tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69358308895177700862024-03-13T07:42:53.049-07:00paper - pencil - penMusings on the Writing LifeNicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.comBlogger257125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-17055903604160915982019-10-14T13:28:00.001-07:002019-10-14T13:45:07.771-07:00Announcements from my Writerly World: Award, Readings, Workshops, Website & Newsletter
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I am one of ten recipients of the 2019 Discovered Awards for Emerging Visual and Literary Artists, a program produced by Creative Sonoma and made possible, inNicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-342309817765778852016-07-18T03:00:00.000-07:002016-07-18T03:00:15.987-07:00Writing Reset: Residencies and Mentor Programs
"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." —Maya Angelou
It's been a long while since I entered the blogosphere. I have contemplated bringing this nearly seven-year-old project to a close and instead focus solely on revising and submitting my own writing. Yet I'm not quiet ready to call it quits on paper-pencil-pen. This weekend I'm resetting my intention and Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-15588481576308847062016-04-19T12:17:00.001-07:002016-04-19T12:17:17.725-07:00Essay Acceptance by Origins Journal, Spring 2016After more than one year submitting my essay "Wildish Woman: A Portrait," this nonfiction narrative about a wildlife biologist in Alaska was accepted in March by Origins. The Spring 2016 print edition on the theme "borders" is slated for publication during the first week of May; click here for a preview.
ORIGINS IS A LITERARY JOURNAL THAT EXPLORES THE NARRATIVE ARTS THROUGH THE LENS OF Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-53542038309877622242015-12-01T13:03:00.000-08:002015-12-01T13:04:41.393-08:00Writers Conferences from San Francisco to VT
With the new year quickly approaching, it isn't too early to consider attending 2016 writers' conferences! Here's a round-up of several top-notch conferences that cover the west coast, east coast and midwest, ordered by date of event. Some require an application to register:
San Francisco Writers Conference
Date: Feb. 11 - 14, 2016
Location: Mark Hopkins Hotel, San Francisco
Cost: $725 (Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-63893809793238997272015-11-17T11:55:00.000-08:002015-11-17T11:55:53.108-08:00The Basement Series: Readers Raising Funds for Lit Camp and San Francisco's Scholar Match
Po Bronson. Photo credit: Nicole R. Zimmerman
On Friday I attended my second Basement Series event, a monthly literary reading (in the basement) at the Sports Basement in San Francisco. Each reading features two authors along with a smattering of writers who submit work on a theme. November's theme was sports, which turned out to be surprisingly humorous with many laugh-out-loud moments.
Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-24953565415975717172015-11-02T09:23:00.001-08:002015-11-02T09:23:24.749-08:00National Novel Writing Month: NaNoWriMo
It's November and that means NaNoWriMo! That's National Novel Writing Month, a virtual worldwide writing group that helps you achieve the goal of completing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30. According the official website, "NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought about writing a novel."
As noted on my 2010 blog post about NaNoWriMo:
"Because of the limited Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-76260332467216170952015-10-26T22:44:00.000-07:002015-10-26T22:44:09.283-07:00Playing with Pictures: Art Journaling and Murals
Words spin me and swirl through me and onto the screen or page, but sometimes the brain needs a break. That's when visual art nourishes my spirit like a hearty autumn soup simmering on the stove. On Wednesday nights I've been attending art journaling sessions with Susie Stonefield Miller at Unfold Studio near my home. Here are the first pages I made, using already spray-painted stencils, stampsNicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-51606301711279618682015-10-19T12:21:00.000-07:002015-10-19T12:53:02.019-07:00Creative Nonfiction Issue 57: Making a LivingThe long-awaited Fall 2015 issue #57 of Creative Nonfiction magazine, in which my essay "Crisis" is featured among seven pieces, finally arrived in my mailbox on Friday. What a great precursor to a celebratory birthday weekend! Here's a preview about the issue, emailed in the October newsletter:
NEW ISSUE: Making a Living
IT'S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT THE MONEY
For the young office temp, theNicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-37374198964049312482015-10-12T11:05:00.000-07:002015-10-12T11:05:51.094-07:00Tantalizing Travel Tales at the Mill Valley LibraryLast week I participated in a reading at the Mill Valley Library called Tantalizing Travel Tales, hosted by Lisa Alpine, author of Wild Life: Travel Adventures of a Worldly Woman. Other all-stars in the 3-part series have included Pam Houston, Don George & Molly Giles. According to the library website:
"Led by local travel enthusiasts, writers, adventurers, and Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-59605353731451923682015-10-05T12:46:00.000-07:002015-10-05T12:48:07.244-07:00The Art of Memoir: Mary Karr Speaks at USF on Recovery, Spirituality, Prayer and Writing
"I was a heathen most of my life," said Mary Karr, University of San Francisco's inaugural speaker in the Ignatian Lecture Series on Writing and Spirituality in mid-September. "It was more likely I’d become a pole dancer or a drug mule than a Catholic."
