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The Grind Writers Group News - literary news and events from Vancouver BC. Contests and calls for submisssions local & worldwide.
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Grind Writers
News
Is your blog getting stale? 8
Self-publishing’s worst covers 4
Rob’s coming to town! 9
Kisses & Popsickes 13
2
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 owners, for allowing 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
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
Grind Writers
2013 meetings
schedule 3 BC writers –
autonomous fan region
3 BC poet & artists’ outstanding video poem on bullying
4 Plain language: what’s that?
4 Weasly phrase-of-the-month
5 selfPub / ePub
6 The ongoing saga of Mo Yan
6 The $15M comma: things that go Bump in the [editor’s] night
6 No more garrets.
7 Good steers: Grind Writers review writing workshops they’ve taken
8 Is your blog getting stale?
8 Top 10 rules for mystery writing
9 Places to go, things to see, people to…
10 Submit (you know you want to)
13 Free-write picture prompt: C’MON JUST DO IT!
in
side
A for every typo you find. Enjoy.
3
autonomous
BC BOOKS
2013 Literary Awards Gala Friday August 23, 2013 7:30 pm (Doors open at 7:00pm)
CBC Studio 700 (700 Hamilton St.) Free - Cash bar - Silent Auction (Cash Only)
2013 Pandora’s BC Literary Awards
Congratulations to these award recipients -- all people supporting writing and writers in BC in some way:
The Organizer/Promoter Award is given to an individual who has put themselves forward to help organize literary events, whether they are ongoing or special events, someone who has over the last year helped give space to many writers whether they are new or established. This year's recipient is Chris Gilpin.
Pandora’s Collective BC Writer Mentor *This award goes to an individual who has taken the time to help foster other writers, giving them feedback and support over and above what may be expected. This year's winner is Jen Currin.
Our Publisher's Award goes to those publishers who keep getting the word out -- your words. Where would we be without the publishers? This year's winner is New Star Books.
Our Magazine Award goes to a magazine publisher who continues to support novice and established writers alike. This year, we are pleased to announce the recipient of this award is Ricepaper.
And last but not least, our Citizenship Award goes to recognize an individual who Pandora’s Collective feels has excelled in their support of writers within our community. This year's recipient is Ariadne Sawyer.
BC PUBLISHING
Former Douglas & McIntyre employees launch new company
“Chris Labonté, Peter Cocking and Richard Nadeau have formed Figure 1; Labonté will serve as publisher; Cocking will be creative director; and Nadeau is the director of sales and marketing.” Whole story here.
Shortlists
announced
2013 BC
Book Prizes BC poet & artists create outstanding
video poem on bullying
“B.C. poet Shane Koyczan is no stranger to
being bullied as a kid. The poet, who gained notoriety for his inspired performance at the Vancouver Olympics opening ceremony, also knows that bullying can leave psychic scars that last years.
Earlier this year, Koyczan put a call out to artists to animate "To This Day," a poem he wrote that tackles bullying head on.
Each artist contributed 20-second clips and the contributions were stitched together into this 7-minute work. The result is this breathtakingly beautiful animation that explores living with bullying, depression and abuse.”
4
PLAIN conference
in Vancouver October
PLAIN (the Plain Language Association International) is holding its 9th annual international conference in Vancouver in October. Information and registration here.
They are also using local volunteers.
PLAIN language
What is the Plain Language movement all about?
We are interested in samples that show how to create plain language, that show the thinking behind the changes to the standard way of doing things - meaty examples. (See samples sidebar) Please send your
samples and
suggestions to me at
Diane Macgregor
PLAIN website.
The Plain Language
Assoc. International
Sample translations from Gobbledegood English to
Plain English here.
Gobble degook to Plain English they want
your help
Weasel Words Weasely Phrase
of the Month
“Kim Hak-sun was a Korean former
comfort woman.”
Comfort woman — a soft & fuzzy way to say sex slave. (Comfort women were women and girls forced into prostitution corps created by the Empire of Japan –Wikipedia entry.)
Simple litmus test for the Passive Voice (Handmaiden to
The Lord of Gobbledegook)
5
ePUB / selfPUB
How to judge whether to read a self-published book
This is a good article, by Guy Kawasaki, the author of APE: Author-Editor-Entrepreneur
Self-publishing’s worst
covers: you be the judge
Wonderful
slide show
of appalling
covers on
self-published
books.
