participate, please bring a FIVE-MINUTE excerpt of your fiction, poetry or non-fiction to the session and sign up for a reading slot when you arrive. Please note that a five-minute reading usually consists of no more than 600 words. We will hold readers to a very strict five-minute limit.
Instructor: Steve Almond
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 7th, 6:30-9:30pm, Ask the Agent
In this Grub Street seminar, you will sit down with accomplished literary agent Ann Collette, of the Rees Literary Agency, to ask any question that's on your mind about the role of the agent and get an insider’s view on life inside a literary agency. You’ll learn how to pitch agents and how not to pitch them, how agents make decisions, how the business works, what happens once you have an agent, how nonfiction projects get developed and more. Come with questions. The agent will tell all.
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
SEMINAR: Monday, March 7th, 6:30-9:30pm, Think Small, Think Smart: How to Publish Beyond the Big Houses
For many reasons, new and established writers are moving their publications to smaller presses. Join an industry professional for an intensive discussion on alternatives to larger presses. Topics will include how to make yourself appealing to small presses, how to approach them, handle contract issues, market/promote, handle your book tour in line with your book distribution, and make your readings successful. Small press publishing has its challenges, but armed with this knowledge, you can make it work for you.
Instructor: Tara L. Masih
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
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: Wednesday, February 16th, 7pm, M. L Liebler, Al Kooper, X. J. Kennedy and more, Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams
Poets, rock stars, filmmakers, activists, novelists, and historians lend their voices to this landmark collection about the daily grind. A collection about living while barely making one, about layoffs and picket lines, about farms, butchers, miners, waitresses, assembly-line workers, and the “Groundskeeper Busted Reading in the Custodial Water Closet,” this is literature by the people and for the people. Join editor M.L. Liebler, legendary rocker Al Kooper, poet X. J. Kennedy and other contributors for an evening of readings from this groundbreaking collection.
FREE, Porter Square Books.
—READING: Sunday, February 27th, 2PM, Urban Waite and Micah Nathan
Urban Waite, author of The Terror of Living, and Micah Nathan, author of Losing Graceland: A Novel read from their new books.
Free, Newtonville Books, 296 Walnut St., Newton.
—JOB OPENING: Boston Globe Ideas Deputy Editor
The Boston Globe is looking for a deputy editor for Ideas, an influential weekly section dedicated to putting provocative new thinking into the public eye. To help guide the section we need an editor who is organized, creative, and intellectually omnivorous -- someone eager to cut through the fog around big-think topics and mine them for real news and insights. From week to week, Ideas stories can range from foreign policy to children’s literature, from brain science to reality TV. Responsibilities include recruiting freelance writers, finding story ideas, and editing articles for publication. Prior editing experience is helpful but not required.
Candidates should have several years experience with journalistic writing or editing, and be able to demonstrate a facility with complex stories that blend reporting and argument. The position is in Boston. Interested candidates should email incoming Ideas editor Stephen Heuser, sheuser@globe.com.
--CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Amethyst Arsenic
Amethyst Arsenic is a new online publisher of poetry and art seeking the finest work for our inaugural issue due out in July/August of 2011. We adore the alchemy when both the literary quality of a poem and the performance of it enhance each other. We are eager to receive submissions from both literary print poets and spoken word performance poets. For an idea of our aesthetic and for complete submissions guidelines, please visit http://www.amethystarsenic.com. The current reading period ends June 15th, 2011.
Welcome to the end of the e-mail, where like replica of the human heart built out of conversation hearts, we offer you the chance to win a prize. This writer's wife left her seat on a train to get a drink, and when she returned all the writer's manuscripts had been stolen. Name the writer and his wife's name. 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: Algernon Charles Swinburne called Ralph Waldo Emerson a "wrinkled baboon" and a "gap-toothed ape," among other names. Winner: Joe Andersen.