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b4 Sunday January 20, 2013 Grind Writers News

b4 Sunday Jan 20, 2013

News Grind Writers

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Start the new year

writing

Yes right now.

DEAW – drop everything and write.

Yes.

And put a sticky with ”DEAW” on your fridge and bathroom mirror.

Just go to this website and click on a prompt and start.

Pen, computer, whatever.

Yes, now. Yes, this instant. Yes, before anything else. 15 mins. Go!

You know you’re curious to see these prompts at Writers & Poets. Are they any good?

They’re right here. Go on. Take a look.

Give it a go. You know you’ll feel better after you write. Ahhhhh!

And then do it again. And again. And don’t forget our picture writing-prompt on the last page.

inside inside

3 Who, you?

Do you suffer from Obsessive-Compulsive EDITING Disorder?

4 Promises, promises: New year’s resolutions from some of Canada’s favourite authors

4 Editing EAC talk, Vancouver - “The Making of a Professional”

4 Yes! The annual INSPIRATION ISSUE from Poets & Writers

5 R U ready? Humber College’s February intake for online course in completing your book-length M.S.

5 Uh-oh 21 emotions for which there are no English words.

5 Mo Yan The saga continues

6 Biting off more than you can chew Are you torturing yourself as a writer?

6 Have your cake And eat it too!

6 Your entire life is online Careful

8 Oops 20 common grammar mistakes almost everybody makes

9 Submit info on contests and calls for submissions

11 Canada Writes contest info

11 What are they up to? North Shore Writers

12 Do it! The Grind Writers free-write photo prompt

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editing obsessive-compulsive

disorder?

YOU suffer from

Do

I listened to those doubts because they led me back into familiar, almost comforting, territory—editing.

Read WRITER UNBOXED’s Jeanne Kisacky’s story

tale account of her pen-melting soul-destroying

harrowing journey through OCED and discover

learn how you can avoid this crippling

procrastination-enabling condition disorder in your

own work writing: Obsessive Compulsive Editing

Disorder (And How to Fight It)

(For further support, read the remarks Comments

below the piece too.)

“

interesting Facebook page

Writerspace is the home for over 550 authors, primarily romance and mystery, of the best fiction on the market today. Writerspace communities are familiar places for readers to gather, talk to each

other, learn about releases and chat with authors.

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before Sat. Jan 5, 2013

VANCOUVER TALK – “The Making of a Professional: Why Do Editors Need a National Association?” Editors Association of Canada – BC Branch meeting Wednesday, January 16, 2013 7-9 PM (speaker starts @ 730) Non-members: $10, Students: $5 with valid ID. Refreshments will be served Welch Room, 4

th floor -

YWCA Health & Wellness Centre 535 Hornby Street, Vancouver What does it mean and what does it take to be a professional in your field—in fact, any field? Are editors there yet? Or is there still a way for us to go before being accepted (and paid!) as professionals? David Harrison will bring you first-hand some fresh impressions of what EAC is currently up to at the national level to support editors and help advance the profession. He’ll talk about topics of member interest that are being addressed nationally and ask what you really want your national representatives to be doing on your behalf. An experienced business and academic editor, David Harrison also worked for 20 years in the accounting profession.

New years resolutions from some of Canada’s favourite writers here. For example:

Robert Sawyer

1. Stop worrying about the impending collapse

of traditional publishing. 2. Stop eating salted cashews at my keyboard --

they make a mess! 3. Resign myself to the fact that the Giller and

Governor-General's Awards will never smile on science fiction.

4. Stop pretending that surfing the net is "research."

5. Learn to spell "occasionally" and occurred." 6. Stop writing manuscripts in Courier 12-point

using underlining instead of real italics. Share yours in the Comments section or on their Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/canadawrites)

The annual inspiration issue

is here. “Our Inspiration Issue features a special section on new literary, emotional, and scientific approaches to the imaginative power inside us all…” The most interesting, relevant-looking stuff is tagged print-only and you have to subscribe to the print mag.

However, they do have an interesting resource here. It’s a “database of writerly

destinations—places writers can visit for inspiration, to promote their writing, for research, and to discover community—includes historical sites, reading venues, literary collections, writing centers, and writers spaces.” Alas, it’s all in the U.S., but it’s pretty cool. Take Washingtons state for example – you can click on the map and up pops a list of writerly venues in WA, and visitors can add to the listings. Wish someone would start a Canadian version. How handy would that be now that so many writers are going to be setting up their own promo tours.

