August 29th, 2011
"You'll want to sugar coat your nervous system, wrap your skeleton in cotton batting in order to do this work. We are imposing meaning, inputting justice. In a world that praises the pretty for small reasons and disdains hurt, we make possible glory through understanding."
—Dorothy Allison
Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene brought to you every Monday from the ubiquitous wood chip piles outside Grub Street's world headquarters. As always, if you are receiving this email in horror, please advance to the bottom of the page to unsubscribe yourself.
In the summer of 2010, twenty-five seniors gathered on Nantucket to take part in a spin-off of Grub Street’s Memoir Project. The goal was to learn and practice the craft of memoir, but also to document as vividly and memorably life on that beautiful island just thirty miles from the coast of Boston. This free program was co-sponsored with the Nantucket Writers Studio and gathered coaches and volunteers from both Boston and Nanucket. We are proud to announce the publication of Little Gray Island, which includes the essays these seniors wrote and revised with the help of their instructor, Michelle Seaton, and an army of coaches led by Kathryn Kay. It also includes photos and beautiful portraits by prominent photographer (and Memoir Project student!) Beverly Hall and a foreword from renowned author Nathaniel Philbrick. The anthology is beautiful in every way and available for purchase on our website, where you can also read a sample. We are grateful to Hillary Hedges Rayport, Kerrie Kemperman and all the donors, foundations, seniors, instructors and coaches who made this book happen.
The Memoir Project next heads to South End/Bay Village, where our partnership with the City of Boston will welcome a new group of seniors starting in October!
Grub's growing up, and we need a new tag line. Our old one ("Where Boston Gets Writing") just doesn't capture all that we do these days. We're bigger than Boston now, and we're in the process of expanding our offerings to address the changing needs of writers, including guidance on new publishing options, finding readers, and other professional development. So here's the deal: Take a look at the description of Grub Street below, and then send in your ideas for a new tag line in 9 words or less.
Grub's elevator pitch: We're a Boston-based writing community dedicated to helping writers at every stage from idea to audience.
Grub's mission: To be an innovative, rigorous, and welcoming community for writers who together create their best work, find audience, and elevate the literary arts for all.
We accomplish this by offering the highest quality classes and services for writers at all stages of development, by educating writers through the entire writing process from inspiration to publication and promotion, by putting a premium on teaching excellence, by opening our arms to as many writers as possible through generous scholarships and free outreach programming, by creating fulfilling work for writers, by connecting people and ideas through writing, and by empowering writers to fully embrace the new opportunities ushered in by the digital age.
Send your tag lines to whitney@grubstreet.org by September 18th for a chance to win a $50 gift card to Harvard Book Store (or an independent bookstore near you, if you live out of state). Thanks!
Are you ready to take your writing to the next level, to delve deep into revision and work with a smaller and more dedicated group of students? Consider taking a Master Class at Grub Street this fall. Whether you're looking for fiction, poetry, popular fiction, novel in progress, or creative nonfiction, we've got a Master Class for you. Each of these classes is limited to nine students, is by submission only, and includes a visit from an agent or editor who will read and consider your work. Deadline for submission is August 31st--don't miss out!
Cheers,
Whitney, Sonya, Eve, Chris, Rowan and Sean
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.
SEMINAR: Monday, August 29th, 6:30-9:30pm, Obsessive Writing
Most good writing -- whether fiction or non-fiction -- arises from a writer's obsessions. In this session, we'll discuss how to explore our obsessions on the page, without falling pray to self-absorption or sentiment. We'll start by looking at the work of Nick Hornby, Calvin Trillin, and other obsessive writers, and proceed to a broader discussion of passionate attachment.
Instructor: Steve Almond
*2 SPOTS LEFT* $65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
SEMINAR: Monday, August 29th, 6:30-9:30pm, From Anecdote to Character
A well-deployed anecdote, even if incidental to the overall plot of your story or memoir, can help define your characters in action and give them a reality and history that extends beyond the page. We’ll look closely at examples of character definition through anecdote in both memoir and fiction, and will practice brainstorming and writing anecdotes that will help define our own characters in vivid detail.
