Smoke Signal

Hi Folks.

I'm alive and looking forward to our move to North Carolina after 8+ years in P.R. For the first time in almost a decade I miss "the four seasons," and I can no longer stand living without quality libraries. I miss fleece. And sleeves. So, packin' up the animals and my guy, and movin' on. Heading to the mid-west to see family in December, then NC in January '10 to ring in the new year.

I will continue my freelance work with "Express Yourself!" and am looking for a position, ideally in "student services," at one of the univerities, colleges, or even secondary schools in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area they call "The Triangle." I'd like to find an interesting, laid-back coordinator position (in service learning, community service, diversity, study abroad, students with disabilities, career center, admissions, ?) that provides stability and community, yet leaves room for creativity, writing and fun. Dream job!

Know someone in NC I should meet or contact for an "Informational Interview"? What's up with the rest of you alums?

Lonely Little Alumni Blog

Does anyone come to this blog anymore?

Call for Submissions

Just in case anyone comes to this blog and skips the original MFA blog for current students, I am producing an anthology. This inspirational and motivational collection of nonfiction essays and articles will focus on stories about women and their "press pause moments," those points of transition when they have decided to take a different path, pursue a passion, or go after a goal or dream.
For more information and complete submission guidelines please go to The Press Pause Now Anthology Project.

Moving Forward - Skinny Toe Style

The last two months have seen some interesting growth to Miranda Literary Magazine and some new prospects. It started when I was running a free program based on on-demand applications. After I finished my program, not only had I convinced people that on-demand publishing is feasible, I wanted to use it as an extension of Miranda Magazine. By offering a print version of the magazine, we began to draw appeal to an audience that wanted print as part of their publishing experience. Our first issue was a success, due in large part from the contributing writers who felt that they not only were part of a Miranda first, but also very happy with our first print experience.

It sparked the idea of having an anthology series where a theme or topic is introduced and a body of writing would be assembled. My choice, because it is a passion of mine, was to focus on "The Sea." We began getting a few submissions. We were soon included in a few list serves and now, not only have we received a large number of submissions - numbers spiked on Miranda. The anthology slated for publication in August is moving forward. A design meeting will take place next week. A process of selection and a contract will be created. A few writers like Tim Weed from the MFA program will be part of the anthology.

If good things, don't spark more good things, I am considering our first book publication that will be published under Miranda's publishing moniker Skinny Toe Press. My hope is that this year will take our quarterly to a new level. A kind review from New Pages helped push us along and give us some exposure. I am hoping to begin seeking out editors to take on their visions of an anthology topics. More importantly, I have been impressed with the network of writers and support that we have recieved. Not only are the writers excited and very generous with their resources, they are poducing very inspiring works of art. As we move forward into print publication and perhaps our first published book title under the Skinny Toe label - I must admit that I have stepped forward beyond my own expectations, beyond my own vision, beyond my own hopes. Simply put, I never thought I would be in a position to publish a book never mind sustain a magazine.

When I started the magazine as an enrichment project, I was hoping to last a year. I admit that we had a few false starts with branches and places to move forward. Miranda Film, while still a strong idea, needed more resources and direction. Podcasting is another avenue that is just too time consuming to do well without more resources. What we can do well is publish good writing. And that is what we will continue to do. I wouldn't have done this without the gudience and the support of the MFA program, my peers, and the writers who have contributed to the magazine from the beginning. I am very excited about the next year. And while creating a website that has brought writers together, it is also a privlege to allow them to hold their work in their hands. And so we move forward.

Poetry Outloud

Hi Folks! Haven't posted in a long time so thought I'd stop by and say hello. Hello!

Looking forward to the upcoming days of 2009 as many projects, desires and dreams (long in incubation) begin to spread their wings. I will keep quiet until I have concrete news on my new happenings, but I will share one exciting tidbit.

I have been invited to be a "state" artist-in-residence of sorts in a national poetry recitation project, POETRY OUTLOUD, for Intermediate and High School Students in the U.S. (Puerto Rico is technically the U.S.) Check it out: Poetry Outloud.

Will post more when I have more news. Cheers to a creative, healthy and prosperous 2009!

NaNoWriMo Wrap-Up

I'm not sure if anyone reads this blog anymore. But I felt an obligation to wrap up the National Novel Writing Month posts. NaNoWriMo takes place in November; the goal is to write a rough draft of a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. A number of us "alumn" participated. I won't speak for them, but I think we shared similar thoughts about the experience. Here are mine:

-I'd never done anything like this before. I tend to write and edit as I go along. Beneficial in my shorter works; difficult for a longer manuscript. The idea of stream of thought writing, just getting a story down on paper, not worrying if it all ties together quite yet, was an important learning moment for me.

