Call for Submissions: Travel Thru History

Owens Valley, August 2007

Have you been someplace recently that you really should tell the world about?

Ruth Kozak, Friend of the Writer Friendly Blog and (more importantly) editor of the travel website Travel Thru History is looking for your stories.

Check out the interesting array of topics the zine covers. When you've been inspired, click over to the site's very clear submissions guidelines .

Tell her Writer Friendly sent you!

Thanks for the tip, Ruth!

A Call to Action : Save Beyond Baroque!

Okay, I really don't intend to inundate you with information. I'm hoping to make one or two pithy posts a week so you don't get all worn out. But.

I just found the text below on Beyond Baroque's website. I've been a part of two readings at this wonderful arts center in Venice, CA and I've attended many others. They offer readings, free workshops and a bookstore. They are a vital and important part of the L.A. literary and arts community.

And they need our support.

I just wrote an e-mail to the councilman listed at the bottom of their announcement and I hope you will too.

Thanks!

The following is from Fred Dewey, Executive/Artistic Director of Beyond Baroque. Please write or call as directed below. This is important to our community.

Alert - A Call For Community Action

HELP PROTECT
BEYOND BAROQUE,
LA’S HISTORIC INSTITUION!

After much effort on everyone’s part, our Councilman Bill Rosendahl recommended
a 25-year lease extension for Beyond Baroque to the City General Services Department.

Unfortunately, it now appears the City Attorney is recommending against an extension.

We are now in great peril. Our lease is up in a few weeks and uncertainty is threatening grants, programming and our entire future.

Please express your support to the Councilman, ask him why this is happening, and what he is doing to protect Beyond Baroque.

Beyond Baroque is a vital and historic national institution and has been LA’s only literary center for four decades. Please do not let it be destroyed.

Here is the contact information for Councilman Bill Rosendahl:

Councilman Bill Rosendahl
City Hall Office
200 N. Spring Street
Rm 415
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 473-7011
(213) 473-6926 (fax)
Email: Councilman.Rosendahl@lacity.org

Ruth Goring in Raving Dove & Call for Submissions

Most excellent news! Ruth Goring, a friend of the Writer Friendly blog, has published a poem in the current edition of Raving Dove (Spring 2008, #12.)


Experience Ruth's powerful imagery for yourself. Then consider whether you have any work that might contribute to this journal's humanitarian mission.

How does one become a friend of Writer Friendly, you ask? Subscribe, submit ideas, communicate. Pretty easy, huh? Let me know when you publish something and I'll pass it on.

Let's embrace the joy of truly shameless self-promotion together, shall we?

This just in: Raving Dove is sponsoring an Evolve Beyond Violence Nonfiction Essay Award.

And I quote (from an email received today):

"As a way to build awareness of our mission, we are sponsoring our first Evolve Beyond Violence Nonfiction Essay Award, with a first-place prize of $1,000. The reading period begins exactly one week from today and ends September 1. Complete information can be found at www.ravingdove.org/award. Past and current contributors are eligible to participate. "

Poets & Writers Magazine Online

You may be aware of Poets & Writer's magazine, but did you realize that they offer free access to their content online?

Yup! You can read the articles, look for grants, even check out their Classifieds section for everything from calls for submissions to a writer-friendly Paris apartment rental. It's really worth checking out...though you might want to set a timer so you don't lose track of time while you peruse the jobs listings or the grant deadlines.

Since we were just talking about themed writing lately, I'd urge you to check out Poets & Writer's current calls for submissions to anthologies. There are, for example, editors out there looking for stories about depression, being a "military brat," and from the perspective of women over 50.

Markets - Themed Publications

Seems to me that I'm going to have better luck placing a story if they are actively looking for what I'm peddling. Some journals do a special themed issue or two a year. Some, like Thema, are all about writing about a particular concept. [Like "The box under the bed," deadline: March 1, 2008.]

When I'm on the hunt for a home for one of my pieces, I often drop by Duotrope Digest's frequently updated Theme Calendar. It's a concise and clear listing of pertinent calls for submissions. It's organized by deadline date, and each listing is linked to a Duotrope page that gives you more info about the publication in general.

Anthologies Online's monthly Writer's Wanted section is also a good resource. Anthologies are pretty much themed collections, whether by subject matter or the geographical location of the author.

Also consider checking out these sites when you are looking for inspiration. Find a theme that interests you and write something for their deadline. Nice to have a specific external goal to aim for.

While I have you, let me mention that in general Duotrope Digest is a great online resource. You can click on the Home/Search tag at the top of the page to be shown random markets, or you can enter details about the type of writing you are looking to place.

In addition to links to the actual submissions requirements pages of the journals they list, they also collect and share statistics regarding average turnaround times, personal responses, etc. You can create a free account and use Duotrope's system to keep track of your submissions, simultaneously contributing to their statis collection.

[p.s. It worked for me once. My piece "Tools for Living" appears in the anthology at the top of this page. Yeah, expect some shameless self-promotion here. And tell me your success stories, too please!]

I'm a Friendly Writer

Some of my favorite people are also writers. I keep thinking of things I want to share with them. With you, maybe, if you're a writer.

Like what?

1) Calls for submissions.

These I usually share when I am muddling around looking for a place to get my own fiction and creative non-fiction work into print. But I will try to include a market listing at least twice a month, if not more often.

2) Descriptions of Writer Friendly resources.

Both online and in the real live world. I've started by creating some links to the right. Over the next months (oh, who knows, maybe even decades) I'll tell you why I think enough of these venues and sources to include them here.

3) Conversations about writing.

I'd love to get a dialog going here. I'd love it if you'd use the comments area or the email link to tell me about Writer Friendly people, places and goings on you've discovered.

4) Your input.

I am truly hoping for help from all of you with making this web site a fun and helpful resource for writers. Is the site missing a great resource that you have personal experience with? Please let me know. Email me and I will post your review of a Writer Friendly person place or thing with your byline. (If you have a link, include that too!)

Yeah, it's going to be pretty L.A.-centric in some ways, at least at the beginning, because this has been my stomping ground for lo these last 23 years. (Oh my gosh, I can hardly believe that myself!) But it will include market listings, links to retreats, etc. in other areas as I find out about them. Maybe you'll decide to launch your own blog about Writer Friendly Chicago or Writer Friendly Dowagiac, MI.


If you decide to subscribe to the website, you'll get all this and--who knows?--maybe more delivered right to your inbox. (There's a subscription form at the bottom of the column at right.) If not, feel free to drop by any time.