Friends of the Humber School for

Writers Ready to Write That Book. May is the intake of the correspondence program, but February 1st is the deadline to apply. The program’s intent is to help you complete a book-length project. 307 of their graduates have gone on to publish books. Info here.

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The ongoing Saga of Mo Yan…

Salman Rushdie calls Mo a “patsy,”

then has to defend himself. Here’s

that story.

The New York Review of Books published

one called “Why We Should Criticize Mo

Yan.” Perry Link says Mo’s defenders suffer

from 西方中心主义, aka xifangzhongxinzhuyi.

The Edge of Right dun dun dun

Novelst Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize in

Literature for 2012 and has become intimate

with the swirling politics of the prize.

21 emotions for which there are

no English words Do you have trouble finding just the right word? Well, this article probably won’t help you directly with that. What this article and its infographic (designed by artist Pei-Ying Lin) may do, is help you think about and clarify the words you currently use to describe emotions and to hone in on nuance with the words we do have.

The article’s author, Emily Elert (whose list of such words I quote) says we apparently don’t have an English word for “that bubbly feeling of the moment of falling in love” (if indeed it is an actual moment not a process, but that’s another story). But the Japanese do:

Evidently we lack a word for that “state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery” – but the Czechs have one: litost. (Say that word out loud: it sounds like a missile exploding—perfect.) Hard to believe we don’t have a word for “the embarrassment you feel watching someone else’s humiliation” but Mexican Spanish does: pena ajena. Despite goings-on at Gitmo, English still does not, according to Ms. Elert’s article, possess a word for “the pleasure derived from someone else’s pain” – but German does: schadenfreude.

Very serious lackings. Without English words for those feelings, does it mean we don’t feel them, that only the Japanese or the Czechs have experienced those emotions? Of course not – they just got around to assigning sounds & syllables to them first.

Yes, of course we have the option of using the foreign words in italics – or we could invent our own. And maybe it is our duty as writers to do just that.

The very least we can do is vow not to be lazy, to make an effort to avoid clichés, to really drill down (to use a cliché) and think about what our characters are feeling and find creative, original ways to describe (or show) it. We can learn and use the words we do have in English to try and get as close as possible to what’s going on in our characters’ heads and hearts—and in our own.

Expand your writer’s vocab: learn a new word every day

If you find yourself using a lot of clichés in you writing or you’re not sure of the word you need, it might be helpful to subscribe to the (free) A Word A Day emails. You’ll receive a new word every day with its meaning, an example of its usage in a sentence, and—best of all—an icon you can

click on to hear its pronunciation.

Read all

about it!

4 Copy Editors

Killed in ongoing

AP Style-Chicago

Manual Gang Violence

STORY HERE.

“ ‘JANE AUSTEN’S

elegantly self-enclosed

world’ depended on

unseen ‘hellish slavery

plantations’ in the

Caribbean.” QUOTED HERE.

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A musician posed a question on Reddit about why beginning writers

so often start by writing whole novels. “No composition teacher would recommend that a beginning composer write a symphony.” He added:

“I have noticed that many beginning writers are working on novels. It seems that many people in this subreddit as well organizations such as NaNoWriMo are encouraging this and I am not sure why. As a composer, this confounds me and I would like to know how you feel about it.

“Why are writers encouraged to set themselves up for

disappointment by beginning their journeys with a novel they will

most likely not complete—or will most likely be of poor quality?

Flash fiction, letters, writing prompts, short stories, why are these

not the tools of a developing writer? … Why is there a focus on

quantity over quality in the world of writers?”

A good question. Someone raised this very question in Grind

Writers at the last meeting.

Is small beautiful in this case? The jury is out. A somewhat interesting

discussion ensues in the Comments under the questio at Reddit.

However, rather than read more about writing, it would probably be

more productive to just get your pen out and start writing.

________________________________________________________________ Writing conferences aren’t cheap

Ever wonder which are the best ones to attend?

Writer Chuck Sambuchino gives you his opinion on Writer Unboxed and argues that money should play a part in your choice – “not every up-and-coming scribe can manage the required dough.”

This made it onto one of his lists: Alberta Writers Guild Event: Words in 3D May 23–25, 2013 in Edmonton. But not this: Our own Surrey International Writers’ Conference Oct 25–28 at the Guildford Sheraton. If $$ is an issue, you can volunteer at SIWC and attend workshops in exchange.