Instructor: Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
*2 SPOTS LEFT* $65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
SEMINAR: Monday, August 29th, 6:30-9:30pm, Provoking Thought: Selling and Writing A Book of Ideas
There's a burgeoning market for nonfiction books of ideas, and fortunately they're much easier to sell than fiction or memoirs. All you need is a great idea--and a great proposal. In this seminar, you'll learn everything you need to know to market your science, medical, or idea book to a publisher. You'll learn about the state of the nonfiction publishing industry, what editors are looking for, what readers are looking for, how to find the best agent for your project, and how to craft a winning proposal. We'll analyze successful and failed books of ideas published in the past few years, giving special attention to the different styles of Malcolm Gladwell (author of Outliers) and Steven Pinker (author of Blank Slate). You'll also learn what to expect when you do sell your book--and the challenges you'll face when you must actually get the research and writing done by a deadline. We might also address special topics such as e-books, Amazon, and endorsements.
Instructor: Ogi Ogas
*3 SPOTS LEFT* $65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
WEEKLONG INTENSIVE: Tuesday-Friday, August 30th-September 2nd, 11:00am-3:00pm, Novel Boot Camp
Do you have a great idea for a novel but don’t know where to start? Or maybe you’re well on your way, but lately your manuscript has become a flabby mass of pages? Either way, this course will whip that novel into shape. Over the course of four days, we will focus on the elements of craft necessary to sustain a book-length narrative, from structure to scene, character arcs to subplots. We will read excerpts from a range of published novels, pick them apart as writers, and apply these lessons to our own projects. The course will include an optional homework assignment every evening and will culminate in a one-on-one meeting with the instructor to discuss your opening chapter and outline. Please note that the same craft issues also pertain to memoir, so this class is also open to writers of creative nonfiction. Writing a novel is a long, unpredictable journey, but you will end this course with a new set of tools to navigate your way.
Instructor: Adam Stumacher
Level: Intermediate
*4 SPOTS LEFT* $330/$305 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
LUNCHTIME WRITING: Wednesday, September 7th, 12:30-1:15pm, 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 one of our award-winning instructors or ambassadors. Best of all, you’ll leave lunch with some new ideas to ponder for the rest of your day, and beyond. No need to RSVP-- just come!
Instructor: Midge Raymond
FREE, Grub Street HQ.
SEMINAR: Monday, September 12th, 6:30-9:30pm, Ask the Agent
In this Grub Street seminar, you will sit down with two accomplished literary agents to ask any question what'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 agents will tell all.
Instructor: Katherine Flynn, Caroline Zimmerman
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
SEMINAR: Monday, September 12th, 6:30-9:30pm, How to Pitch Your Articles, Op-eds, and Essays for Publication
In this seminar, you will learn how to write killer pitch letters (AKA “query letters” or “cover letters”) for submitting essays, op-eds, articles and feature stories to editors of magazines, newspapers, literary magazines, and online publications. We'll look at top mistakes that writers make and examine pitch letters that actually worked. We'll also see how to leverage your background and expertise to best present yourself, even if you don't have a lot of publishing experience. Optional: Bring 15 copies of a draft of any pitch letter (it’s OK if you’re not sure how to write one) for a piece you are currently working on and we’ll try to quickly workshop as many of them as we can.
Instructor: Ethan Gilsdorf
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
SEMINAR: Monday, September 12th, 6:30-9:30pm, How to Write H-O-T Sex Scenes Without Even Blushing!
An intensive seminar that will aim to make sure we're exciting the right parts (our, ahem, hearts) when we write sex scenes. Check your inhibitions -- if not your clothing -- at the door.
Instructor: Steve Almond
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
SEMINAR: Monday, September 12th, 6:30-9:30pm, Hocus Pocus, Abracadabra, Presto!
Magic is firmly embedded in our culture and contemporary fiction. From pint-sized wizards to levitating chocolate, make believe is a powerful tool in a writer’s toolkit. It’s called world-building in the fantasy genre, magical realism in literary fiction, and plot device and setting in children’s literature. In this one seminar, we’ll examine methods used by contemporary adult and children’s authors to successfully incorporate magic into their work. If students bring the first page of a current work, we will read and critique as many as time allows after the presentation.