It's the kind of quick wit Karr used throughout the evening talk, interlaced with humility and generous honesty, as she Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-37220665693163550842015-08-19T14:28:00.000-07:002015-08-19T14:28:53.596-07:00Going Old School: Nostalgic for the Typewriter
Photo credit: OldTypewriter
Have you noticed a resurgent interest in vintage and portable typewriters? Royal, Smith-Corona, Underwood, Remington--all have caught my eye in neighborhood antique stores and online venues like Etsy, such as this 1970s Red Portable Olivetti Valentine Vintage, sold by OldTypewriter. Combine old-school nostalgia with sleek shapes and clickety-clack acoustic Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-29616443579756267872015-08-06T11:08:00.000-07:002015-08-06T11:08:54.249-07:00Tuolumne Meadows Poetry Festival at Parsons Memorial Lodge in Yosemite National Park
Back from my 3-week road trip to the Eastern Sierra, including a stop in Death Valley and two final nights camping just outside Yosemite National Park, I've now framed and hung a lovely letterpress broadside of a poem purchased at the art boutique/visitor center in Lee Vining near Mono Lake.
The poem, Azure Creek, by 8th-century Chinese poet Wang Wei and translated by PEN Award–winner David Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-82464803992001783922015-07-11T20:35:00.000-07:002015-07-11T20:37:50.193-07:00Writing Maps: "Inspiration in Your Pocket"Got writer's block? Shaun Levin, a "deviser of Writing Maps," publishes what he calls "inspiration in your pocket" with a plethora of writing prompts in each portable creation. According to the website:
Each illustrated Writing Map contains at least 12 extended and thought-provoking writing exercises that will help you explore the city, the home, characters in fiction and memoir, the Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-78573153766454048322015-05-31T11:16:00.000-07:002015-05-31T11:16:54.250-07:00Haiku in May
Gleaming white naked sheep graze
Wind chimes silence train
Garden growing, need more rain?
Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-24151493819429800142015-04-23T09:18:00.000-07:002015-04-23T09:18:53.680-07:00National Poetry Month: Weekly Gems for Your Inbox with Poem-A-Day and Weekend Sherpa I've been clearing out my email lately, unsubscribing from reams of newsletters, deals and alerts that flood my inbox daily. But, in addition to keeping my tried-and-true weekly round-up of lit mag goodness from The Review Review and Duotrope, I've just added two more to the list: Weekend Sherpa and National Poetry Month's Poem-a-Day.
I recently applied as a freelance writer to Weekend Sherpa,Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-46981079379648899692015-03-23T07:21:00.000-07:002015-03-23T07:49:05.037-07:00Small Press Roulette: a grab bag of literary goodies
Do you want to dive into literary journals but don't know where to start? Feel like perusing flash fiction or experimental work, but your local bookstore doesn't carry what you're looking for?