And how about this, in August?—Homeric Writers Retreat & Workshop (Isle of Ithaca, Greece).

by biting off way more than you can

chew at this stage of your writing?

torturing

yourself

Are you

sent by Elizabeth McLean:

Screenwriting courses at UBC

starting in January. Details here.

“Your entire

Lauren Radley told us about this video

at the last Grind Writers meeting. It’s

quite fascinating and well done.

Belgian. We need to know this. Watch

right to the end.

y i k e s

Yes, have your Cake

“CAKE.shortandsweet

runs a write-in every week

to writers to practise their

skills, and get chatting to

each other about their

work. Everyone is

welcome to join in….

“We’ll feature our favourite story on the blog

with a review of it and links to the author’s

blog/ twitter/ facebook if relevant.”

life is

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Check your email the morning-of meetings in

case of last-minute cancellation due to

inclement weather.

b4 Sunday October 28, 2012

Grind Writers schedule 2013

10am til 12:30pm Grind Gallery Café 4124 Main Street

at King Edward Ave. In the back room

Thanks to Mr & Mrs Kim, the

Grind for owners, for letting us meet in their Back Room

for the last six years and for their support of the arts in general – they provide gallery space to

many local artists.

Please buy something while you’re there to support the Grind – and

please clear up after yourself. We don’t want to leave them a mess to

clean up after their kindness.

Sun Jan 20

Sat Feb 2

Sun Feb 17

Sat Mar 2

Sun Mar 17

Sat Apr 6

Sun Apr 21

Sat May 4

Sun May 26

Sat June 8

Sun June 23

Sat July 6

Sun July 21

Sat Aug 10

Sun Aug 25

Sat Sept 7

Sun Sept 22

Sat Oct 5

Sun Oct 20

Sat Nov 2

Sun Nov 17

Sat Nov 30

Sun Dec 15? – to be decided

Saturday February 23, 2013 - 9am-4pm Editors' Assoc. of Canada Seminar Freelance 101 for Editors: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

SFU Harbour Centre - Vancouver Instructor: Barbara Adamski Registration closes Feb. 15th 5pm Whether you’re thinking of taking the plunge into full- or part-time freelancing or are already doing it, this workshop is for you. Learn what to consider before setting up shop, how to find and keep good clients, and some of the common pitfalls and not-so-fun (yet necessary!) aspects of freelancing. Barbara K. Adamski has been a freelance writer and editor for the better part of a decade. Her recent editing projects include a book on video game law, several novels, and the bestselling ebook Finding Karla. You can register online now: * Early Bird (on or before Feb. 1): Member: $120; Non: $180 * After Feb. 1: Member: $140; Non: $200 Info and registration here.

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*READ (PLEASE) THE WHOLE ARTICLE, BY ROOT007, AT

SHQIPRIA and you’ll find more of root007’s posts on grammar here:

lies somewhere in the final steps

of the editing trail; and as such it’s an overrated quasi-irrelevancy in the creative process, perpetuated into importance primarily by bitter nerds

who accumulate tweed jackets and crippling inferiority complexes. But experience has also taught me that readers, for better or worse, will approach your work with a jaundiced eye and an itch to judge. While your grammar shouldn’t be a reflection of your creative powers or writing abilities, let’s face it — it usually is.”

grammar

“…some of the best authors in history have lived

to see these very toadstools

appear in print. Let’s hope you can learn from

some of their more famous mistakes.”

“

Common Grammar Mistakes

That (Almost) Everyone Makes* 20

deadline

Feb 1

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Calls for submissions Contest Mental Health Inside/Out Deadline: January 31st, 2013 For issue 7 of Poetry Is Dead, we have 2 guest editors Nikki Reimer and Kevin Spenst working on a collaborative issue. To submit, please email your submissions to ***Lots more description about this contest. Please read it all before you submit here. Call for submissions Warpaint Anthology Deadline: February 15, 2013 In the battle against conventional wisdom, artistic expression is our greatest weapon. ZenFri Inc. is publishing Warpaint – Issue 2 an anthology of bold, unusual, and provocative short fiction (up to 6,000 words) and visual artworks and is now accepting submissions of your writing or art. Warpaint establishes a vibrant space for transgressive and outsider art, waging war against the commonplace, and representing polemical themes. Its confrontations are inspired not simply by irreverence for the established, but an attitude that sees experimentation and dissent as the spurs of ingenuity. That’s why in Warpaint nothing is treated as sacred. Warpaint shares all sales revenues equally among its contributors. It’s also 100% artist-run and funded. Guidelines here. Call for submissions 17th annual writing contest of the North Shore Writers’ Association Deadline: postmarked February 28, 2013 Full guidelines here. Categories:

Fiction: up to 2000 words per entry

Nonfiction: up to 2000 words per entry

Poetry: a submission of one to three poems constitutes one entry.