One nominee:
The Book Designer “Practical advice to help build better books”
Article: Why Self-Published Books Look Self-Published
Wannabe editors:
Can you pass a
Proofreading Test?
It’s here:
The Subversive Copy Editor Blog
“What may be the best copy editor's companion since CMS.”
—Publishers Weekly
6
The Edge of Right dun dun DUN
The Ongoing Saga of Mo Yan…
who won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature, but—BUT…….
and
“his 2012 Nobel Prize
in Literat
Mo Yan
Where do you write?
“25 fascinating photos of famous writers at home” – article and photos here.
Puts to rest the notion of the writer starving in a garret.
Things That Go
BUMP in the
(Editor’s) Night
The $15 million dollar comma http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2013/03/08/the-comma-that-let-a-malaysian-airline-sneak-in/
And its poor cousin – BC’s $1 million dollar comma http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/25/business/worldbusiness/25comma.html?_r=1&
“The government of India has reviewed the position in this regard and decided to permit foreign airlines also to invest, in the capital of
Indian companies, operating scheduled and non-scheduled air
transport services, up to the limit of 49% of their paid-up capital,”
The man wore a Mao suit with a red
emblem pinned to the breast pocket. It
looked like a party emblem, but only his
name appeared on it. He was holding a
lecture in Stockholm, the Nobel Lecture
that all authors are required to give when
they receive the Nobel Prize in literature,
the world's most important literary award.
It was Dec. 7, 2012, and the Chinese man,
whose soft words almost felt like a song
as he delivered his speech, had been
considered a disappointment. He had
written wonderful books, no question.
They include The Garlic Ballads and Life
and Death Are Wearing Me Out, family
novels that are broad, lush and colorfully
told. They always have a historic element
to them, with reporting on China's
development in the past decades, from
the poverty of the early years, through
the hardships of the Cultural Revolution
and on to the economic rise. [….]
His readers have long been puzzled by
the disconnect between his unequivocal
criticism of the state in his work and the
conformity of his appearances. Reactions
to his Nobel Prize were also
correspondingly divided.
from Spiegel Online. Rest of article here.
“
7
Reviews of writing courses and workshops by Grind
Writers who’ve taken them.
Good steers
Fiction Series for the Weekend Student
SFU Continuing Studies/Writing and Publishing, Harbourside campus, downtown Vancouver
Reviewed by Lindsay Glauser
9 pens rating (10 is highest) Instructor: Caroline Adderon She was ecently longlisted for a very prestigious short story prize in the UK to be announced at the end of March. Prolific writer in both adult fiction (short stories and novels) and children’s books. She said she started writing children’s books in the summer when her son was younger. Took course: 2012 Duration: 6 weeks Price: $460 Format: Saturday Classes: 4 hours long. Lectures with group work. Not a workshop but had a chance to write and share in class, and some time for feedback from peers at the beginning of class. She is not a huge proponent of the workshop method; she encourages students to read like a writer in order to learn. Also the class was every second Saturday, so you don’t have to give up all your weekends (or Grind workshops!). If you have a link to the current offering that would be good to have. This class usually repeats in the fall. Description of the course This class exceeded expectations. Fiction elements were broken down into parts to make it understandable and applicable. Caroline is an excellent teacher and very pragmatic. I highly recommend this class. What did it cover – what did you do in the course? Every class had a topic: beginnings, characters and dialogue,
transitions, endings, etc. We read one of Alice Munro’s stories from her collection Runaway and analyzed her use of literary devices in terms of the topic for that day, which was very enlightening about the drafting process. We also had opportunities to write and share in class. At the end, we did a reading at a lectern in front of the class and she gave tips on public readings, and editing. Why you found it useful; why it worked for you – specifics if possible. Caroline is a great teacher and takes complex topics and breaks them down into small digestible chunks. I took a free book review course with her at the Vancovuer Public Library the fall before and found that immediately afterwards I knew how to put a review together. For this class, I immediately could see ways of improving my short fiction. Did you come out of the course with new work, new ideas, etc.? Yes. We were encouraged to come up with a new story, or rework an existing story and to apply what was learned in each class topic. Also, many prompts in class led to new work and avenues to explore. –LG
The Art of Travel Writing Instructor: Travel writer Marcello Di Cintio Offered by Geist magazine.
Reviewed by Joan Boxall
I’d give it a 9 with 1 off for the kids’ table.