Check out SmallPressRoulette, an etsy store created by "Karen, the Small Press Librarian," aka Karen Lillis, an author who runs a pop up indie press bookstand of literary treasures called Small Press Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-75055289823035987852015-03-09T09:47:00.000-07:002015-03-09T09:47:11.639-07:00Tinder, Gawker and Other Writing Prompts at First Friday Pens and Pints with Petals & Bones
Had a blast at the Pens and Pints First Friday Writing Bonanza, a monthly event created by Petals and Bones that takes place at Jack and Tony's Whisky Bar in Santa Rosa. About 10 of us crammed into a large corner booth near the bar, notebooks and pens competing for space on the table with a variety of drinks (I had STRAIGHT ON 'TIL MORNING: Hibiscus & strawberry infused Rum, Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-81048943713589620122015-03-02T11:50:00.000-08:002015-03-03T11:54:41.936-08:00The Ups and Downs of Submissions & Rejections
Thank you for the opportunity to consider your work. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit CutBank's needs at this time. We wish you the best of luck in placing it elsewhere. Regards, CutBank Literary Journal
The first rejection rolled in mid-February for my essay "Wildish Woman: A Portrait." A writer friend recently remarked that I have 'thick skin.' Honestly, it doesn't bother me toNicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-70996711425372593892015-02-16T14:22:00.001-08:002015-02-16T14:22:53.914-08:00How to be a Better Writer: On PerseveranceMadly at work on several essay revisions, I've been feeling a bit mad (as in crazy, not angry) as I witness the erratic pace of my own writing process. After clocking 60 hours in January on the revision(s) of "Wildish Woman: A Portrait," about a wildlife biologist in Alaska, the writing went dormant in the post-submission phase as I recovered from the burn-out and accompanying self-doubt that Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-68845593381455324792015-01-12T09:21:00.000-08:002015-01-12T09:21:11.969-08:00Write Like A Serial Killer: Authors Talk About the Compulsion to Create at Poets&Writers LIVE
At Saturday's Poets&Writers LIVE event in San Francisco, my MFA friends and I found the most interesting panel session to be Why We Write, modeled after the magazine's column of the same name. Melissa Faliveno, the magazine's associate editor who moderated the panel of five writers and poets, referenced a prior stage conversation between David Shields and Caleb Powell regarding their Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-83514014367710626402015-01-05T04:00:00.000-08:002015-01-05T04:00:05.747-08:00Renewing your commitment to writing in 2015: Poets&Writers conference + classes for writersJump-start your new year's writing resolutions with a winter writing class in your community or online. I'm headed to San Francisco on Saturday, January 10, for "Poets&Writers LIVE," a conference put on by my favorite writers' magazine. There's still room to register (cost is now $100):
Photo credit: Nicole R. Zimmerman
Join us for a day-long event at San Francisco's Brava Theater Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-1578681400614836482014-12-22T10:02:00.002-08:002014-12-22T10:02:30.002-08:00Writing in the new year: what I'm working on nowWhat to tackle next? In my internet meanderings I came upon my first love: travel writing. Can't believe I'd never heard of Nowhere Magazine: Literary Travel Writing/Photography/Film/Art. This excellent quality digital magazine (Dave Eggers and others have been published in it) features a fall 2014 writing contest judged by Lorin Stein, editor of the Paris Review, with a deadline of January Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-11683507587413545742014-12-15T04:00:00.000-08:002014-12-15T04:00:14.726-08:00Why am I telling this story? What does it mean?
With several essays simmering or sizzling on the stove, shifting between back and front burners, the question I revisit again and again is: "What is this essay's central theme? What is the takeaway for the reader? What does it all add up to?" It is usually at that point in organization or revision that I get stuck in my writerly rut.
While it can sometimes be good to set a piece aside for a Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-10470378643925928132014-12-05T09:17:00.004-08:002014-12-14T18:52:43.050-08:00Forthcoming Publication in Creative NonfictionLast week, just after Thanksgiving, I was filled with gratitude for receiving the following letter from Hattie Fletcher, the Managing Editor at Creative Nonfiction magazine:
Thank you very much for your submission to Creative Nonfiction's "Memoir" issue, and for your patience during our lengthy review process. I'm writing now with both bad news and good news. We received more than 1,700 Nicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935830889517770086.post-16978082144861532642014-11-29T17:09:00.000-08:002014-11-29T17:12:04.601-08:00Condensing word count: an exercise in economyIn graduate school I got so accustomed to turning in the required 10- to 20-page submissions that all of my essays now tend to stretch to great lengths. Lucky for me, most literary journals accept works of 4-5,000 words. But when I recently decided to submit something to The East Bay Monthly with a word limit of just 900 (but a circulation of 62,000), I accepted the challenge to condense.
ScrollNicole R. Zimmermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08086585405281371322noreply@blogger.com2