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"A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit." - Richard Bach
CONTENTS OF THE APRIL ISSUE
Writers' Night OUT! - Monday, April 21
Writers' Night IN! - Monday, April 28
Roxbury Book Festival (we can use help) - Saturday, May 17
Reportback: The Power of Narrative Conference at BU - March 28 & 29
Readings Recorded at Our Delightful Book Party
All Members Are Invited to National ExComm Meetings
Help Amend the Massachusetts Wage Act
Grants Available to Low-Income Writers
Book Authors! Tune-In Wednesdays
Kudos
Upcoming Events
Spread Your News on the Update and Our Website!
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WRITERS' NIGHT OUT
MONDAY, APRIL 21 @ 6:00 P.M.
INDIA PAVILION, 17 CENTRAL SQUARE, CAMBRIDGE
In case you’re not running the Boston Marathon next Monday, you can come to Writers' Night Out so we can discuss the writers’ life, the marathon of writing and creating and imagining. If you are running the marathon, you can come, and we will congratulate you! Either way, it would be wonderful to see old friends and new and celebrate Patriots Day by eating Indian food and enjoying the springtime.
Contact Shannon O’Connor to RSVP.
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WRITERS' NIGHT IN (ON ZOOM)
MONDAY, APRIL 28 @ 5:30-6:30 P.M.
To National Writers Union Members and Friends:
With all the crazy stuff going on in this country nowadays, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and disheartened. But there are ways to stay afloat:
1. ACTIVISM: Various strategies of opposition, such as attending rallies, writing to elected representatives, and volunteering for and/or contributing to organizations and institutions currently under attack. These all combat the sense of helplessness, the idea that "nothing can be done."
2. FINDING AND CREATING JOY. Spending quality time with friends and family, participating in and/or enjoying art and culture, seeking opportunities to contribute to the well-being of others. In the words of Mark Twain, "The best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer up someone else."
3. STAYING ENGAGED: Don't spend too much time alone doom scrolling and listening to NPR all day. Take a break from the news to go for a walk or rearrange your sock drawer while listening to "Aretha Franklin's Greatest Hits."
And maybe take an hour to hang with your peeps at "Writer's Night In" next Monday to chill with some like-minded folks.
Hope to see you then...
RSVP to Charles Coe for the ZOOM link.
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ROXBURY BOOK FESTIVAL
SATURDAY, MAY 17 @ 12-5 P.M.
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY, ROXBURY BRANCH
149 DUDLEY STREET, ROXBURY
617-442-6186
Our Boston Chapter of the NWU will be a vendor at the Roxbury Book Festival, and we need some help. Any interested member who wishes to participate at the vendor table can email Willie Wideman-Pleasants, and she'll assign you a block of time. You can use your time to market your book if you have one, or just share information about the union.
It's free. And you'll get to meet interesting people and promote your work. Please contact Willie before May 1 if possible.
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THE POWER OF NARRATIVE CONFERENCE
AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY MARCH 28 AND 29
by Shannon O'Connor
I was lucky enough to attend the Power of Narrative conference at Boston University on March 28 and 29 last month. I was inspired by listening to writers talk about the craft of narrative non-fiction.
The conference opened with Connie Shultz, a national syndicated columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner. She talked about teaching, and inspiring students to not be afraid to tell the truth. The Saturday morning keynote was Dan Zak from The Washington Post, who discussed his article “The Hero,” about a veteran who saved people from the shooting at a nightclub in Colorado Springs where an anti-LGBTQ shooting occurred. Dan talked about his research writing the article, and the sensitivity he had to show the family.
Susan Orlean talked about her process, and discussed her book, The Library Book, about a fire at The Los Angeles Public Library. She did extensive research for this, and she mentioned she liked to learn things that she does not know, so she can immerse herself in a subject.
Connie Chung (pictured above) was the recipient of the Hugo Chong Lifetime Achievement Award, and she was the star of the conference. She was funny, and even raunchy at times, and she talked about her life, and how difficult it was being the only female reporter in Washington when she was young in the 1970s. She said she thinks things are going backwards for women, and we have to continue to fight against the current administration for our rights.
Four hundred people attended the conference, and people were engaged, and networked, and got to know each other. Attendees traveled from all around the country, and people became inspired to keep writing the truth. Any member of the Boston Chapter of NWU who is interested in attending a conference can inquire about it, and can be reimbursed, which is one of the benefits of belonging to the union.