When taken: November 2012 Duration: 2 hours Cost: $50 (included excellent cookies and coffee)
De Cintio is a Canadian travel writer whose article, “The Great Wall of Montreal,” was published in Geist (Issue 82, Fall 2011) as a portion of his book: Walls: Travels Along the Barricades.
Geist provided the venue in a Chinatown storefront called Project Space at 222 East Georgia in Vancouver. About 20 of us sat around a long, low (possibly a kids’) table, but no matter:
De Cintio was so engaging. He talked about himself and staying true to the creative nonfiction art form.
De Cintio steers a course between the carefree traveller and the expert, flushing out characters along the way, getting a feel for the place, being alone to absorb it,
continued next page
8
trusting instincts, looking for the bigger story, and being ethically responsible to represent it well without moralizing. He cautions that armchair travellers will rely on your point of view (verisimilitude) and cited his hero, Rizsard Kapuscinski, a Polish journalist, whose Travels With Herodotus I promptly read when I got home.
Inspirational, that’s what a really good workshop does for you... in your genre... in the pocket! A useful writing exercise: Marcello asked us to recall a recent trip and write about the whole thing on one page. Later, we looked at one segment of what we’d written and developed it further for a second 20-minute write. It became the kernel for one I’m pitching at the moment. –JB
c o n t i n u e d
The Top 10
Rules for Mystery Writing here.
105 author blog prompts “So, you started your author blog. It was so *exciting* at the beginning!
Rainbows and sunshine poured down on you and the posts flowed
freely from your fingertips.
“There was no shortage of ideas and you just knew this blogging thing
was meant for you. Fast-forward to a month later. You visit your blog
and think, ‘has it really been *that* long since I’ve posted?’”
Read on here.
___________________________________________________
Now this is fun. Generates character name & traits. As they say at Word Whips, “See what you can whip up.” Good for getting a free-write going at least.
Character generator here
9
Twisted Poets Literary Salon
The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main St., Vancouver Open Mic. Suggested donation at the door: $5. All are welcome. Info on features and schedule here.
Force Field - 77 Women Poets of British
Columbia
A program for adults
Saturday April 13
3-4:30 pm
Free
Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye Rooms, Lower Level Central Library 350 W. Georgia Street
Join us for the launch of Force Field - 77 Women Poets of British Columbia. The first of its kind in thirty-four years, this anthology strongly celebrates women poets, from the emerging, mid-career to the established. Not since Dorothy Livesay's Women's Eye: 12 BC Women Poets (AIR Press, 1974) and D'SONOQUA: An Anthology of Women Poets of British Columbia (Intermedia Press, 1979), edited by Ingrid Klassen, has there been an anthology of contemporary BC women poets. In Force Field we gather together seventy-seven women poets who currently live and write in British Columbia so readers can more easily share, study and take pleasure in the range and vitality of women's poetry today. It is an extensive and flourishing community that owes a debt to many early women poets, such as P.K. Page, Dorothy Livesay, Nellie McCLung and Pat Lowther.
For more information please contact VPL - Literature and Social Science at 604-331-3738
Above items gratefully lifted from BookNews the eletter of the Vancouver International Writers Fest.
Shuswap Association of Writers presents the
Word on the Lake Festival for Readers and Writers: May 24-25-26 in Salmon Arm. You
will find all the info on their website.
April 19-20
Lynn Valley Branch – N Vancouver District Public Library, 1277 Lynn Valley Rd., North Vancouver A celebration of Canadian writers featuring Helen Humphreys, Terry Fallis, Evelyn Lau, Sean Cranbury and more. April 19-20, More info: northshorewritersfestival.com.
L
Places to go, people
to see, things to ….
WORD WHIPS
A program open to all ages. Free writing workshops.
Take the challenge! Pandora's Collective provides the writing prompts and the opportunity for sharing. 10-15 minutes for each prompt. See what you can whip up.
Tuesday March 26 Tuesday April 23 Tuesday May 28 Tuesday June 25
and ongoing – check dates with Pandora’s
All at the Britannia Branch Library 1661 Napier Street, Vancouver
All sessions 6:30-8:30pm Take writing supplies with you.
