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Updates, July 18, 2009

Hey, check it out. Soundings Review is doing its third annual fundraiser, CRITIQUE MANIA! Authors from across the US are available to critique your work for just $25. These are people who don't often do critiques for the public. Check out the guidelines and list of authors below – information might also be available for this year’s Critique Mania at Whidbey Island Writers Association: 

2009 Critique Mania

Fund Raising Event for Soundings Review

What: Critique Mania: Professional Authors and Editors will write critiques of your writing!

When: Submission between August 1 and August 31, 2009; authors have until October 7, 2008 to respond and return manuscripts..

Where: By mail! No gas to buy, no planes or ferries to catch, no clock to watch!

How: Submitters will mail one poem (50 lines maximum) or prose ( 1,000 words maximum -- could be anything from a complete short-short to the opening of a memoir) postmarked August 1 - 31. Work will be disbursed in the order received; you can request you first three choices off the list; if that person has already received all the manuscripts they’ve agreed to review, your work will be sent to the next author on the list who works in your genre. First come, first serve.

How much: Twenty-five bucks! ($25) What a deal! Plus two stamped envelopes, one that will allow the material to be forwarded to an author/editor and one for the author to send the material back to you. Professional critiques normally range from $30 – $75, and most of these people aren’t usually available for this work.

Should you wish to include an additional donation toward Soundings Review, we’ll be ecstatic!

Why? Because receiving this sort of feedback is a terrific benefit to you And because ALL the proceeds go to support our magazine, Soundings Review. Everybody wins!

Who Are The Authors/Editors? (Link to participating authors.)

Guidelines for Submissions to Critique Mania

1. Submit one poem of up to fifty lines or the first four pages (1,000 words), double-spaced and 12-point font, of prose (any genre) (note that Carol Frischmann and Eric Witchey will do longer work – see their bios for info). All submissions must be postmarked between Aug. 1 – Aug. 31.

2. Include two stamped envelopes: one will be a return envelope to you with your address on it; the other will be used to forward your material to an author for a critique; do not address this one.

3. Items to include:

    *      Your manuscript (as stated above).

    *      A cover letter with your name, address, email and phone number.

    *      A check for $25 made out to Soundings Review (you can also subscribe or donate at this time). If you choose to send longer work to Carol Frischmann or Eric Witchey, please add $5 per each 275 words beyond the 1,000 words.

    *      Your first, second and third choice author/editor preference (if all of these are       “full,” your material will be sent to the next author on the list by genre).

            The names of authors/editors available to critique your work are below.

4. Mail the above items to:

Soundings Review Critique Mania

PO Box 689

Freeland, WA 98249

5. Submit as many manuscripts as you like, but please mail separately with separate stamped envelopes included and separate $25 checks for each. In other words, each submission should be separate (they might go to different authors).

6. To repeat: material will be disbursed to authors based on genre and alphabetical order EXCEPT for first choices, as possible (see number 3 above).

7. Participants agree not to contact the authors/editors about the critiques unless invited to do so. If you have concerns or questions about critiques, contact Marian Blue through Soundings@whidbey.com or blueyude@whidbey.com

8. If all authors are full, your submission and check(s) will be returned to you.

Critique Mania Author Bios

The following is a list of the authors who are supporting the 2009 Critique Mania fundraiser. The list is alphabetical and includes information at the end of the bio as to basic genre (fiction, poetry, nonfiction) and any additional information. You can look up most of these writers for more details if you want to consider your choice more fully.

Have fun – This is a fantastic selection of authors!

Kathleen Alcalá is the author of several award-winning books set in the Southwest and Mexico: Mrs. Vargas and the Dead Naturalist; Spirits of the Ordinary; The Flower in the Skull; and Treasures in Heaven, she teaches creative writing in the low-residency MFA program of the Northwest Institute of Creative Writing. Her 2007 collection of essays, The Desert Remembers My Name – On Family and Writing, received an International Latino Book Award and a ForeWord Magazine Award. She is also a recent Artist Trust Fellow, which enabled her to travel to Guanajuato, Mexico, and Rio, Brazil. Kathleen’s parents were born in Mexico. She was born in Compton, California, and grew up in San Bernardino. More at www.kathleenalcala.com.  Fiction.

