One Piece

In keeping with my new year's resolution , I am reading as a writer, dissecting as I go. I confess that my resolution is difficult to keep. It is nearly impossible to analyze what I am reading while I am enthralled in a novel.  But what are resolutions for, if not to be broken almost immediately? Still, in an effort to be true to my word, I have turned my writerly eye on Susanna Clarke. Clarke gained fame for her masterful Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell , a work which took her ten years to write. It was later made into an equally masterful series, which I have watched four times. (Maybe five ... I've lost count.) Rather than tackling Clarke's work with her most famous novel, I began with her second novel, Piranesi , which was published last year, sixteen years after  Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.  Clarke takes her time producing a novel, and there is a good reason for that. Her intellect, and the sheer meticulousness with which she constructs a novel, is daunting. I...

This August there are more than eight dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As always, every genre, style, and form is wanted, from short stories to poetry to essays. I post calls for submissions on the first day of every month. But as I am collecting them, I post them on my page,  Calls for Submissions . You can get a jump on next month's calls for submissions by checking that page periodically throughout the month. (I only post paying markets.) Also see  Paying Markets  for hundreds of paying markets arranged by form and genre. Happy submitting! (Image by Christine Engelhardt from Pixabay) ____________________ The Forge Literary Magazine .  Genre : Fiction, flash fiction, micro-fiction. Length: Under 3,000 words preferred.  Payment : $75.  Deadline : They open to fee-free submissions on the first of each month and close when they reach their quota. Havok .  Genre : Flash fiction on Theme of EVE...

This August there are more than three dozen writing contests calling for every genre and form, from poetry, to creative nonfiction, to completed novels. Prizes range from $100,000 to publication. None charge entry fees. Some of these contests have age and geographical restrictions, so read the instructions carefully. If you want to get a jump on next month's contests go to  Free Contests . Most of these contests are offered annually, so even if the deadline is past, you can prepare for next year. Good luck!  (Image: Photo Stock Editor) ___________________ Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grants .  Restrictions : Open to women and trans artists in Greater Philadelphia to fund art for social change proje cts. People living in Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia counties Delaware who are 18 years of age or older and who are not full-time students in a degree-granting arts program are eligible.  Genres : Art in traditional or nontradit...

Publishing has gone through a great many upheavals over the past few decades. There has been an increasing consolidation of publishing houses into the Big 4, which used to be the Big 5, and before that Big 7, etc. And with Random House's merger with Penguin, there was speculation that soon there would only be the Big 1. But mergers and monopolies aren't the only trend on the horizon. The increasing acquisition of publishing houses by private equity firms is another disturbing development. In an article posted in Publishers Weekly , Gary Gentel bemoans the demise of Houghton Mifflin. Gentel, who was president of the HMH trade division from 2007 to 2016, traces the trajectory of the purchase of Houghton Mifflin by Riverdeep Holdings, which then purchased Harcourt Education and created Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which in turn led to the eventual cash purchase of Scholastic’s EdTech business by HMH, which created HMH Books and Media (Trade), which was then sold again. HMH, which d...

Summer writing conferences are going ahead as planned via online formats. You can still attend workshops, presentations, readings, discussions, lectures, and critiques via Zoom. Some are also offering workshops in person.  Conferences are not only the best way to meet agents, get tips from other writers, and learn about the publishing industry, they make you feel like a  writer . Plan ahead! Conferences often offer scholarships, but these have deadlines. If one of these conferences interests you, put the scholarship deadline date on your calendar for next year, or for whenever the conference rolls around again. For a full list of conferences, organized by month, see  Writing Conferences . While nearly all of these are in the United States, you can find links on that page that will take you to world-wide conference lists. (Image by kandhal keshvala from Pixabay ) __________________________ Fine Arts Work Center Summer Workshops  (poetry, fiction, art, and creativ...