Take the
For more info: Britannia Branch at 604-665-2222
Sponsored by Pandora's Collective
ROBERT SAWYER
famous Canadian sci-fi writer
reading in Vancouver
Wed. April 3rd, 7 pm — from his latest book, Red Planet Blues, a noir
mystery set on a lawless Mars in a future where
everything is cheap, and life is even cheaper.
Free. In the Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms,
lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St.
More info: www.vpl.ca.
READ IT—TALK ABOUT IT:
Book Talks Book Reading Club Presented by Pandora’s Collective
Wed. March 13: The Measure of a Man: The Story of a
Father, a Son, and a Suit by JJ Lee.
2nd
Wednesday of every month: 6:30–8:30 pm
Britannia Library, Gallery Room
1661 Napier Street, Vancouver
Hosts: Mary Duffy and Sita Carboni
Bring your favorite passages, points of interests, and share
your reading experiences with us. Drop ins are welcome.
April 10: The Help by Kathryn Stockett
More info: www.pandorascollective.com
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Submit. you know you want to
Contests and calls for submissions
CONTESTS 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. Contest The Antigonish Review’s 2013 Writing Contests $2400 in prizes! * The Sheldon Currie Fiction Prize – deadline May 31, 2013 * The Great Blue Heron Poetry contest – deadline June 30, 2013 Please read the submission rules here.
CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS listed by deadline date Call for submissions Reading period: January to April 15 Claire Literary Magazine is moving online. We want you to join us for our inaugural online issue. We seek unpublished poetry, fiction, and nonfiction (poetry: limit 5 poems; prose: limit 5,000 words). For all info and the link to the online submission page, visit claremagazine.com.
The Quotable's
MARCH WRITING
PROMPT
Deadline for posting an entry & voting is March 31
Prompt is: "…it was Greek to me." -Shakespeare
The rules: Write a micro story of 100 words or less based
on the prompt as a comment to the contest post here.
You may enter as many times as you like.
Each post will have a thumb button to the right of it. One
click equals one vote, and only one vote is allowed per
computer. So have your family, friends, co-workers, the
nice barista from your local coffee shop, log on and vote
for your story. In the event of a tie, the editors will vote
for a winner.
Contest winners will be entered to win a free print copy of
our Spring 2013 issue: Day and Night, and winning entries
will be archived on our website.
(Please be sure to include your email when you post your
entry)
*All of our writing prompt winning entries will be included
in our Summer 2013 Issue.
Good Luck and Happy Writing!
Read it. (Please.)
29 Ways NOT to
Submit to an Agent by Carole Blake here.
Deadline: May 15
Pandora's Collective poetry contests are open to
writers worldwide and of all age categories. Please
read our guidelines – here - before submitting.
Winners announced June 15th. Judges: Renee Sarojini
Saklikar and Sandy Shreve. You can read at last year’s
winning entries here.
The Kisses &
Popsicles
Spring Poetry
Contest
is back!
continued next page
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Submit … continued
LITERARY MAGAZINES
LISTINGS FOR EVERY TYPE OF LITERARY MAGAZINE
Call for submissions Superheroes Deadline May 15 Minor Arcana Press currently welcomes submissions of poems related to superheroes and superhero mythology for a new anthology titled Drawn to Marvel. Deadline for submissions: May 15. The anthology is edited by Bryan D. Dietrich and Marta Ferguson. Please send poems with the subject Super Poems to [email protected]. Call for submissions Deadline May 31, 2013 for a special “The Human Face of Sustainability” issue, Creative Nonfiction and ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability are looking for nonfiction that illuminates environmental, economic, ethical and/or social challenges related to the state of the planet and our future. $10,000 for best essay. Review the guidelines here. Roundup of poetry contests here. Call for submissions Reading period to May 31st Arroyo Literary Review An award-winning national magazine with a West Coast orientation. We are seeking fiction, flash fiction, poetry, essays, and translation for our 6th issue. No email submissions. Please see our website for submission guidelines: www.arroyoliteraryreview.com. 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.