-Doing this confirmed that to write and finish writing projects you have to write - every day. Whether you set a word count goal, time your writing sessions, write three times a day, early in the morning, before bed, whatever - you have to write.

-I made it to 50,000 words...50,003 to be exact (not that I was counting - much!)I haven't even read what I wrote yet. I did share the manuscript with two trusted writer friends to give me feedback. But what I know I have is a story, in its entirety, something raw to work with, not just think about.

-I was amazed at how my plot developed and my characters developed as I wrote without pause. New characters appeared I hadn't thought of before. Back stories became evident as I went along. New twists and turns emerged. I found I wanted to get back to it and write more just to see where it was all going.

Bottom line? As a writer I found the NaNoWriMo experience exhilarating and a learning opportunity. I'm hooked and plan to make participating an annual gift to myself.

I'd welcome any other fellow NaNoWriMo-ers to share their thoughts. Who knows, we may be the only ones reading these posts -- and we already were emailing each other -- but it would be nice to capture here!

Cheers -
Anne

Freelance Jobs

Have you guys heard of this website? I just followed the link from an RSS feed called Daily Writing Tips. And it looks pretty cool.

So how are the novels coming? I passed my 25 page mark yesterday. 8300 words and 27 pages now. It's coming along pretty well, but I KNOW if I ever do anything with it, it'll need a TON of editing. Pretty rough.

Keep writing!

Kir

And They're Off...

National Novel Writing Month officially kicked off at midnight. I'm 777 words in...where I'm going I don't know but I'm working on a story I've had in my head for at least five years. A holiday story...I was hoping that since NaNoWriMo is in November I will be inspired.

Colleen, Kir, Ron.....how's it going? I know Colleen is full swing ahead. She was a big help to me in getting signed up on the site. But we were trying to figure out how to get each other up on our sites as writing buddies. Anyone figure it out?

Anne

Marketing Help

Has anyone heard of Wordhustler.com? I ran across their website the other day as I was looking for information on an agent, and I thought it looks like a great tool for organizing queries.

Just curious if any of you have heard of it or used it.

Counting down my hours of freedom to lie around and read whatever I want.

Kir

Less Than One Week to Go

National Novel Writing Month begins next Saturday, November 1st. Sharpen your pencils, gather your pens, exercise your typing fingers.

To keep ourselves motivated (or honest, pushed, punished, whatever word you want to use) I'm thinking we might want to post our progress here. I'm trying to decide what makes sense - once a week, twice a week - does it sound like a good idea or no?

I just know if we start and fall silent for 30 days it won't be as much fun and I'll have a hard time staying motivated.

Any ideas?
Anne

Time for a Critique Session?

Sadly, as I began to write this note I couldn't remember what we called our occassional critique sessions we used to do - was did we refer to them as readings? Hmmmmm. But perhaps this confusion means it has been too long.

Is anyone still interested in getting together for an occassional critique group? A chance to share some new work with others and get their feedback?

I miss that part of the M.F.A. I feel like I'm writing in a dark hole right now. Paola and I did an email/telephone critique session for our children's stories earlier this year and it was really helpful. I'd love to get into some sort of rhythm, either in a group or with someone on a more one-on-one basis.

Let me know what you think.
Anne

It's Official!

It's official! I began as TravelingMom.com's resident sanity expert this week.

Check out my first Sanity section at here.

We're changing it out weekly so check in often - and feel free to share any topics related to balance on the go that you would like to read about!

Anne

Preparing for "The Challenge"

Okay, now that Kir has made a public statement she's up for the National Novel Writing Month challenge (writing a rough draft of a novel of 50,000 words in 30 days) I begin "boot camp" and preparations for the battle!

I've done the math - 50,000 words in 30 months is the equivalent of:
1,667 words/day (2,500 words/day if I take weekends off, but that's too scary!)
178 pages of manuscript, double-spaced, 12 pt type
Two 30-minute sessions of "rapid writing" per day
10 extra pounds at the end of it all
30 minutes extra on the elliptical or at the gym to erase the added 10

I'm collecting my arsenal - a new folder in my documents to hold the draft, fruit gushers to ease the anxiety, the text number for a highly recommended shrink, and speed dial to all my closest family and friends who already think I'm nuts for doing this.

I've got the idea -- check! I've got to visit Kir's recommended link and start thinking through the story more.

The question remains...can she do this? Can she find 50,000 words in a month to tell her story?

Time will tell.

Are YOU up to the challenge? Can YOU write 50,000 words in 30 days?

Anne

Thanks to Kir's post below, I decided to put something else up about National Novel Writing Month since my original post is about to go into blog archive heaven.

Just a little more than a month to go! Kir makes a good point -- it may be difficult to do something like this in a genre you already write in. We all have our processes we use to tackle our work, so this is a good opportunity to try something you never have before to see what happens! Who knows?