Prizes for each category: 1

st prize: $100 & publication

2nd

prize: $50 & publication 3rd prize: $25 & publication Honorary mention: at the judges' discretion Winning entries will appear in the 2012 anthology Entry fees: members - $15 per entry; non-members $20 per entry Call for submissons The Writers’ Union Of Canada 20th Annual Short Prose Competition Deadline March 1, 2013 Website – www.writersunion.ca Fiction or non-fiction work of up to 2,500 words. in English written by an unpublished author. Prize: $2,500 for the winning entry, and the entries of the winner and finalists will be submitted to three Canadian magazines. Open to all Canadian citizens and landed immigrants who have not had a book published by a commercial or university press in any genre and who do not currently have a contract with a book publisher. Original and unpublished (English language) fiction or non-fiction is eligible. Read the guidelines carefully – here. Contest Ascent Aspirations Magazine (Nanaimo) Poetry & Flash Fiction Contest Deadline: March 9th, 2013 All info here. Contest EVENT magazine – Nonfiction Contest Deadline: April 15, 2013 $1500 in prizes available, plus publication $35 entry fee includes 1 year of EVENT 5,000 word limit. Submission guidelines here. Call for submissions Newborn Anthology - Leaf Press Deadline: January 30, 2013 Leaf is gathering poems for an anthology about the newly born, the almost born, the journey inbetween. We are interested in thresholds and liminal states; in moments that transcend global cultures. Authors of selected poems will receive $50 plus a copy of the book. Read the guidelines.

Submit. you know you want to

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Caught the eye of a Grind Writer

Search the source site LITERARY MAGAZINES: Listings of Literary Magazines – for every type of literary magazine.

Roundup of poetry contests here Geist Emerging Writer-of-the-Month Emerging writers are invited to submit short written works online. Read FAQ.

Call for submissions - open Subterranean Blue Poetry Subterranean Blue Poetry is an Internet Poetry and Art Publishing Café. We thrive on new original words and New Age art. All poets and their poetry are welcome and we are especially looking for homegrown poets from the Canadian first nations/American Indian Community; Quebec; small town Canada; international poets and anyone who was ever considered “the other.” New Age art offerings are for the masthead of each issue. Read all info here.

Call for submissions Literary Review of Canada (LRC) Submissions beginning May 1, 2013 for publication July/Aug–Dec 2013

For 2013, each issue will feature poems that share a common form or theme. (Jan-May issues already called out). During the months devoted to a given form, the subjects will vary, and vice versa. As always, we welcome unsolicited, unpublished, original submissions, provided that they fit one of the categories outlined. Here is the remainder of the 2013 publication calendar to help guide submissions:

• July/August: ekphrastic poetry, i.e. pieces inspired by other art forms (visual, film, music, etc.)

• September: prose poems • October: poems inspired by family • November: ghazals • December: poems inspired by food

Please include the month in which you would like your work to be read in the subject line of any emailed submissions. For more information, check out our full submissions guidelines here. The Quotable This online magazine wants writer-readers to submit stories based on their monthly prompts. Info here. Regime magazine - Short Stories. Poetry. Performance writing. Not only do they want your work

but they offer that you can tack $20 on your submission and they’ll send you back a detailed one-page critique. Note: do your due diligence. Read it all carefully .Full submission info here.) Calling all poets! Coastal Spectator A new arts-based review and commentary site operating independently out of the U. Vic. We want to publish, on our home site, one new poem each week for a year, so if you have a new piece of work -- that is a haiku or up to 25 lines long -- do submit. We can pay $25 for each poem published, and once its week on the site is over, it will be placed in a poetry archive onsite. We see it as a new way to introduce new or pending books of Canadian poetry. By "new" we mean book published in 2012. If you've just signed a poetry deal, then this is a good way to let the world know. Read all about it here.

