The Rag 12/5/11: Department of Congratulations, scholarship deadlines and a Grub job opportunity

"I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite."

—G. K. Chesterton

Grub Street News

Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene broadcast to you every Monday from the flat screen TV in the den of iniquity at 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.

Now Hiring: Conference Communications Assistant

Grub Street seeks a part-time, temporary Communications Assistant to assist in planning our annual literary conference, The Muse and the Marketplace, in May of 2012. The Communication Assistant will work closely with the Muse team, helping to post and organize information on the website, generate email communications, and create and organize conference materials. The ideal candidate will have superb web, office, and design skills, with strong experience with HTML, Microsoft mail merge, and online databases. A passion for creative writing and a sense of humor are also appreciated! Start date is negotiable, but we are looking for someone to start as soon as possible. For more information, please visit http://www.grubstreet.org/index.php?id=1050.

Scholarship deadline approaching

Grub Street now offers twenty scholarships a year, for $200 each. Recipients may use their scholarship at any time in the year and toward any class they desire, though not for Muse and the Marketplace tuition or manuscript consulting. The next deadline is December 19th, so visit our scholarship page to apply now.

Winter Workshops: Coming soon to a 2012 near you

Give the Gift of Grub

Department of Congratulations, Thirty-Gallon Hat and Hip-High Cowboy Boot Edition

Many wonderful writers to congratulate this month! First up, lots of great news from our instructors and Muse presenters. Muse presenter Sarah Smith's novel The Other Side of Dark won the Massachusetts Book Award for best young adult novel of the year. Sue Williams is thrilled to be writing a weekly online sex column for Boston Magazine, under her pen name Lana Fox. Sue (under her real name!) is teaching "The Sex Writer: Erotica and Sex Nonfiction" at Grub Street this winter, starting January 11th. Hillary Rettig is excited to announce the release of her self-published book The 7 Secrets of the Prolific: The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism and Writer's Block. Based in part on her years teaching How to Write a Lot and other productivity classes at Grub, she reminds us that it makes the perfect holiday gift for you or anyone hoping to be happily prolific in 2012. Buy it here. Special deal for Grubbies: enter "Grub" in the discount code box and get $3 off the paperback. Wendy Wunder's new young adult novel, The Probability of Miracles, comes out on December 8th and received a starred review from Kirkus. Wendy will be teaching a class called Writing Fiction for Young Adults starting in January. Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich got a column in the New York Times' "Modern Love" recently. Find it here. Muse presenter and friend Lesléa Newman's new chapbook, I Remember: Hachiko Speaks is available for pre-order at www.finishinglinepress.com. The book is written in the voice of Hachiko, Japan's loyal Akita, as an old dog looking back upon his life. For each book ordered, Lesléa Newman will donate $1.00 to BEAR (Big East Akita Rescue). And Adrian Van Young just won the St. Lawrence Book Award (Black Lawrence/Dzanc Press) for a first collection of short stories, to be published in 2013.

Next up, a few bits of good news from our workshops: Elizabeth McLean, a Grubbie transplant now living in Vancouver, is the winner of the 2011 Impress Prize for New Writers for her story collection inspired by and tracing the history of Vietnam, Imagining Vietnam. The international prize is for writers who are yet to publish a full-length work, and Elizabeth says that two of the eight stories in the collection were workshopped in Cam Terwilliger's Master Fiction class. Sometimes student, sometimes instructor Cheryl Lawton wrote a piece called "On a Scale of One to Ten, How Do You Feel" in Stace Budzco’s Master Flash Fiction class that was accepted for publication by online magazine Healthy Artists. And Dave Sanfacon, who took Amy MacKinnon's popular "Line by Line" class, has had his essay, "Paradise," accepted for publication by the Good Men Project. Susan Larkin's short fiction piece, "How to Find Magic Everywhere Every Day" will appear in the next issue of Bayou Magazine, January 2012, and Bayou has nominated it for a 2011 Pushcart Prize. Susan started the story as an assignment in Adam Stumacher's 10 Stories 10 Weeks class.