Kelli Russell Agodon is the author of two books of poems, Small Knots (2004) and Geography, winner of the Washington State Floating Bridge Press Award.  Her work has recently appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Prairie Schooner, Image, the North American Review, the Notre Dame Review, and in Garrison Keillor's Good Poems for Hard Times.  She is the recipient of two Artist Trust GAP grants as well as Puffin Foundation grant as the editor of the poetry broadside series The Making of Peace.  Kelli is a graduate of the University of Washington and Pacific Lutheran University's Rainier Writers Workshop where she received her MFA.  Currently, she is the editor of Crab Creek Review.  Her website is www.agodon.com    Poetry

Candace Allen, retired principal from Mercer Human Resources Consulting, established the company's Pacific Northwest communication practice and served as its national Communication Practice Leader. She has received numerous awards for client publications and communication programs, most notably Crain Publications’ National Award of Excellence. Now a freelance writer and editor, Candace's features about log homes have appeared in Log Home Living, Log Home Design and LogKnowledge. A worldwide sailor, her sea stories have been published nationally in Sail, Cruising World, Sea and in a variety of regional publications such as 48 Degrees North, Nor'westing and Burgee. She has written for newspapers, magazines, and trade publications about the diverse topics of gardening, books, travel, bridge, marine propulsion systems, pensions, health care, and employee communication. A founder of the Whidbey Island Writers Association Conference, Candace established WIWA's newsletter and served as its editor for three years. She is also the former Webmaster and content manager for WIWA's Web site and she served on the Association's board of directors for nearly four years. Some of Candace's features can be read online at http://www.jcarch.com/pdfs/Montana-Living-10-02.pdf, http://www.hearthstonenc.com/lhl-0801.php, http://www.logknowledge.com/pelicanpublication.html, and http://www.48north.com/mar_2008/still_cruising.htm prose nonfiction

Lana Hechtman Ayers is  Poetry Editor of Crab Creek Review and also publisher of Concrete Wolf Poetry Chapbooks and Late Blooms Poetry Postcard Series. In addition, she is a private manuscript consultant and workshop facilitator.  A Hedgebrook alumna, she is the author of three poetry collections of her own.  Visit her website, http://LanaAyers.com for more.  Poetry

Anjali Banerjee was born in India, raised in Canada and California and received degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. She has written four novels for youngsters and two novels for adults. Her next novel for children, SEAGLASS SUMMER, is due out in May 2010; her next novel for adults, HAUNTING JASMINE (working title) is coming in 2011 from the Penguin Group.  The Philadelphia Inquirer called her young adult novel, Maya Running (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House) “beautiful and complex” and “pleasingly accessible.” The Seattle Times praised Anjali’s novel for adults, Imaginary Men (Downtown Press/Pocket Books) as “a romantic comedy equal to Bend it Like Beckham.” Anjali lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and three cats. General fiction and children’s fiction

Anne C. Barnhill’s work (short fiction, poetry and nonfiction) has appeared in a number of literary magazines and anthologies including The Antietam Review, the Grammy-nominated Grow Old Along with Me and the Notre Dame Review.  She is the recipient of grants, awards and residencies.  Her first book, At Home in the Land of Oz, published in 2007, has met with favorable reviews.  Ms. Barnhill has presented programs for the Episcopal Church Women, Converse College, Alderson-Broaddus College, Kernersville Moravian Church and many libraries, book clubs and bookstores.  She teaches writing workshops and special workshops that enhance creativity for writing conferences, including the Appalachian Writers Association and the South Carolina Writers Conference in 2008.  Currently, Ms. Barnhill is at work on a novel set in Tudor England. Fiction/Nonfiction

Bonny Becker is the author of ten children's books including picture books and novels. Her books have been featured in the New York Times Book Review, read on National Public Radio and selected for the Junior Literary Guild and Children's Book of the Month Club. She's an instructor for the Institute of Children's Literature and a freelance editor and writing consultant with an expertise in story structure. Picture books/short stories.

Sheila Bender publishes Writing It Real (www.writingitreal.com), an online instructional magazine for those who write from personal experience. She teaches online classes through her website and other sites as well. She has published ten books on creative writing including Writing and Publishing Personal Essays. Her newest work, a memoir entitled A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief, is forthcoming September 2009 from Imago Press in Tucson, AZ. Poetry, personal essay, memoir excerpts

Marian Blue’s writing career spans forty years and includes journalism, essays, poetry and fiction national and international newspapers, magazines and books, including anthologies. As an interviewer, her work has appeared in books such as A Hundred White Daffodils and Passing the Three Gates. She has been an editor for newspapers, magazines, online sites and books, including The Southeast Writers Handbook; Sea of Voices, Isle of Story; Richard La Londe: Fused Glass Art and Technique; One World Journeys (Online); and currently Soundings Review. As partner of Blue & Ude Writers Services, she has edited thousands of manuscripts. She currently teaches for Skagit Valley College. www.blueudewritersservices.com  Fiction; Essay & Article; Poetry

Duff Brenna Is the author of six novels, including The Book of Mamie (University of Iowa Press), which won the AWP Award for Best Novel; The Holy Book of the Beard (Doubleday/Nan Talese), named "an underground classic" by The New York Times; Too Cool (Doubleday/Nan Talese), a New York Times Noteworthy Book; The Altar of the Body (Picador USA), which won the Editors Prize Favorite Book of the Year Award given by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and also received a San Diego Writers Association Prize for Best Novel in 2002. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts award, Milwaukee Magazine’s Best Short Story of the Year Award, and a Pushcart Prize. His books have been translated into German, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, Japanese, and Hebrew. Fiction.