Submit … continued

sent by Susan Greig

A Journal of Historical Fiction: Circa New in 2013 Responds in 1–2 weeks Publishing schedule: biannual We are an online journal dedicated to historical fiction. We love vintage, we love retro and we love good writing! Circa accepts fiction, creative non-fiction and articles on an historical theme. Short stories and creative non-fiction should not exceed 2000 words, articles should not exceed 800 words. As a Canadian journal, we have a special place in our heart for Canadian stories. To increase your chances of acceptance, remember Circa loves anything that provides a fresh take on history and resists cliche. We love genre-crossing, speculative and alternative history, too. Be original, bold and striking! Each month we will be running a photo prompt for a piece of flash fiction, 1000 words or less, to be featured on the site. Read the guidelines here.

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North Shore Writers’ Association: Upcoming speakers Meetings at the Capilano Public Library 3045 Highland Blvd in Edgemont Village North Vancouver - Members free, nons $5

January 21 – JJ Lee speaks about his journey through memory and the publication process. Fashion columnist for the Vancouver Sun and CBC Radio, Lee is the author of Measure of a Man: A Father, A Son and A Suit, which was shortlisted for the GG’s Award for Literary Nonfiction; and longlisted for the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Nonfiction for 2011

February, 18 - Genni Gunn. Gunn’s nine books include three novels – Solitaria (longlisted for the Giller Prize); Tracing Iris (The Riverbank, a film based on this novel opened the Sudbury International Film Festival); and Thrice Upon a Time (finalist for the Commonwealth Prize); two story collections and two poetry collections by Dacia Maraini in translation. Gunn’s opera, Alternate Visions was produced in Montreal in 2007. She lives in Vancouver and is a creative writing instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey campus.

More info on events here.

Sage Hill (Sask.) Poetry Colloquium Application deadline: March 1, 2013 May 10 – 23, 2013 Facilitator: Don McKay An opportunity to work with one of Canada's best poets as well as an esteemed tutor: a perfect combination for Sage Hill. Don McKay, who lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland, has published numerous books of poetry and several books of essays. His poetry has been recognized with a number of awards, including two GG’s Awards and the Griffin Poetry Prize. His most recent book of essays, The Shell of the Tortoise, received the BMO Winterset Award for Excellence in Newfoundland and Labrador Writing for 2011. Paradoxides, his most recent book of poems, includes meditations on geology and deep time, while pursuing ongoing obsessions with birds and tools. This is an intensive 2-week working and critiquing retreat, designed to assist poets with manuscripts in progress. Each writer will have a significant publishing record and the desire to develop his/her craft and fine tune a manuscript. The rural, reflective setting is ideal for such work. Ample time will be accorded for writing, one-on-one critiques, and group meetings to discuss recent thinking in poetry. Eight writers will be selected from applications.

Application information is here. For more information about how to apply please visit here.

first prize

$6,000

Creative Nonfiction contest is currently

open.

Deadline: February 1, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. ET

Guidelines here.

This prize is awarded once a year to the best

original, unpublished, work of Creative

Nonfiction. The CBC Literary Prizes recognize

the best in original, unpublished writing by

Canadians. First prize is $6,000 from the

Canada Council for the Arts.

The Poetry contest is not open for

submissions yet but the deadline is set to May

1, 2013. Info here, where you can also hear the

author reading a clip from her winning poem,

“Great Aunt Unmarried.”

Here you can read the entire poem that won

the author $6,000 and more.

The Fiction contest is not open yet;

traditionlly it opens in September an has a

November deadline. You can go here and for

info on the 2012 contest and read the entire

texts of the four short stories that won their

authors $1,000 each as runners-up last year.

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Free-write

picture prompt:

The Grind Writers News

©2013 Margo Lamont

e: margolamont@gmail.com

b: http://wildsynapticleaps.blogspot.com/

previous issues: http://issuu.com/grindwriters/docs

writing prompt

Free-writes

easy rule

1. Write for 15 mins., without

stopping – without lifting your

pen off the paper, without

thinking. Just let it flow ad

write. Don’t edit, don’t go

back, don’t rewrite (you can

edit later). Write whatever

comes to mind, doesn’t matter

what: even if it’s, “This is a

crappy prompt and…….” Just

write that down and keep on

going.

See where it takes you. Bring your output to the next Grind Writers.

Keep your huddled masses, but please send me your favourite prompts Do you have favourite writing prompts – prompts that you can depend on to “prime the pump?” Please send me your prompts – along with info about where you got them if they are not your own originals. I may use these in some kind of publication or article or online so by sending them you are giving me unlimited permission to use them in any medium without payment. Please send to: margolamont@gmail.com