“Only dead fish go with the flow.” What more could we ask from Alaska’s ex-governor Sarah Palin? It’s a perfect prompt for the 49 Writers “Ode to a Dead Salmon” Contest. We began the contest Monday, and submissions are already rolling in. Check out our contest guidelines and email your submission to debv@gci.net. by August 15. Many thanks to Ray Troll for donating an autographed t-shirt of the winner’s choice as first prize.
What a week for Alaska. Not only do we now have a governor who meets with the local press, offers informed answers to questions about issues, and plans to live in Juneau during the legislative session, but our writers also made the New York Times, not once but twice. Last Sunday’s Times pubbed a great op-ed piece about Palin as a “qivitter” written by Willie Hensley, author of Fifty Miles from Tomorrow. Mention of the essay as a “must read” also scrolled on CNN’s coverage of the Big Quit.
The Times also ran a great review of Anchorage author Bill Streever’s new book Cold, calling it a “crisp and bracing little book” that is “chilling in too many ways to count.” In one of those double-edged writer’s developments, Streever’s book is currently out of stock in the three biggest Anchorage book stores, with assurances that more are on order.
Maybe we’ll discover more Times-worthy Alaskan authors through the Kathleen Tarr’s undergraduate nonfiction workshop at UAA on Wednesday evenings, 5:30-8:15, this fall. Three openings remain in the three-credit course that promises to carve out some very productive writing time while affording the benefit of a group of careful readers. Kathleen says the class will also tackle a variety of supplemental readings during the semester, with a few mini-craft talks to spice things up. For more information, contact Kathleen at 786-4394 or afkt1@uaa.alaska.edu.
A reminder that the Alaska Writers Guild is sponsoring a great Writers Workshop August 22nd & 23rd here in Anchorage. Authors, agents, publishers, editors, and publicity folks will be here for two days of helpful instruction and discussion about your writing.
For just $225 you can meet and discuss writing with seven professionals, boosting you along in your quest for publication, from rough draft to a contract with an agent, editor, publisher or a marketing person. And hear a stirring keynote talk by International playwright/and creativity consultant Andrew Harmon on the FOUR CRISES OF AUTHORSHIP. For more information, go to Alaska Writers Guild dot com and click on Workshop or call 243-5523 about the Alaska Writers Workshop. That’s www.alaskawritersguild.com or 243-5523.
In the category of news we’d rather not have to mention, I’ve enlisted the help of Angela Hoy of WritersWeekly.com, the largest-circulation freelance writing ezine in the world, in hopes that Carus Publishing will honor its contracts with writers (including me) by paying them on publication. Several months ago I mentioned here that Carus, publisher of several well-respected children’s magazines, responded to my initial inquiry about payment for articles published in the January issue of their Faces magazine by saying “due to a temporary cash flow problem, payments are going out late. Payments are going out every week and we hope to be caught up soon.”
WritersWeekly.com publishes a Warnings section on its website and in its newsletter. This warning section contains reports about publications that are unprofessional in dealing with writers, haven’t paid writers money that is owed to them, who have not abided by their contracts, or who have unfair contract terms. These reports are used by WritersWeekly.com’s subscribers to decide which publications they should and should not work with.
Since February, I’ve had no response to my repeated queries about the “delayed payment.” Angela at WritersWeekly, working on my behalf, got a response within days. No money, just more talk about hard times and their plans to pay everyone eventually. So unless they’re comfortable with “delayed payments,” writers may want to think twice before submitting to APPLESEEDS, ASK, BABYBUG, CALLIOPE, CICADA, CLICK, COBBLESTONE, CRICKET, DIG, FACES, LADYBUG, MUSE, ODYSSEY, SPIDER, or any other publication of the Carus/Cobblestone Publishing group.
The good news take-away point: WritersWeekly has some clout. But I’m still waiting for my check.
Am I the last person to have known about Bill Streever's book, before it made a big splash this month? Who is this talented man who (a quick online search reveals) works a day job as a biologist while writing nonfiction — with another equally interesting book on the way. We need to hear from him! An interview is in order! Also, Nancy Lord has promised us an upcoming post on her reaction to his book, "Cold." Looking forward to that as well.
I thought I was the last person to know about Bill Streever. I see he did a signing at Title Wave a week or so ago. Totally intrigued by the book.