John Calderazzo's stories, essays and poems have appeared in dozens of magazines and literary reviews, including Audubon, Bellevue Literary Review, Georgia Review, North American Review, Orion, The Runner, Witness, and elsewhere.  His books include an over-the-shoulder nonfiction writing guide, Writing from Scratch: Freelancing; a children science book, 101 Questions about Volcanoes; and Rising Fire: Volcanoes and Our Inner Lives, a personal travelogue, which looks at ways in which volcanoes around the world have affected human culture. A former fulltime freelance writer and now an award-winning creative writing teacher at Colorado State University, he has had his work cited in both Best American Essays and Best American Stories.  He’s presently finishing a book of poems. With his wife SueEllen Campbell, he recently founded and now runs an innovative teaching-climate-change-across-the-curriculum program at CSU.  NONFICTION

Larry Cheek has been a professional journalist and author since the age of 15. He has a journalism degree from Texas Tech University, a graduate-level browse through architecture history at the University of Arizona, and 17 years of reporting and editing in daily newspapers. Since he escaped salaried newspaper labor in 1987, he has written about 600 published articles and essays, and 15 books on travel, natural history, archaeology, architecture, and boats. His newest book is a memoir: The Year of the Boat: Beauty, Imperfection, and the Art of Doing It Yourself (Sasquatch Books 2008). Nonfiction.

Pat Detmer's humorous essays can still be read now and again in the Whidbey Marketplace. She currently has a blog on the award-winning BoomerGirl.com site, and her book "Laughing All The Way - Riding Herd on My Middle Age Spread" can be purchased at The BookBay in Freeland, from amazon.com, or from her website www.patdetmer.com. CREATIVE NONFICTION (HUMOR PREFERENCE)

Brian Doyle is the editor of Portland Magazine at the University of Portland, in Oregon - "the finest spiritual magazine in the United States," says Annie Dillard.
Portland Magazine has won five national gold medals as the finest small-circulation university magazine in America (from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education), and won the 2005 Robert Sibley Award as the finest American university magazine of any size (from the editors of Newsweek).
Doyle is the author of seven books, most recently The Grail: a year ambling & shambling through an Oregon vineyard in pursuit of the best pinot noir wine in the whole wild world (May 2006, by Oregon State University Press, and October 2006, by One Day Hill Publishers in Australia). Among his other books are The Wet Engine (Paraclete Press), about "the muddle & mangle & miracle & music" of hearts; Spirited Men, essays about writers and musicians, and Leaping, essays about everything else. Both latter collections were finalists for the Oregon Book Award. His first collection of poems, Epiphanies & Elegies, will be published in 2007 by Sheed & Ward.
Doyle's essays have appeared in The Best American Essays collections of 1998, 1999, 2003, and 2005, and in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Orion, The American Scholar, and magazines and newspapers in Australia, Ireland, France, England, and New Zealand. His work has also appeared in Best Spiritual Writing, Best Essays Northwest, and many anthologies. He is a columnist for The Age newspaper and Eureka Street magazine, both in Melbourne, Australia.

Molly Dwyer Molly Dwyer has been a transformational educator for more than fifteen years, facilitating workshops and teaching English composition, creative writing, and literature in community college. Requiem for the Author of Frankenstein, Molly's debut novel, is the fruit of over a decade of research and writing. She's also co-author of Divine Duality: The Power of Reconciliation between Women and Men with William Keepin and Cynthia Brix. Molly has studied fiction writing with Seamus Heaney, at Ireland's Galway University, and with England's Arvon Project. She's trained with the National Writing Project and studied literature in an Oxford University summer program. Molly earned her Masters in at Sonoma State University and completed a PhD at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.  www.mollydwyer.com  Fiction and Nonfiction

Elizabeth Engstrom is the author of ten books and over 250 short stories, articles and essays. She holds a BA degree in English Literature and Creative Writing and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Applied Theology. She is a sought-after teacher and speaker at writing conferences and conventions around the world. A former publisher and editor, Engstrom's most recent novel is "The Northwoods Chronicles." She lives in the Pacific Northwest with Al, her fisherman husband, and their duck-tolling retriever, Jook, where she is always working on the next book. www.elizabethengstrom.com Fiction, any genre.