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READINGS RECORDED AT OUR DELIGHTFUL FEBRUARY BOOK PARTY
(Thanks to Willie Wideman-Pleasants)
Part I
Part II
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ALL MEMBERS ARE INVITED TO NATIONAL EXCOMM MEETINGS
THIRD THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH
The National Executive Committee invites us all to attend our union’s Executive Committee meetings, which are held monthly on the third Thursday from 5-6:30 p.m. ET. The ExComm is developing a formal process for members to submit agenda items for consideration at Executive Committee meetings — for now, you can email Recording Secretary Jonathan Rosenblum if you have something you’d like to discuss at an upcoming meeting.
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HELP AMEND THE MASSACHUSETTS WAGE ACT
The NWU is spearheading an effort to explicitly include remote workers under state labor law, and to ensure that employers are held accountable if they don't pay their workers. And we need you to help pass this law!
We've had promising meetings about the bill with both sponsors in the state legislature. Currently, our priority is to get other members of the legislature — especially on the labor committees — to sign on to co-sponsor. If we can build up a good amount of support before the committee hearing about the bill, which will likely be toward the end of the year, we should have a much smoother path toward getting it passed and signed into law.
Two asks for members:
- First, we'd love for people to reach out to their representatives. In particular, we're looking to connect with the following senators: Jake Olivera, Jason Lewis, Sal Diminico, Paul Feeney, Pat Jehlen, and Pat O’Connor, as well as Tommy Vitolo in the house. If you're repped by one of these people, please let me know so we can discuss setting up a meeting!
- Second, we're looking for additional examples of people having difficulty with remote work in MA. That can mean either (1) a worker based in MA being exploited by an out of state employer (through non-payment, lack of a contract, etc.) or (2) a worker in another state being exploited by a MA employer (with the same types of exploitation!).
If you have any questions about the campaign, or want to suggest additional allies to bring into the coalition, please reach out to NWU campaigns coordinator Eric Thurm.
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GRANTS AVAILABLE TO LOW-INCOME WRITERS
TO ATTEND CONFERENCES OR WORKSHOPS
The Boston Chapter Steering Committee is offering $100 grants to up to five NWU members in good standing. These grants are available to those who face challenging financial circumstances and would like to attend a writing conference or workshop (one of those listed below or one of your choice), or to take advantage of some other professional development opportunity.
If you would like to apply, or would like more information, please contact Steering Committee member Willie Wideman-Pleasants.
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BOOK AUTHORS! TUNE-IN WEDNESDAYS
FIRST WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH
Royalty, Compensation, and Distribution Issues for Book Authors
Join a discussion about the most pressing issues for book authors today. Share your experience and knowledge, and advance your career, in this virtual event hosted by Book Division Chair Dan McCrory and NY Member Timothy Sheard. Planned topics for the next several sessions are listed here.
To REGISTER for the Zoom program, email chair Dan McCrory.
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BARBARA BECKWITH’s personal essays (“Standing on Books,” “Babushka,” “How I Will Fall Apart - or Not,” and “We Were in It Together, Until We Weren’t”) appear on www.70Candles.com, the blog by and for women over 70.
Two letters by JOHN L. HODGE were published, one in the March 31st edition of the Boston Globe and the other in the April 12th edition of The Economist. The letter in the Globe was grouped with four other letters under the heading, "Last Tuesday it was Rumeysa Ozturk. Who will it be next?" The letter in The Economist was grouped with four other letters under the heading, "Who wants to live forever." You can read them on John's blog.
SHANNON O'CONNOR had a poem published in Oddball Magazine.
| | Please send any news of a publication, award, or writing-related appearance that has already happened to editor Barbara Mende. (A piece on your own blog or website doesn't qualify.) Send 50 words or less, plus your name and a link to the publication, event, or website where readers can find more info about you or the happening. Don't send notices of work that will be published in the future. Do send news of future events, but see the "Upcoming Events" block for that. | |
USE THE UPDATE AND OUR WEBSITE TO SPREAD YOUR NEWS
Are you speaking or reading from your work in the near future? Do you want to publicize an event that writers would be interested in zooming in to? Can you provide a service, such as editing or indexing or publicity, for your fellow union members? Do you just want to introduce yourself to the NWU membership?
Our Boston Chapter website, which you can reach at
nwu.org/chapters/boston/ or www.nwuboston.org, is here for you to use. Not only that, but if you send us an announcement of a specific event by the second Monday of each month, we'll try to include it in these updates.
Please send us news of any upcoming events that you'd like us to publicize, along with Zoom links or PDF posters if you have them. If you'd like to promote your services, plug your latest book, tell us about something writing-related that happened to you, or post anything else you can think of, we'll try to give it a place on the website.
And we'd love to hear from you if you'd like to contribute to these updates. Do you have information or a viewpoint on some phase of writing or publishing that you'd like to pass along? Do you have tips that you'd like to share with your fellow writers? Send them in! And don't forget, if you've published something or participated in an event or made an appearance, we'll post it under Kudos.
Send all your news for the Update and website to your webmaster.
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