National 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, a Sonoma-based company that offers "insiders' recommendations on the best outdoor pursuits exclusive to California," and which I only now realize I mistakenly misspelled as one word (WeekendSherpa) in my letter of interest--a copywriter's nightmare.

Ah well. If I don't get any assignments describing favorite weekend getaways, at least I've got weekly inspiration in my inbox: this week's newsletter highlights San Francisco GoCars (I just did a rewrite for one in San Diego for Viator!) and a Segway ride around Angel Island ("They're fun and goofy... kinda like the Hall & Oates of outdoor recreation").

April is National Poetry Month, and I know I'm a little late here after tax day and the last frost date, but there are some really cool happenings for this annual event, considered by the Academy of American poets to be "the largest literary celebration in the world."

This year's poster, which holds the spotlight at my local library, was designed by National Book Award finalist Roz Chast, whose comic memoir Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? made me laugh out loud throughout, even though the topic--aging in America--isn't funny. If you'd like to post this one in your classroom, library or home office, you can request a free poster!

In addition to attending special events and readings throughout the country, you can sign up for National Poetry Month's aforementioned Poem-a-Day: receive original, previously unpublished poems  throughout the week and classic poems on weekends.

Finally, for any of you teachers out there, Dear Poet is a multimedia education project for grades 5 through 12 where students write letters in response to poems by award-winning poets (see the video below of Naomi Shihab Nye reading "How Do I Know When a Poem Is Finished?"). A curriculum specialist even helped design a series of classroom activities aligned with the Common Core.

According to the website:

Students—to participate in this year’s Dear Poet project, watch the videos below of Chancellors reading and discussing one of their poems. Then, write them a letter in response and send it by post or email to the Academy of American Poets, 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038 ordearpoet@poets.org by April 30, 2015. Please include your name and the name of the poet to whom you’ve written. We will consider all letters for publication on Poets.org in May 2015. And our Chancellors will reply to select letters of their choosing.

Making Progress: Logging the Writing Hours

Photo credit: Nicole R. Zimmerman

Finally--a successful writing (i.e. revising) week! Logging my hours, but also keeping notes on the process, has been a tremendous help in keeping me motivated and focused. The first morning, I committed to a half hour, which turned into one. The second day, I put it off until late evening, and was amazed by how much gets done in a short time. My workload at my freelance job was low so I devoted the entire third day to writing and accomplished quite a bit. Here's a glimpse:


Monday: 1 hour

• Read through essay on Scrivener
• Moved parts around to play with structure
• Took notes on what stands out in terms of themes and scenes
• Challenge: trying to fit too much in one essay (currently 11,000 words!)
• Bonus: feels good to start; surprised at strength of the writing

Tuesday: 1.5 hours

• Took a 2.5-mile morning walk that brought insights about structure, tense and voice
• Wrote an outline for the structure
• Started tackling sections of prose
• Challenge: still sorting out whether one essay or two, and what belongs in which
• Bonus: it no longer feels insurmountable; I believe in this piece and trust in the process

Wednesday: 7 hours

• Revised first 2,500 words (3 sections)!
• Created a rough structure for the rest
• Challenge: how to prioritize information in each scene, esp. w/ characterization 
• Bonus: I'm totally immersed now and invested in this piece (hello, insomnia!)

I worked all day Thursday and left town for A Wrinkle in Time in Ashland Friday-Monday, but will bring along a printed version to fiddle with should I feel so inspired between plays and cafes (yes, I'm blogging this ahead of time). I even managed to submit an essay that's currently in circulation to The Missouri Review's Jeffrey E. Smith Editor's Prize (deadline: Oct 1). Look for more on this amazing literary journal, which includes print, digital and audio (including a weekly podcast) later.

In other news, the Review Review just wrote a review of Georgetown Review--that's a lot of review--in which my essay "Double Life" was a 2014 contest finalist. Here's what Christopher Lowe has to say about the winning poem and issue:

In “Savagery,” the winner of this year’s Georgetown Review Prize, Matthew Lippman presents us with a brief, diverse cross-section of humanity...Those lines are striking because they’re invested with both cynicism and hope for the human condition.  There is an acknowledgement of the sadness, pain, and hurt that we inflict – and that are inflicted upon us – but there is also that bewilderment at the possibility that it could be worse, that things aren’t always so dark.  Those counterpoints fuel much of the work in in the Spring 2014 issue of Georgetown Review, an issue that sprawls across 170 pages of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art.

Literary Grab Bag: Lit Camp, Handling Rejection and The Review Review (with Cappuccino)

This week brought more great news to my writerly world:

Congratulations! You are being offered a place at Lit Camp. We had more than 250 submissions for only 40 spots. Everyone who was chosen represents the very best in fiction and nonfiction writing. It was a pleasure to read your work! 