Stefanie Freele's short story collection "Feeding Strays" will be published in September 2009 by Lost Horse Press. Recent and forthcoming work can be found in Glimmer Train, American Literary Review, Night Train, Literary Mama, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Hobart, and Dogzplot. She is the Fiction Editor of the Los Angeles Review and an editor with SmokeLong Quarterly.Stefanie has an MFA from the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts: Whidbey Writers Workshop. http://www.stefaniefreele.com Short Fiction

Carol Frischmann has been a professional writer for six years and is the author of three books of nonfiction, one book of poetry, and hundreds of articles in print and online.  Although she writes nonfiction for a living, she writes novels by night and is finishing her fourth as her MFA thesis at Northwest Institute of Literary Arts. Her friends tell her that her fiction critiques are better than her fiction writing. Harrumph.  After receiving her degree in science education from Duke University, Carol used her storytelling skills as a way of teaching science, nature, pets, and of all things--business management-- before writing took over her life.  Nonfiction, Fiction. (will also read longer works – up to 2,000 words @ $5 per each 275 words over 1,000 words)

Lola Haskins – most recent books are Desire Lines, New and Selected Poems (BOA), Not Feathers Yet: A Beginner's Guide to the Poetic Life (Backwaters Press), and Solutions Beginning with A (Modernbook).   She teaches in the low residency MFA program at PLU. POETRY

Lorraine Healy is an Argentinean poet and photographer living on Whidbey Island, Washington. The winner of several national awards, including a Pushcart Prize nomination for 2004, she has been published extensively. She holds an M.F.A in Poetry from New England College, New Hampshire. She is the author of The Farthest South (New American Press) and The Archipelago (Finishing Line Press). Lorraine is the most recent winner of the Patricia Bibby Award and her full-length book The Habit of Buenos Aires will be published by Tebot Bach in 2010. She is also teaching at the Centrum Writers Conference this summer. Poetry

Malaika King-Albrecht poems have been or are forthcoming in many literary magazines and anthologies, such as Kakalak: an Anthology of Carolina Poets, Pebble Lake Review, Quarterly West, New Orleans Review, and The Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel - Second Floor and other online and print magazines. She has taught creative writing to sexual abuse/assault survivors and to addicts and alcoholics in therapy groups and also is a volunteer poet in local schools. Her manuscript Never the Same River was a semi finalist in the Seventh Annual Elixir Press Poetry Awards, and her poem “Magician’s Assistant” won the Poetry Southeast Poetry Contest and will appear in their Summer 2007 issue. Links to poems online: http://www.ncarts.org/freeform_scrn_template.cfm?ffscrn_id=132 http://www.thepedestalmagazine.com/Secure/Content/cb.asp?cbid=5102 http://www.shampoopoetry.com/ShampooTwentyeight/albrecht.html  POETRY

Lori A. May is a poet, novelist, and freelance writer whose work has appeared in publications such as The Writer, Two Review, Tipton Poetry Journal, and anthologies such as Van Gogh's Ear. She is the Founding Editor of The Ambassador Poetry Project and The Western Literary Review, and a Contributing Editor to The Big Thrill, published by International Thriller Writers. A college writing instructor, Lori is a member of the Modern Language Association and the Midwest Pop Culture Association. Her debut novel, The Profiler, was a WaldenBooks bestseller and led to the release of her second suspense novel, Moving Target. Lori is currently working on a new novel for Young Adults. In September, stains: early poems by Lori A. May will be released by Bohemian Steel Press. More information, and Lori's blog, is available online at www.loriamay.com. Poetry and Literary or genre fiction including mystery, suspense, thriller, romance, chick lit, and young adult.