And last but in no way least, some news from our members. Len Abram's short story "Cup of Kindness," about a player for the Boston Red Sox killed in World War II and the family who visits his grave in France, will appear in an anthology of 22 other stories about the Red Sox and Fenway Park. Final Fenway Fiction, edited by Adam Pachter, Cornerstone Book Publishers, will be available in time for opening day at Fenway Park this spring. Tessa Day got a story callled "Touch" published in Issue 08 of Luna Station Quarterly. Amy Cooper Rodriguez has started blogging for get born magazine once a month. Her first post can be read here: http://getbornmag.com/2011/11/still/. Lauren Norton Carson had her story, "The Ironing," selected as one of three pieces featured on The Drum from the open mic session at the Boston Book Festival. James Holland's new ebook Boston's Notable Addresses: Historic Homes and the Residents that Made Them So has finally been published 39 years after he began the hobby that resulted in the book. Joan Vincent, an award winning poet and the author of Because Mother Liked To Dance, is pleased to announce the publication of her first children's book, Molly Marbles: A Thanksgiving Day Cat. Now available as an ebook on Amazon, the print and illustrated version will be available in time for Thanksgiving 2012. Lisa Korzeniowski just had her piece, "While You Were Gone," published on The Drum. Lilly Deng's narrative poem, "Packing Grapefruits", was published in the North American Review, America's oldest literary magazine.
Haley Hemen has had her short piece, "Better Than TV", accepted for online publication at The Yellow Ham when the humor site launches in January. Hemen wrote "Better Than TV" after reading about The Yellow Ham's call for submissions in The Rag: and the circle is complete.

Do you have writing news and want to be featured in the DoC? The first Monday of every month, we feature Grub Street members who have sent their good news to whitney@grubstreet.org. To be included, please fill out our brand new Congratulations Form (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/congratulations) or kick it old school and send Whitney an email with information about your publication, award or fellowship. Limit your announcement to 60 words or less. Extra credit if the announcement is written in the third person, which is good practice for your writing anyway.

Our Daily Best

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.

OPEN HOUSE: Thursday, December 8th, 5:30-7:30pm, Novel Incubator Open House
Join instructors and students from Grub Street’s new year-long Novel Incubator program for a short presentation and Q&A. We will answer all your questions about curriculum, logistics, the submission process, workload, and anything else that comes to mind. We know this is a big commitment, so we want to make sure to give interested students as much information as possible to make the decision about whether to apply and how best to present themselves in their applications.
Instructor: Lisa Borders and Michelle Hoover
FREE, Grub Street HQ.

TEEN WRITING: Saturday, December 10th, 11am-1pm OR 2-4pm, 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.
This Saturday, there will be three sessions to choose from in the morning and afternoon: Non-fiction, Poetry, and Fiction. YOU MUST BE AGE 13-18 TO REGISTER-- NO EXCEPTIONS. See website for full details and to register.
FREE, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Monday, December 12th, 6:30-9:30pm, Dynamic Scene Writing
Instructor: Michelle Hoover
* SOLD OUT* Click here to join waiting list.

SEMINAR: Monday, December 12th, 6:30-9:30pm, How to Use Your Obsessions to Jumpstart Your Writing
Instructor: Steve Almond
* SOLD OUT* Click here to join waiting list.

SEMINAR: Monday, December 12th, 6:30-9:30pm, Creating Complex Characters
Instructor: Lisa Borders
* SOLD OUT* Click here to join waiting list.

SEMINAR: Monday, December 12th, 6:30-9:30pm, Grub Self Publishing Network (GSPN) Seminar: Successful Self Publishing
Instructor: Michelle Toth
* SOLD OUT* Click here to join waiting list.

SEMINAR: Monday, December 12th, 6:30-9:30pm, Time Management for Writers
Instructor: Ben H. Winters
* SOLD OUT* Click here to join waiting list.

SEMINAR: Tuesday, December 13th, 6:30-9:30pm, New Approaches to the Personal Essay
Instructor: Kim Adrian
*2 spots left* $65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Tuesday, December 13th, 6:30-9:30pm, Getting Beginnings Right! (Or Why Your Manuscript Was Rejected)
Writing's all fun and games, until the rejections start piling up. In this intensive (though informal!) workshop, we'll aim to make sure your stories, or essays, draw the reader in, rather than leaving them in the dark. We'll take a second look at your opening pages, as well as the opening pages of works by Lorrie Moore, Saul Bellow, and others, in an effort to understand how to create a strong, independent narrator. Note: participants should bring in the first 500 words of a manuscript — ideally a manuscript that's been rejected. In fact, it would be best to bring in two manuscripts. Please resist the urge to rewrite them. Bring two copies of excerpts (one for Steve to mark up as you read).
Instructor: Steve Almond
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Tuesday, December 13th, 6:30-9:30pm, Crafting the Pitch Letter for Nonfiction Projects
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, and for submitting nonfiction book proposals to agents. (Sorry, we won’t discuss how to pitch short fiction or novels.) 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.