Mayacamas Ranch, Calistoga, CA

Sponsored by Litquake and the San Francisco Writers Grotto, Lit Camp is an annual spring writers conference that takes place at Mayacamas Ranch, a retreat center in Calistoga, CA. Take a look at the rigorous Lit Camp schedule, which includes a Yoga for Writers workshop; free time to enjoy the hot tub, saltwater pool and spring-fed pond; and plenty of 'Booze and Schmooze' opportunities with writers, literary agents and editors of esteemed publications such as ZYZZVYA, McSweeney's, The Believer and The Rumpus. Oh, yeah, and some writing workshops!


The bad news: A couple of my writer friends didn't make it in. Which brings me to my next topic: Handling Rejection. I happen to know that these two are excellent writers; one just scored an agent and a possible publishing contract for her book. So here are some refreshing perspectives to share.

Helen Dring at Black Fox Literary Magazine makes the claim that "rejections will make you better":

You see, receiving rejections means two very good things. First, my work is out there in the world being read...   

Second, sometimes rejections come with feedback...

In her blog post, Rejections I Have Known, Susie Meserve reveals the good, the bad and the ugly (as well as sweet) in her folder of 282 rejections -- including some nostalgia for handwritten notes.

I borrowed the rejection links above from my weekly shot of The Review Review, which sends me an e-newsletter I never reject from my inbox. Amid all the spam is this constant gem, filled with fascinating tidbits from the writerly front, from interviews to blogs to lit mags to the ever-so whimsical parting words of its founding editor, Becky Tuch, who created the website from the ashes of rejection:

In the spring of 2008, I stopped submitting to literary magazines. As a fiction writer, trying to get my work published felt as futile and inconsequential as trying to write my name on a snowflake.

Here is how Ms. Tuch signed off this week. How can you not love a newsletter like this?

And that you white-tea sippers, you acai-berry chewers, you leafy-green consumers, you who love your antioxidants, you who are a dangerously free radical, you who are fit, you who are strong, and you there, just trying to get through the day without spilling food on yourself, is the news in literary magazines.

Well, it's not white tea or acai (pronounced 'a-sa-ee' -- it rhymes!) that's for me.

Pushcart Prize part II: Critics discuss the selection & publication process for 'the best' of small presses

Here's a follow-up to my prior post on receiving the recent news of my Pushcart Prize nomination:

Truth be told, I'd certainly heard of the Pushcart, but realized I didn't really know much about it. Here's what Poets & Writers describes:

Publication in The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses is awarded annually for poetry, fiction, and essays published by literary magazines or small presses during the previous year. Editors may nominate up to six poems, short stories, novel chapters, or essays. 

And here's a bit on the founding of Pushcart Press from the press website:

In 1976, Henderson and a group of Founding Editors that included Paul Bowles, Ralph Ellison, Joyce Carol Oates and Reynolds Price, started the Pushcart Prize anthology to recognize and celebrate the best work in the rapidly expanding independent publishing movement. Through the years since, the Prize has honored the art of thousands of writers and hundreds of presses. Each edition features reprints of work by about sixty authors from dozens of presses as selected from nominations by small press editors and Pushcart’s staff of distinguished Contributing Editors.

So... what is the selection process like at Pushcart Press? An online search, as well as a recent newsletter from The Review Review, brought my attention to several interesting blog posts and articles critiquing the prize (and literary awards in general). Henry Tonn's Sept. 20 post at Reading, Writing and Rejection Slips describes his own response to hearing news of his recent Pushcart nomination: 

This is very nice, and I am happy to be selected, but it behooves me to point out that this particular memoir-essay had previously been rejected by no fewer than 82 publishers... Bill Henderson was nice enough to return my phone call and informed me that they had over 7000 entries last year from hundreds of lit mags and they expect at least that many this year. 

Tonn goes on to point out "the few number of literary journals that are consistently represented" by Pushcart Press. At The American Dissident: A Journal of Literature, Democracy and Dissidence, edited by G. Tod Slone, a post on The Pushcart Prize suggests we "raise a few questions":

First, who are the judges sitting on the prize panels as literary censors of good taste and artistic excellence, those highly subjective qualities?  Second, how are they chosen? In other words, who were the judges who chose those judges? Third, who or what kind of work tends to be chosen for the prizes and, conversely, not chosen?  Fourth, how does the prize fit into the schema of the academic/literary established-order milieu?

The post also includes a more lighthearted and humorous missive on longing for the prize by Jim Valvis, a "self-proclaimed boyfriend of a multiple Pushcart nominee." And there's a not-to-be-missed Missouri Review post by Michael Nye, managing editor, on "The False Promise of Acceptance and Publication." Although Nye doesn't actually critique prize selection, he addresses the post-publication slump: "Whether it’s your first story, your first poem, your first book, or your first 'big success' (whatever that entails), there is a bit of a surprise when, after all is done, how quickly it feels over and inconsequential." Thankfully, I haven't experienced that yet!

Pacific Ocean at Sea Ranch (Nicole R. Zimmerman, 2013)

Literary journals and literary reviews make room for women's writing, thanks to VIDA

Thanks to the VIDA Count, times are a-changing in the literary world. According to a blog report by Rachel Peterson at the Review Review,

"many lit mag editors have stepped up to the challenge of ensuring gender parity. In just a few years, the literary landscape has changed and continues to change."