Don McQuinn is the award-winning author of nine novels and a teacher dedicated to the goal of helping others publish their work. He has taught the techniques of fiction at the university level and at numerous other venues, such the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Conference, Whidbey Island Writers Conference, the Surrey Writers Conference in British Columbia, and the Maui Writers Conference and Retreat. http://donmcquinn.books.officelive.com/default.aspx fiction   Fiction (short story)

Alice Osborn (www.aliceosborn.com) is a poet, editor, speaker, creative writing instructor, and the author of Right Lane Ends (Catawba, 2006). A former English teacher at Raleigh Charter High School, she also teaches creative writing to adults through Duke University Continuing Studies, Meredith College, Whole Foods, Raleigh Parks and Recreation, NC State's Young Writers' Workshop and at several other learning centers. She writes book reviews for The Pedestal Magazine, edits novels, memoir and poetry, and her poetry has appeared in Main Street Rag and The 2008 and 2009 Kakalak Poetry Anthology. Alice graduated from Virginia Tech with a Finance degree and earned her MA in English at NC State. She believes in good chocolate, good manners and good driving. She now lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband and two children. Poetry, Creative Nonfiction & Fiction

William B. Patrick is a writer whose works have been published or produced in several genres: creative nonfiction, fiction, screenwriting, poetry, and drama. Saving Troy, his innovative chronicle of a year spent living and riding with professional firefighters and paramedics, was published in December, 2005. His memoir in poetry, We Didn’t Come Here for This, was published by BOA Editions in 1999 and, in a starred review, Kirkus called the book a “marvelous memoir-in-poetry and a wonderful hybrid, written in a voice that’s compassionate, fresh and American, without ever proclaiming itself such.” An earlier collection of Mr. Patrick’s poetry, These Upraised Hands, also published by BOA Editions in 1995, is a book of narrative poems and dramatic monologues.  His novel, Roxa: Voices of the Culver Family, won the 1990 Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award for the best first work of fiction. He is currently writing a novel about a Las Vegas psychologist in 1981, and about his schizophrenic patient, who believes he is the infamous 1930s bank robber, John Dillinger, and who performs stand-up comedy routines in the psychiatric ward’s dayroom. Its working title is Mister History Plays the Stardust. http://www.williampatrickwriter.com/

Kathryn Renner is a Washington-based freelance writer and contributing editor to Seattle Homes & Lifestyles magazine whose career has run the gamut of the writing field:  from advertising copywriting, video scripts, magazine writing and personal essays published in numerous national publications, newspapers and anthologies. Her most recent essays have appeared in Womens' Best Friend and Cat Women, both published by Avalon and Seal Press.  Essays/articles

Richard Robbins grew up in Southern California and Montana. He studied with Richard Hugo and Madeline DeFrees at the University of Montana, where he earned his MFA. He has published three books of poems, most recently Famous Persons We Have Known and The Untested Hand. A fourth, Other Americas, is due out in 2009. He has received awards from The Loft, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the NEA, and the Poetry Society of America. He directs the creative writing program and Good Thunder Reading Series at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

R.A. Rycraft has published stories, essays, and poetry in a number of journals and anthologies, including PIF Magazine, VerbSap, The MacGuffin, and Calyx.  An electronic collection of her work is published at Web del Sol.  Winner of the Eric Hoffer Best New Writing Editor’s Choice Award for 2008 and nominated for a 2009 Pushcart Prize, Rycraft is chair of the English department at Mt. San Jacinto College in Menifee, California as well as nonfiction editor for the literary and arts journal, Perigee. Fiction/Creative nonfiction

Bobbi Sandberg is a technical writer, college instructor and corporate trainer who has been writing for several decades. Her extensive background combined with her ability to explain complex concepts in plain language has made her a popular instructor, speaker and consultant. She writes computer how-to books (such as Quicken), is a technical editor, has compiled teaching literature and is currently involved with three new books to be published later this year. Her genre is technical writing.

Maureen Sherbondy's poems have appeared in over one hundred literary journals. Her two poetry books are After the Fairy Tale and Praying at Coffee Shops (both published by Main Street Rag Publishing). Praying at Coffee Shops recently won the poetry category of the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Her short story collection, The Slow Vanishing, will be released in September. Maureen teaches writing workshops in Raleigh and also at CCCC in Pittsboro, NC. Find out more at her website: www.maureensherbondy.com

Wayne Ude is the author of three published books of fiction: a novel, Becoming Coyote; a collection of stories; Buffalo & Other Stories; and a Storyteller’s Choice Award-winning children's book, Maybe I will Do Something: Seven Tales of Coyote. His short fiction and essays have appeared in North American Review, Ploughshares, Margins, and Aspen Anthology.  Currently he serves as  Director of the Whidbey Writers Workshop low-residency MFA, a program of the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts, which is also the home of the Whidbey Island Writers Association, the Whidbey Island Writers Conference, and Soundings literary magazine. Fiction/Nonfiction.

