January 30th, 2012
"Life is always either a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope."
—Edith Wharton
Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene brought to you every Monday by the drink umbrella designers 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.
One of the great perks of Grub Street membership is priority registration for our Muse and the Marketplace conference, coming up this year on May 5th and 6th. Join now to be eligible to register in advance--you'll get first pick of the workshops and the 40 agents and editors participating in our Manuscript Mart. Grub Street membership costs $60 annually and will get you $30 off a full weekend or one-day registration for the Muse.
Don't miss out! Application deadlines for the 2012-2013 Novel Incubator and the Weekend of Manuscript Consultations are both February 15th. See our website for details.
With the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, Grub Street presents “Publish it Forward,” a lecture series dedicated to bringing some of the most innovative and forward thinking writers, publishers and agents to Boston. With this series, Grub Street aims to educate and inspire Boston-area writers to think creatively and optimistically about new opportunities and new models made possible by the digital age.
Our next FREE Publish It Forward lecture will be given by Jason Ashlock on Tuesday, March 13th from 6:30-8:30pm, at the Cambridge YMCA Theater. Since founding Movable Type in the spring of 2009, Jason has been a leading voice for change in the agenting community, advocating for "radical mediation," a more expansive and digitally responsible form of representation and creative management. Jason believes that with greater access to production, distribution and marketing tools, authors are poised to be more successful than ever before--but they are also at greater risk of choosing short-term gratification over long-term success. Jason will speak for 45 minutes about the value of literary agent as radical mediator, and then take questions.
For more information about the Publish It Forward series and to register for Jason's free lecture, please click here.
The office at Grub may be small, but that doesn't mean the staff can't move up. We’re very proud to announce that Sonya Larson has been given a virtual corner office and named Program Director. Now that we're offering more than 400+ workshops and seminars a year, launching the novel and memoir incubators, growing daytime classes, and building a larger teen program, we need Sonya's organization and management skills more than ever to make sure everything continues to run smoothly. And after five short months here, Rowan Beaird will be stepping into a new role as Program and Operations Manager, playing a much bigger role in Grub's human resources and finance work. And lastly, Whitney Scharer, (aka Yours Truly), is upping her weekly hours to four days a week and leading Grub's marketing initiatives this year, including a new website, a new PR campaign, and more. She's very excited about being in the office in a more full-time capacity as Director of Development and Communications. 2011 was a record breaking year for Grub Street; with these talented staffers poised to take on more, we're very hopeful that 2012 will offer more of the same.
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.
DAYTIME SEMINAR: Friday, February 3rd, 11:00am-2:00pm, Viva the DIY/Small-Press Revolution!
In this informal (and hopefullyregody free-wheeling) lecture/discussion, we’ll discuss the risks and opportunities afforded by the “print on demand” revolution, and what it means to build a readership “from the bottom up.”
Instructor: Steve Almond
Sorry, this class is sold out. Join wait list.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday-Sunday, February 4-5th, 10:00am-5:00pm, Personal Essay Revision Bootcamp
This weekend workshop will focus on how to revise personal writing, be it a personal essay or a memoir chapter.
Instructor: Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
*2 spots left*, $115/$95.00 members, Grub Street HQ.
BOOK PRIZE RECEPTION: Friday, February 10th, 6:30-8:30pm, Frances McCue Reading & Reception
Join Frances McCue, winner of the 2011 Grub Street National Book Prize in Poetry for The Bled (Factory Hollow Press), for an evening of poetry and conversation. Frances will be visiting us from Seattle for the weekend as part of the national book prize festivities. At 6:30, Frances will read from her work and take your questions about the poems and about the craft of poetry in general. Following the reading, there will be a wine and cheese reception and Frances will be available to sign books. This event is free and open to the public. To learn more about the Grub Street Book Prize and The Bled, visit our Book Prize page.
FREE, Grub Street HQ.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, February 11th, 10:30am-5:30pm, Find Your Memoir
Finding the heart of your memoir can be vexing. What story do you want to tell? How do you tell it? How can you make your reader care about your life? This 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.
Instructor: Ethan Gilsdorf
Sorry, this class is sold out. Join wait list.
MEMBERS'-ONLY SEMINAR: Saturday, February 11th, 10:00am-12:30pm, The Poem and the Audience
This seminar will be a lively conversation about our readers. How do we imagine them? What delights would they take in our poems? In a desire to greet these benevolent, patient, welcoming consumers of our work, we'll look at ways to create poems that connect with our audiences. Led by Frances McCue, winner of the 2011 Grub Street National Book Prize in Poetry. Open only to Grub Street members.
Instructor: Frances McCue
Sorry, this class is sold out. Join wait list.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday-Sunday, February 11-12th, 10:00am-5:00pm, The Hook & The Book (How To Make Your Query Letter And First Five Pages Irresistible To An Agent)
Literary agent Sorche Fairbank’s most popular course, now only offered twice a year. Most literary agents receive at least one hundred query letters each week, yet respond positively to less than two percent. Decisions on writing samples (partials) are often made within the first five pages. Would yours make the cut? Do you know the secrets to writing a winning query? Join agent Sorche Elizabeth Fairbank of Fairbank Literary Representation for a weekend of intensive query and writing critique, lessons on the basics of a powerful synopsis, tips on how to stand out in a pile of queries, help on the first five pages, a review of a laundry list of Dos and Don’ts, and both group and one-on-one analysis of your submission package. By the time you leave on Sunday, you can expect to have a strong query letter that gets an agent’s attention, (or at least a strong framework), and first pages that sing.