VIDA Women in Literary Arts is a grassroots nonprofit founded "to address the need for female writers of literature to engage in conversations regarding the critical reception of women’s creative writing in our current culture." 

Here's a partial list of literary journals jumping on board to take women's writing more seriously. Consider it the seafood watch of the writing world!

Thumbs up to these magazines for making improvements in the past year:

The Boston Review 

POETRY 

The Threepenny Review 

Granta 

These mags are counting their authors because of The Count:

Harvard Review 

Drunken Boat 

J Journal: New Writing on Justice 

Structo 

For more, go to Viva VIDA! Lit Mags That Challenge Sexism

Ready to Write: Submitting to Writing Contests

It's writing contest time in the literary world. Or, at least in my case, finding out I didn't win a writing contest. Sure, it's a long shot submitting that essay or story you've revised and revised for a needle-in-a-haystack chance at prize money and publication (although submitting last year to South Loop Review: Nonfiction + Art did result in the latter--to be printed in the Fall 2013 issue--a long, but worth-it wait akin to the yearlong process of book publication).

The recent rejection to which I am referring is the first annual Sycamore Review Wabash Nonfiction Prize, selected by guest judge Mary Karr (poet and author of The Liars' Club, Cherry and Lit):

"Congratulations to our winners and finalists, and thank you to all who submitted. We received an astounding 326 submissions in this first year, and many more poignant, moving submissions than we have room to mention. Our editorial staff enjoyed reading the work of so many talented writers."

Alas, I'm gearing up again, considering which of my personal essays from my thesis collection to submit, and where. Competing against literature and writing professors with published books and other credits in their bios can be intimidating at best, discouraging at worst. But, for me, I think it's less about keeping an eye on the prize as it is just getting a piece dressed and out the door. Sometimes a contest deadline provides the motivation I need to do just that.

There's also something intentional about the process. Browsing literary journals online, reading submission guidelines, revisiting my own work and taking it seriously enough to try -- all make the effort worthwhile. Even the submission fees (usually hovering around $13-15) are a worthy investment, as they go toward a yearlong subscription -- often 1-2 volumes per year. When I recently received the latest South Loop Review, a sizable book full of innovative work I'm thrilled to soon add my name to, the price was a small one to pay.

Finally, in terms of considering whether or not your own work is ready for the submission process, here's some advice straight from the source -- a blog entry, "What Captivates Us," by Sycamore Review's nonfiction editor, Shavonne Clarke:

When I read through Sycamore’s nonfiction submission pile, those pieces that grip me most seem almost self-aware in this way. Either they have excised those dull bits from their memories, or they have transformed them into something fascinating. They are full of tension. What will happen, I wonder, but of course, everything in an essay has already happened. This is where an essay becomes masterful: what has happened in the past becomes, for the reader, the present. As with a good short story or novel, these essays are capable of transporting me. There is a journey to be made, a path to be forged, and all of it matters because I imagine that the writer is still grappling with it now, today, this very moment. These memories are still breathing, creating a narrative that will bring us to a new place, to an insight into our condition. 

With many deadlines beginning mid-March, here are a few great links to get you started (thanks to Kathy Crowley at The Review Review):

The Review Review classified section

Poets and Writer’s Contests

Writer’s Relief contests page

Freelance Writing site

New Pages

Writers-Editors.com

The Review Review: "good news, harsh reviews & all things lit maggy"

A few days after posting last week's Life After the MFA my colleague Amber Starfire forwarded a newsletter from The Review Review, an online review of literary journals, with the exciting news that founding editor Becky Tuch posted the following blog mention and link:

In other news, if you’ve gotten your MFA, are mid-MFA or potentially pre-MFA, you might appreciate Nicole R. Zimmerman’s encouraging and level-headed article, “Life After the MFA: Exploring Publication Options.” 

 Since I'm also exploring career options (journalist? editor? marketing specialist? tutor? adjunct instructor? creative writing teacher? all of the above?) I found these other links informative:

You might also appreciate this piece on The Millions by Nick Ripatrazone: “Got an MFA? Teach High School.” Nick’s article makes a reference to The Adjunct Project, a rather distressing website that features a database of adjunct pay scales at universities around the world. If seeing this database is a bummer, you might be encouraged by this comforting photograph, a record of one writer’s rejection letters from various literary magazines. And if you really want a jolt of encouragement, then check out Beyond the Margins’ own Randy Susan Meyers’ wonderful piece, “Fifty+ Shades of Publishing A First Book When Over 40 (50, 60, 70, 80, 90 Years-Old)” which offers a hardy list of writers who got their big break later in life.

 Sign up for the weekly newsletter (I just did) or you can get a recap on the blog Beyond the Margins. Or, if you're interested in carefully reading and critiquing a literary magazine, become a reviewer!