Dr. Sharon Weinstein taught for many years as an English and Humanities professor at universities around the country. She was a full professor of English at Norfolk State University and Hampton University, where she held the endowed chair of University Professor. She was an Associate Professor of Humanities at Arizona State University, and received her Ph.D. at the University of Utah, where she also taught for several years. She has been a guest lecturer, writer-in-residence, and creative writing workshop leader at Christopher Newport University, the University of Maryland, Berklee College of Music in Boston, Virginia Wesleyan College, Old Dominion University, and elsewhere.  She wrote a book of poems, Celebrating Absences, and has published fiction, poetry, scholarly reviews and essays in a wide variety of national venues, including Poetica; The Poet's Domain; Lilith; WomenWise; National Jewish Post & Opinion; Arete: The Journal of Sports LIterature; Ethnic Studies and in many other venues. She specializes in an interdisciplinary perspective. She is a classical pianist who gives recitals and teaches twenty piano students a year, both children and adults. She is also an exhibiting artist in watercolors and Asian Brush Painting. She gives many interdisciplinary presentations in the region, emphasizing parallels in poetry, art, and music. Poetry

Michael Dylan Welch is editor of Tundra: The Journal of the Short Poem. In addition to publishing longer poetry, he has also published thousands of his haiku, senryu, and tanka (as well as book reviews and essay) in hundreds of journals in more than a dozen languages. His poetry appears in two Norton poetry anthologies, as well as in many dozens of other anthologies. He is also a contributing editor to Spring, the journal of the E. E. Cummings Society, editor/publisher of Press Here haiku and tanka books, board member of the Washington Poets Association, and former vice president of the Haiku Society of America. He founded the Tanka Society of America in 2000 (serving as its president for five years), cofounded the American Haiku Archives in 1996 (for which he currently serves as webmaster), and in 1991 he cofounded the Haiku North America conference, a nonprofit corporation of which he is a director. Michael excels at short, primarily imagistic poetry. His most recent books are For a Moment, a chapbook from Quebec's King's Road Press, and 100 Poets: Passions of the Imperial Court, from PIE Books in Tokyo, a 400-page art book (with photographs) presenting translations of 13th-century Japanese waka poems (cotranslated with Emiko Miyashita). POETRY

Eric M. Witchey (willing to look at up to twenty pages – see fee information above) has sold over 50 short stories and a novel into national and international markets. His stories have appeared in multiple genres under several names. His How-to articles have appeared in The Writer Magazine, Writer's Digest Magazine, and other print and on-line magazines. He has won awards and recognition from a number of organizations, including Writers of the Future, Writer's Digest, New Century Writers, and ralan.com. When not writing or teaching, he restores antique, model locomotives or tosses small bits of feather and pointy wire at laughing trout. Work includes: Dreams and Bones. Nowa Fantastyka. The Writer Magazine: How To -- "Putting the Emotion in Your Fiction." "The Hero of Kill Devil Butte." 2nd Place Writer's Digest Inspirational Category. "Men Are From Mars; Women Are Intravenous" Space Squid. Teaching: Willamette Writers. Five Minutes on Fiction. June, 2008 on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCvPvGYGVnM   Fiction

 

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The low-residency MFA Program on Whidbey Island -- Whidbey Writers Workshop -- is graduating students at the residency this August. The faculty is excellent and the location is beautiful. Check it out at the Webpage: Whidbey Island Writers Association: 

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Lately, I've been getting a lot of questions about doing copyediting (or line-by-line editing) WITH a critique. I usually advise against this. Keep in mind that copyediting is the final glossy polish given to a manuscript after you've completed your revisions, made the material work as you want it to work. Copyediting involves making sure the grammar and punctuation and word choices all suit the voice and tone and genre of the manuscript. To do copyediting and a critique at the same time would mean that you would be making revisions that then would require additional copyediting of any and all revised sections. This is a waste of time and money.

When you pay the critique fee, you can then resubmit the manuscript after you've made revisions for copyediting if you wish. You don't have to pay an additional critique fee for that copyediting.

Many authors can do their own copyediting with practice. Sometimes you can save money by submitting a short section of a manuscript and finding out what sorts of errors you are consistently making. Do you fail to use commas with coordinating conjunctions? Do you tend to misplace modifiers? Do you use too many "to be" verbs or "there are" type constructions? Once you're aware of these problems, you can look for them, improve your prose yourself in the rest of the manuscript.

It is true that authors are increasingly responsible for the "perfection" of their manuscripts. I'm not convinced that this is a bad thing. We are "wordsmiths," and we should take pleasure in the crafting with words.

If you have additional questions about copyediting, don't hesitate to ask. Also, for some helpful resources, you can look at books such as: The Chicago Manual of Style, The Bedford Handbook, and The Fine Art of Copyediting.