For example, I am writing a middle school novel/chapter book as my one-month, 50,000 word challenge. The idea for the book came to me a couple of months ago. I haven't had much time to do anything about it, so the idea is fresh. I'm going to use Kir's guide to think it through just before the November 1st kickoff. And then, I am just going to write and see what happens.

Let me know if anyone else is interested. This is something fun and challenging, and who knows -- you may produce a really great draft that can become one of your best publishable works!

Anne

Novel in a month challenge

Hi everyone,

Thanks, Anne, for posting so many times to the alumni blog, even when none of the rest of us seem to be alive. We're here, and I read your challenge with interest. I'll admit, though, that when I told my family about it at dinner (and said that I intend to take up the challenge), everyone but Jared groaned.
Since then, I've been thinking about writing topics, because I don't think I want to write a historical novel in a month, especially one that I haven't begun to research yet. Then one of my students posted this link on a blog we put together for our Creative Writing Club. It outlines a plan for sketching out a novel in 30 minutes. Anyone who's game for the challenge might want to check it out.
Happy writing!

Encouraging Future Writers

When I ventured out on my own this year, I thought a lot about how I would give back. This has always been very important to me, and for the last fifteen years I've worked for companies that gave me lots of opportunity to do good things in the community. Now, on my own, I wanted to make a commitment to keep up the practice.

I am focused on sharing the joys (and hardships) of writing with young people. This practice started when I began volunteering in my children's classrooms and conducting writers' workshops.

Today I visited the classroom of my WestConn MFA colleague, Maeve, and spoke to her students about writing and what it's like to be a writer. I shared with them how important writing skills were in advancing my career, how I decided to go back to school and get an M.F.A., and some examples of the types of writing I've done, from promotional games on the back of cereal boxes to magazine articles and ezines. The experience was wonderful for me, and I hope for the kids too.

One message I deliver is that writing skills are something that will help differentiate you in life, no matter what you choose to do for a living. The other is that writing gives you a voice and a way to express yourself that can be powerful and empowering.

I've written before that there's many ways to stretch ourselves with our writing that goes beyond publishing. Getting out and encouraging young people to write the best they can is one.

Anne

TravelingMom.com

News on the publishing front. My essay, Ah Wilderness, which you may remember from my thesis, has been posted in 3 parts on TravelingMom.com, an ezine designed to help make life's travels a little easier. Along with the article check out the sidebar, Hints for Camping With Another Family, written at the request of the editor.

I've also been invited to become the 'resident sanity expert' on TMOM. I'll be writing the weekly Sanity section of the ezine, starting the week of September 29.

Finally, my essay, BabyMaking 101, which I read at the Literary Festival has been accepted for the literary journal, MotherVerse, November issue. The editor has also asked me to write an essay for an upcoming anthology, which I'll be squeezing out in the next couple of weeks!

Apologies for the double posting (in the regular blog and this one) but not sure who reads what and when.

Anne

Authonomy, from Harper Collins

The following form Springwise newsletter, Sept 18 (http://www.springwise.com/weekly/2008-09-18.htm)

Authonomy is a new community that invites unpublished and self-published authors to post at least 10,000 words of a fiction or non-fiction manuscript for visitors to read online.

Visitors can review and recommend books, and can showcase their five favourite submissions on a virtual bookshelf that's viewable from their profile page. Authonomy keeps track of the number of recommendations a book receives and ranks writers accordingly. Readers are also ranked, based on how good they've been at spotting books that make it to the top of Authonomy's charts. To help authors make it from computer screen to printed book, once a month the top five books are delivered to the desks of an editorial board made up of international HarperCollins commissioning editors.

The website is free to use both for readers and writers, and HarperCollins hopes the wisdom of the crowds will help them unsource potential hits that individual editors or agents might otherwise miss, or just don't have the time to read. Needless to say, the site could also prove to be a good marketing tool once manuscripts are actually published, since authors won't have to build a fan base from scratch.


http://www.authonomy.com/about.aspx

Podcast Interviews

I recently discovered how fun it is to conduct and create podcast interviews! While my first interview with Lindsey Pollak (about Gen Y's role in the new economy and the importance of internships in today's job market) is not yet 'live', I am already looking for new interviewees.
I conduct the interviews by phone, so it doesn't matter where they live.

Any ideas on who I might interview next? Who or what would you like to hear more about?
I have my own list of folks, but would love your feedback as well.

Hope you are well and happy. Are you? Let's get an update grads! What have you been up to?

In Need of Blog Viagra?

Hi everyone - is it me or is this alumni blog in need of a "lift?" I've just noticed that there's not a lot of activity here. I'm wondering if there's a way to make this something value-added for all of us...or maybe everyone is just happy with the way it is?

Curious as to your thoughts.
Anne