Instructor: Cheryl Lawton
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
SEMINAR: Monday, September 12th, 6:30-9:30pm, You Are Here: Creating a Sense of Place
Journalist Wendy Call and fiction writer Midge Raymond offer tips for all prose writers in this team-taught class that focuses on place. As authors whose recent books are grounded in foreign settings, Wendy and Midge will offer tips for how to offer a strong sense of place no matter where your scenes unfold, whether it’s a small Mexican village, the lonely islands of the South Pacific, or a character’s own living room. We’ll demonstrate what place can reveal about character and how a single setting can create a more universal picture—all with plenty of writing prompts along the way.
Instructor: Wendy Call and Midge Raymond
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now.
SEMINAR: Wednesday, September 14th, 6:30-9:30pm, Raising the Titanic: Giving Power to Weak Novel Scenes
Drafts of many novels contain scenes that sink the book. They are flat, meandering, tangential, or just plain boring. Attempts to spruce up the prose or dialogue may not fix such scenes because they lack crucial structural elements. Don’t waste time rearranging deck chairs! In this seminar you will bring a troublesome scene from your novel and we will discuss not only how to give your scene internal propulsion, but also how to nail your scene to the novel’s central story arc and drive it forward. Land, ho!
Instructor: Julie Wu
$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.
--FUNDRAISER: August 26 – September 29; 826 Boston Write-a-thon
Join 50 local writers as we write to raise money for 826 Boston, a non-profit writing and tutoring center. Anyone who fancies themselves a writer can sign up and start collecting pledges. Then, through September 29 write. Anything. This is your opportunity to put your words to a good use, to support a worthy cause by simply doing what you do best. For more information, and to sign up, visit http://www.826boston.org/write.
--READING: Monday, September 5th, 7pm, Write on the DOT
Uniting Dorchester writers and UMass-Boston MFA students, the 2nd Write on the DOT reading will be Monday, Sept 5th from 7-8:30PM at the Pearl Street Studios (11 Pearl Street off Dorchester Ave). Poets Danielle Fontaine, Sandra Kohler, Mitch Manning, and U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo will read alongside fiction writers Calvin Hennick and Natty Forsythe. Writer bios and more info can be found at: www.writeonthedot.blogspot.com/
FREE, Pearl Street Studios (11 Pearl Street off Dorchester Ave)
--READING: Wednesday, September 8th, 7pm, William Giraldi
Harvard Book Store is pleased to host a book launch party for Busy Monsters, the first novel by local writer and writing instructor (sometimes at Grub!) William Giraldo. The evening will include a reading from the novel as well as wine and light refreshments.
FREE, Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138.
--READING: September 8th, 5pm, Andre Dubus III at Upstairs on the Square
Please join Porter Square Books and PEN/New England for Andres Dubus III at Upstairs on the Square. Andre Dubus III is the author of Townie, The Garden of Last Days, House of Sand and Fog (a finalist for the National Book Award) Bluesman, and a collection of short fiction, The Cage Keeper and Other Stories.
FREE, Upstairs on the Square, 91 Winthrop St, Cambridge.
--READING: Tuesday, September 13th, 7pm, Poets for Haiti Reading
Wendy Mnookin, Gail Mazur, Kim Triedman, and Barbara Helfgott Hyett, contributors to POETS FOR HAITI: An Anthology of Poetry and Art, will read on Tuesday, September 13 at 7:00 pm at the Newton Free Library. An open mic will follow with a limit of one poem per person. The series is facilitated by Doug Holder of Ibbetson Street Press.
FREE, Newton Free Library, 330 Homer Street, Newton.
Welcome to the end of the e-mail, where like a toddler in a hurricane, we offer you the chance to win a prize. Which famous writer has two towns named after him that he's never been to? Email your answer to whitney@grubstreet.org. The first correct respondent wins a Starbucks gift card for a coffee treat.
Last's week's trivia: The New Jersey Turnpike has rest areas named after Walt Whitman, James Fenimore Cooper and Alfred Joyce Kilmer. Winner: Hyemin Yang.