 

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>p>Manuscript format: Many writers are discounting traditional format for their manuscripts. I assume that some believe that such formats are unnecessary now that computers allow authors to be creative. Unfortunately, that sort of creativity just leads editors to believe the manuscript has been prepared by an amateur.

No matter how much fun it is to play with fonts or layout, I urge you to be conservative with your manuscript format. Make the manuscript as clear and accessible as possible. Follow traditional layout, font size and font choice. Include your name, address, phone number and email in the upper left hand corner of the first page of your story. In the right hand upper corner, put the genre (such as "short story") with the word count under that (it's essential to include word count because computer options make the word count per page vary). About one-quarter to one-third further down the page, center the title of your story with your byline (one double space) below that; the check goes to the name in the upper left hand corner, and the story will be published under the name in your byline. Begin the story one double space below the byline. Indent paragraphs; do not double the space between paragraphs. For following pages, put your last name and the page number in the upper right hand corner.

 

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Many writers and editors are "out of touch" during the summer, but fall will be bringing people out to workshops, classes, and post offices to mail submissions. While it's good to take some time off from the normal grind, this is also a good time to plan a fall schedule that will have you networking with writers, submitting material, attending classes, joining a workshop, or pursuing whatever writer-related activities appeal. Although the temptation to wait and plan IN the fall is strong, keep in mind that the rush of other fall activities tends to push that writer planning off until a "little later"; and then there are the holidays to deal with and the recovery from the holidays and...so it goes. So I would suggest that you plan some writer activities now for later in the fall. Most groups and schools will be announcing their fall classes soon, if they haven't already.

Marian will be teaching a variety of classes this fall. Some are local and some are with Writers Digest. She'd love to see you at any of these.

 

Wayne Ude is also planning on teaching quite a bit this fall, both for local and for Writer's Digest classes.

The Whidbey Island Writers Conference is already receiving registrations from people who want to participate. If you want to attend this event, which now includes retreats to extend the time of participation if you would like, register early. Check out the site for more information: Whidbey Writers Association webpage Whidbey Writers 

 

Marian Blue is pleased to announce her inclusion in the recent Seal Press anthology, Drive, women's true stories from the open road. Seal Press, a long-time northwest feminist publisher, has recently been purchased by Avalon in New York, but this anthology maintains the quality and focus of previous years.

Recently we've received more questions about essays -- what are they? where are they published? -- than any other genre. Essay writing is very much in demand by literary and mainstream publications (online and hard copy). The question can generate hours of argument wherever writers are found. Some like to claim that every word is absolute truth; others say that the only meaningful "truth" is the essential truth that the essay hopes to discover. This and more is discussed in a great book, THE FOURTH GENRE, edited by Robert L. Root, Jr. and Michael Steinberg. The book includes excellent essays that illustrate sub-genre (literary journalism, memoir, etc.) as well as the essays about writing.

Michael Steinberg is also editing a new magazine, The Fourth Genre, which publishes essays. You can receive more information by sending an SASE to The Fourth Genre, Michigan State University, 1405 S. Harrison Road, Suite 25, Manly Miles Building, East Lansing, MI 48823-5202. This genre offers the lyric qualities of poetry and the techniques of characterization and description in fiction while it explores our world in very real shoes. If you haven't yet explored this genre, the time to do so has never been better.

 

Look for more updates on this site soon.

 

January 31, 2000: from Auburn, WA: What can one expect from a Writers' Conference?

Perhaps the best answer is to say "everything," but ultimately the answer depends on two thing: 1) what you expect and 2) what you put into the conference.

 

Every conference is intense; people are excited about meeting other writers, of all levels of experience, and editors and agents. Talk about writing, on both a serious and inspirational level opens one's eyes to the fact that writing isn't a mysterious cult that requires hidden talents passed down from Druid ancestors or mythical rites that you'll never really find out. These people are interested in skills and techniques and business practices -- and while no one downplays the artistic, creative side of writing, the real world accessibility and application of craft is very evident.

At the same time, getting to know others in the writing business (networking) is always an important component. Keep in mind that networking is a part of every occupation -- it's just that many writers stay at home to work so they don't have access to the "office coffee pot" or the shared lunch hour. This has helped create the myth of writers endlessly creating in isolation, but writers tend to be a rather social bunch...but they congregate at odd times and at odd moments. The cliques of Paris and such have pretty much vanished, but writers' groups and conferences and classes and programs and readings have never been more common. It's here that writers seek each other out, make connection, and learn that they are never alone.

Thus you should come to a conference determined to talk and to listen every moment: in the hallways, during the lunch breaks, during the evening socials; you should have your mind and heart constantly open to receive and to give -- others will also want to hear your thoughts and learn your experiences. You should set aside shyness and be willing to approach the editors, agents, and professional writers...they are there for YOU.