Call for submissions Reading January–June 1, 2013 The Marie Alexander Series seeks submissions for an anthology of flash sequences. Send up to 10 pages (double-spaced, 12 pt. type, 1-inch margins) of prose sequences, each segment of which contains fewer than 500 words. Send PDF files, with cover letter, to Wesley Fairman ([email protected]), with “anthology submission” in the subject line. Previously published material OK. Put name and e-mail on all documents. We will accept submissions January 1–June 1. Read all the info here. Call for submissions Deadline: July 15 Wising Up Press/Universal Table Seeks submissions for a Wising Up anthology, I-THOU IN AN UP-DOWN WORLD: Lasting Friendships Across Deep Divides. Poetry, fiction, memoir and creative nonfiction on the theme of maintaining genuine friendship across deep difference and/or disparity. Full description and guidelines here. Call for submissions Deadline: October 1 The Chattahoochee Review: Animals. Inventive or classic variations of the “animal” theme welcome. Send relevant fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Please note call for submissions in cover letter. Online submissions now available: at: http://thechattahoocheereview.gpc.edu Call for submissions No deadline as at Jan 2013. Two-Countries: Daughters and Sons of Immigrant Parents seeks poems, essays and flash memoir. For details, please go to this link.
ONGOING CALLS Call for submissions Are you over 60? - Wit and Wisdom of the Sages Have insightful stories you’d like to share with all grandchildren? Great Depression/ WW2/ Vietnam era? Seeking narratives up to 3,500 words. Send manuscripts, or for guidelines e-mail [email protected]. Geist Emerging Writer-of-the-Month Emerging writers are invited to submit short written works online. Read FAQ.
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Call for submissions – open dates 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. 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. Call for submissions No dates provided Muse Press plans to publish an illustrated anthology of lyric poems tentatively entitled BLISS. We never charge any sort of fee at any time. Submit by e-mail no more than 3 poems (20 lines or less) to [email protected]. We will contact you if your poem is accepted. Check it all out first at their website here. Call for submissions Poetic responses to Quentin Tarantino For a summer of 2013 print anthology around the films of Quentin Tarantino. We're looking for poetic responses to his work. We'll lean towards egocentric voices with a colorful range of references. We welcome contributions from writers outside the U.S. Review the details here.
Submit … continued
The 2013 Cherry Blossom
Haiku Festival Check here for info on haikus, tips on writing them, and Vancouver’s own
Cherry Blossom Festival.
Submissions will begin March 1
st & continue to June 3
rd
Call for submissions New multimedia journal 5 OVER 4. New multimedia journal seeks cross-genre work made by jazzy, creative people who embrace the unknown. Poetry videos, multi-media sculpture, hand-stitched book art, JPEGs collaged with audio, sound poems via video chat, interactive projects. Live and online events. Website: 5over4.blogspot.com, E-mail Monique Avakian: [email protected]. Call for submissions 1966 - An online journal of creative nonfiction, seeks pieces of literary nonfiction with a research component—anything from immersion memoir to nature writing to reportage to travel writing to—? For submission guidelines: www.1966journal.org. Ongoing call for submissions Anderbo.com -- “Best New Online Literary Journal” -- publishes writers in fiction, “fact” (creative nonfiction), and poetry. We’re always looking for new voices. We’ll also consider nonfiction features, short memoirs, novellas, published-book excerpts, photography, essays, and photo essays. Now in our 9th year! For submission information and guidelines, visit www.anderbo.com. Changes in Life A monthly online newsletter is seeking personal essays from women of all ages. New writers are encouraged to submit their work. For details and submission guidelines, see www.changesinlife.com. Call for submissions – ongoing The Evening Street Review The ESR is centered on the belief that all men and women are created equal. Reads poetry/prose submissions year-round. Replies in 3 months or less. Sometimes includes comments. Send 4–6 poems or 1–2 prose pieces. 7652 Sawmill Rd., #352, Dublin, OH 43016 or [email protected]. For contests and guidelines visit: www.eveningstreetpress.com. Call for submissions “Got a poem?” Submit any subject, any style, any length, any number, any time by e-mail or by mail with SASE. Previously published poems and simultaneous submissions are welcome. The Great American Poetry Show, P.O. Box 69506, West Hollywood, CA 90069. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.tgaps.net (Caveat emptor – check it out)
13
The Grind Writers News
©2013 Margo Lamont
b: http://wildsynapticleaps.blogspot.com/
previous issues: http://issuu.com/grindwriters/docs
free-write picture prompt:
Free-writes: easy rule
Write for 15 minutes by a timer. Don’t stop – don’t lift your pen off the paper—
write without thinking. Just let it flow. Don’t edit, don’t go back, don’t rewrite
(you can edit later). Write whatever comes to mind. Whatever it is, just keep
going. See where it takes you. Bring your output to the next Grind Writers.
1