Instructor: Sorche Fairbank
$220/$195 members,Grub Street HQ.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, February 11th, 9:30am-4:30pm, Short Memoir and Essays for Print and Radio
A one-day workshop focusing on creating powerful pieces under 800 words for print, and under 600 for radio.
Instructor: Judah Leblang
Sorry, this class is sold out. Join wait list.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, February 11th, 10:30am-5:30pm, Get Unstuck: How to Fix, Patch, and Improve Your Plot
This one-day seminar covers the fundamentals of plotting and character development, with an eye toward getting past those "sticking points" that often slow the writing process.
Instructor: Micah Nathan
Sorry, this class is sold out. Join wait list.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Sunday, February 12th, 10:30-5:30pm, The Who, What, Where, and Why of eBooks
This class will provide all the basics for students interested in learning about eBooks. Everything from how to create your own eBook, to how to go about marketing and distributing them, to why are eBooks important in the first place will be covered in this course. Further, by the end of the course, each student will have created at least one eBook from one of their own manuscripts, and if desired, will have the opportunity to post it up for sale online.
Instructor: Steve Brykman
$115/$95.00 members, Grub Street HQ.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Sunday, February 12th, 9:30am-4:30pm, Writing the Dark, Messy Matter
Be it in fiction or in nonfiction, the difficult, messy, complicated, bewildering, upsetting and chaotic moments can make for the most compelling reading. But how do we capture characters (real or fictionalized) grappling with the dark matter of their lives? In this one-day intensive workshop, we will show you how.
Instructor: Ethan Gilsdorf and Ted Weesner
Sorry, this class is sold out. Join wait list.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Sunday, February 12th, 10:30am-5:30pm, Graphic Novel Basics: How to Write for the Drawn Story
Looking to write for graphic novels but don’t know where to begin? This one-day intensive course will introduce the medium of the graphic novel, a narrative work in which the story is conveyed using sequential art in a comics format. Through both lecture and in-class exercises we will examine the story structure and visual grammar of graphic novels, along with script formatting, pacing, and commonly used iconography. By the end of the course students should expect to have a solid understanding of how to write for the drawn story, along with take-home instructional handouts and a suggested reading list. No previous drawing experience is necessary to take this course. Grub students can get an exclusive discount on Final Draft graphic novel software. Please email rowan@grubstreet.org for information.
Instructor: Katherine Roy and Tim Stout (Special Guest)
$115/$95.00 members, Grub Street HQ.
DAYTIME SEMINAR: Friday, February 17th, 11:00am-2:00pm, Legal Issues in Self-Publishing and eBook Publishing
Navigating the maze of self-publishing and eBook publishing can be confusing, hectic, and overwhelming. Unfortunately there hasn't been a GPS invented yet that can help get through the litany of contract language and unfamiliar legal terms. This course will empower you with the basics of publishing on your own or in the eBook realm. By the end of the course, we will discuss the basics of copyright law, the basics of libel law, general legal terms that apply to writing and publishing, and trustworthy resources that can help solve potential legal problems that you might encounter. Time and interest permitting, we will also discuss how to apply many of these same principals to more traditional publishing contracts.
Instructor: Mitchell Bragg
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ.
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.
--DEBUT READING: February 2nd, 7pm, Margot Livesey's The Flight of Gemma Hardy
"In The Flight of Gemma Hardy, Margot Livesey offers a new telling of Jane Eyre, for which no contemporary writer is better suited. As always, Livesey’s prose is a garden of pleasures: precision here, lyricism there, wit and compassionate insight throughout." (Amy Bloom). Margot Livesey is a member of Grub Street's Literary Council and the acclaimed author of the novels The House on Fortune Street, Homework, Criminals, The Missing World, Eva Moves the Furniture and Banishing Verona. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and The Atlantic Monthly, and she is the recipient of grants from both the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. The House on Fortune Street won the 2009 L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award. Livesey was born in Scotland and grew up on the edge of the Highlands. She currently lives in the Boston area and is a distinguished writer-in-residence at Emerson College.
FREE, Porter Square Books.
--READING: Thursday, Feb 9th, 7pm, Hannah Pittard and Jessica Keener
Hannah Pittard, author of The Fates Will Find Their Way, and Jessica Keener, author of Night Swim.
P.S. Congratulations to Newtonville Books on their upcoming move to Newton Centre!
FREE, Newtonville Books, 296 Walnut St., Newton
--SEMINAR: Saturday, Feb 11th, all day, Mystery Writers of America Novel-Writing Seminar MWA-U is a full-day writing seminar which teaches participants the skills needed to write a novel, from the idea stage to publication. The focus is on the craft of writing, and the college-level courses are taught by published writers and experienced teachers. For more info, visit https://www.mysterywriters.org/?q=MWA-University. Registration deadline is February 7th.
$50, The Boston Sheraton, Boston.
--CONTEST: Carolina Wren Press Doris Bakwin Award for Writing by a Woman
The Doris Bakwin Award for Writing by a Woman will take entries with a postmark deadline of 3/15/2012. The final judge is Moira Crone. View more about the press and guidelines for entry at: http://carolinawrenpress.org/.
Welcome to the end of the e-mail, where like finding out your spirit animal is an aardvark, we offer you the chance to win a prize. These two authors spent their careers embroiled in a bitter feud. When one of them was told the other was kind to her inferiors, she famously snapped, "Where does she find them?" Name the authors. Email your answer to whitney@grubstreet.org. The first correct respondent wins a Starbucks gift card for a coffee treat.
Last week's trivia: Oscar Wilde, most famous for his acerbic wit, also wrote fairy tales for children. Winner: Tori Savage.