Part of your preparation will involve reading before the conference. Read the books of those professionals who will be attending. Know something of what their careers have been like. This will make it easier to carry on a conversation and also make you appear more serious to others.

Of course you should also select your conferences carefully. Make sure that the slant of the conference appeals to you (does it lean toward one particular genre or activity -- some might be marketing oriented while others are craft oriented and some have more poetry or science fiction than not). You can also go to conferences that include some of your favorite writers or teachers and you'll probably be happy with the result.

You should come away from a conference exhilerated and exhausted if you've put in your time wisely -- this will be 2 - 3 days of constant activity. Following the conference, you should attack your writing with renewed energy and knowledge. If this happens, it was a good conference.

August 21, 1999: from EG in Louisiana: How can I find a good writers' critique group in my area?

ANSWER: Finding the RIGHT writers' group is a little like finding true love: you might have to go on some bad dates to find the the compatible group. The answer isn't necessarily in genre, age, or even experience -- and it also isn't a case of "good" vs. "bad" groups; it's a matter of what is right for you. Some steps to take to find this magic circle of writers include:

 

1. Talk to people. Ask about writers' groups at your local library, bookstores, and college campuses. Call some local writers' organizations. Attend some public readings and conferences and talk to people when there -- you can't afford to be shy.

 

2. Be open-minded. Just because people don't do things in a way that is familiar to you or that you're comfortable with doesn't mean that it might not turn out to be your personal solution to writing success. Try something for a while before you give up on it. Later on, you might suggest alternative methods to a group and others will find that different approaches provide some stimulating discussion (sometimes it's fun, for instance, to vary between "round robin" and open discussion techniques.

 

3. If one or ten writing groups don't work out, don't condemn the overall concept. Over the years, I've been a part of many workshops, on both coasts and between. About half of them have been good; two have been OUTSTANDING and resulted in long-term writing relationships. Those gems make any staggering through the wilderness worthwhile!

 

4. Make a serious commitment to your group. If you join, plan to read others' work seriously and to listen with an open mind to what others have to say about your work. While your concern is to find a group that works for you, the members already in place are anxious to have others join who are a positive influence in the group. One of the real benefits of a writers' group is in the editing experience you receive by carefully reading other writers' work and commenting on it; this increases your editing skills on your own work. No writer can ever learn the skills of revision without learning how it feels to read and critique objectively -- and most writers must first do that with someone else's work. Don't shortchange yourself in a group by assuming that your only real benefit is from what others say to you about your work (although that's certainly a need!).

 

In SOUTHEAST WRITERS' HANDBOOK, Wayne Ude discusses different types of workshops. These include:

 

1. an informal, private workshop, with no fee, no instructor, meeting in someone's home or at a library or other public building.

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These are usually made up of peers, and the writing/publishing experience can vary tremendously. Each group usually develops its own set of rules. One detail to watch is whether members of the group, over time, begin having some publishing success and develop stronger critique skills (if your goal is publication). Some informal groups can become more of a social support group, which can be good, but not if your ultimate goal is publication.

 

2. a beginning writing class offered through a local school, church, community center, or by a local writer in his/her home.

These, too, can vary widly, both in information provided and in fees required. Be sure to talk to other writers about such a group.

3. a more formal beginning creative writing class, offered through any of the above or through a college.

 

Almost all local colleges have creative writing classes, many of which are non-credit community courses; these can focus on any genre and vary in cost and time required.

 

4. an intermediate workshop, usually focusing on a single genre and led by a published writer.

 

Often held at colleges or universities, the more advanced courses are often for college credit; however, such courses are often open to the community.

 

5. an advanced workshop. These, too, are often at local colleges or universities.

 

Both Wayne Ude and Bill Patrick have written a reading checklist, one for fiction and one for poetry; Bill also has a "Workshop Etiquette" list. If any groups would find this information useful, email us, and we'll include it on this page.

 

KEEP WRITING!

 

Marian Blue

Researching your market involves:
1. Checking Readers' Guides for all recent publications on your subject
2. Reading the most recent articles (at least those printed within the past six months) to both avoid repetition and to get new ideas
3. Sending for writers' guidelines for publications you intend to query (many are online!); don't forget to include a SASE by snail mail
4. Reading the magazines you intend to query (including the past half dozen issues at least). Read EVERY article for:

MARKETS: don't ignore regional newspapers, especially travel sections and "special" sections, those pull out advertising sections that focus on spring gardening or summer events or holiday festivals -- original articles on those subjects are often welcome!

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