SEMINAR: Tuesday, December 13th, 6:30-9:30pm, From Writer to Marketer
From the moment a book is bought, the work itself changes. What has long been an expression of the writer’s artistic impulse suddenly becomes a product, to be categorized, branded, and marketed. Tips and techniques on how to handle the transition from creating to selling from an author who has recently gone through it. How can you embrace your self-promoter side while staying true to the artist within? And, most importantly, how can you continue to write?
Instructor: Anna Solomon
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Tuesday, December 13th, 6:30-9:30pm, Ask the Agent
In this Grub Street seminar, you will sit down with an accomplished literary agent 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.
Instructor: Joanne Wyckoff
Level: For Everyone
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ.

OPEN MIC: Wednesday, December 14th, 7:00-9:00pm, Fall Season Showcase
Join Grub students from the Fall 2011 term, plus two of our award-winning instructors, as they read (for 5 minutes each) from recent work. You'll hear great fiction, non-fiction, poetry and maybe even a screenplay. Reading slots open only to students who've taken courses, seminars or weekend workshops in the fall of 2011, but anyone can come to listen. Limited to 15 readers. Everyone gets free snacks and drinks. Sign-ups begin at 6:30pm. A great event for current Grubbies and those who want to check us out.
FREE, Grub Street HQ.

LUNCHTIME WRITING: Wednesday, December 14th, 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: Javed Jahangir
FREE, Grub Street HQ.

Spreading the Love

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: Saturday, December 10th, 2-3:30pm, Best New England Crime Stories: Dead Calm
Mark Ammons, Katharine Fast, Adam Renn Olenn, and Leslie Wheelerm will be the featured readers for Best New England Crime Stories: Dead Calm, published by Level Best Books. The anthology features New England’s most acclaimed, award-winning crime and mystery writers, along with several exciting new voices, who weave twenty-seven original tales from the region’s dark side. http://levelbestbooks.com.
FREE, BookEnds, 559 Main Street, Winchester, MA

--BOOK LAUNCH: Tuesday, December 13th, 6-8pm, Richard Hoffman's Emblem
Celebrate the publication of Richard Hoffman's new collection of poems. There will be food, live music and books for sale. Says National Book Award winner Terrance Hays of Hoffman: "If Anton Chekhov returned as a modern-day poet, Richard Hoffman would be his name. His poems reverberate with the same lucid witness and precision. Bridging histories local and cultural, they draw on literary traditions while simultaneously heralding experiment and invention. Both rooted and transcendent, Emblem is a marvelous new book."
FREE, Emerson College, Max Mutchnik Student Center, All-purpose Room, 150 Boylston Street

--CONTEST: Book Wish Foundation Essay Contest
Win a literary agent or acclaimed author's feedback on your unpublished manuscript for young adult or middle grade readers. This rare opportunity is being offered to the six winners of an essay contest recently announced by the literacy charity Book Wish Foundation. See http://bookwish.org/contest for full details. All that separates you from this prize is a 500-word essay about a short story in Book Wish Foundation's new anthology, What You Wish For. Essays are due Feb. 1, 2012 and winners will be announced around Mar. 1, 2012. If you win, you will have six months to submit the first 50 pages of your manuscript for critique (which means you can enter the contest even if you haven't finished, or started, your manuscript). You can even enter multiple times, with essays about more than one of the contest stories, for a chance to win up to six critiques. If you dream of being a published author, this is an opportunity you should not miss. To enter, follow the instructions at http://bookwish.org/contest.

--AWARD: Susan P. Bloom Children's Book Discovery Award
Each year, the PEN New England Children's Book Committee honors emerging writers and writer/illustrators with its Susan P. Bloom Children's Book Discovery Award. Winners will present their work to the public at the PEN New England Children's Book Discovery Evening in May 2012, and winning manuscripts will be read by editors at major publishing houses. In past years, editors from Knopf, Candlewick, and Houghton Mifflin have read winning submissions. For full guidelines, visit http://www.pen-ne.org/susan-p-bloom-childrens-book-discovery-award.

--CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: IMPACT
IMPACT, the online, peer-reviewed journal of the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning at the College of General Studies, Boston University, is seeking submissions for its inaugural issue. Due date: February 15, 2012. Submissions received after that will be considered for later issues. IMPACT publishes scholarly and creative non-fiction essays that explore the value of interdisciplinary teaching and thinking or examine compelling connections between great thinkers from different disciplines and time periods. Essays should be between 500 and 3,000 words. Submissions can be made at: http://CITL.submishmash.com/submit.

Welcome to the end of the e-mail, where like the latest trend, opera karaoke, we offer you the chance to win a prize. What book did G.K. Chesterton famously want to have with him on a desert island? Email your answer to whitney@grubstreet.org. The first correct respondent wins a Starbucks gift card for a coffee treat.

Last week's trivia: At age four, William Blake told his parents he saw God put his head in through the window. Winner: Arielle Norman.

In this issue