View as Webpage



“Writers never retire. They just revise.” – Charles Coe




CONTENTS OF NOVEMBER ISSUE

NWU-Boston at the Boston Book Festival

Writers' Night OUT! - Monday, November 21

Writers' Night IN! - Monday, November 28

Our Annual Book Party - Sunday, February 5

Unconventional Formats

Grants Available to Low-Income Writers

Open Mic Every Thursday

Calling All Book Authors! Tune-In Tuesdays

Kudos

Upcoming Events

Spread Your News on the Update and Our Website!

On Saturday, October 29, the Boston Chapter of NWU had a booth at the Boston Book Festival in Copley Square. The attendance at the festival is typically between 25,000 to 30,000 people. It was a beautiful fall day in Boston, and the city was filled with book lovers of all ages, perusing the booths, listening to lectures, and enjoying everything to do with the written word.


Shannon O’Connor and Willie Pleasants were at the booth all day, as well as seven authors at different times, selling their books, and talking about the union and our mission with any passersby who were interested. People were excited about the National Writers Union, bought books, and talked about writing and the writing life, and the purpose of the union.


The booth we had was a success. We received a lot of names of people who were interested in information about the union and possibly joining. Everyone had a great time, and we hope we can participate next year to meet more people, and spread the word about the Union.


WRITERS' NIGHT OUT

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21 @ 6:00-8:00 P.M.

730 TAVERN, CENTRAL SQUARE, CAMBRIDGE


We know all writers love to talk – and it’s better when there are other writers around, and possibly with drinks and food. Why not join the National Writers Union at our Writers' Night Out, and participate in the discussion about the writing life, what we’re working on, what we wish we could be doing, and anything else that comes up in conversation, such as the dread or excitement of the impending holiday season? We’d love to see you in Cambridge next Monday. Please contact Shannon O’Connor if you’re interested.

WRITERS' NIGHT IN

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28 @ 5:30-6:30 P.M.


It can be a little tough this time of year when we turn back the clocks and it's darker than a loan shark's heart at five o'clock.


But there's one place where light pierces the gloom, a place of unfailing good cheer. I'm talking, of course, about our virtual "Writers' Night In" --an informal gab session about writing, or books, or whatever's on our minds.


Our next virtual gathering happens next Monday, the 28th, from 5:30 to 6:30. Feel free to invite friends who aren’t NWU members.


To request a Zoom invite, please email Charles Coe.


Hope you can join us...

Your NWU-Boston Steering Committee


SAVE THE DATE:

OUR ANNUAL BOOK PARTY

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2023

2:00-5:00 P.M. ON ZOOM


Watch this space for news of our renowned annual book party, in which we celebrate authors who have published books (in any format) in 2022. Some of these authors will read from their books, and we'll have an unforgettable guest speaker.


If you've published or will have published a book this year, send details (name and a sentence or two describing it) to editor Barbara Mende for inclusion in the list on our website. If you're interested in doing a five-minute reading at the party, let Barbara know that too. And congratulations! 


UNCONVENTIONAL FORMATS

by Barbara Beckwith


I’ve always been fascinated by novelists who dare to eschew usual first or third person, or other narrative conventions, and still create a satisfying story.


Julie Otsuka’s The Buddha in the Attic, concerning Japanese “picture brides” brought to the U.S. in the early 1900s, is told from the “we” point of view. Remarkably, the novel’s first-person plural narration conveys both the women’s commonality and each individual’s experience.


Kamel Daoud’s The Meursault Investigation, narrated by the brother of “the Arab” who was killed in Albert Camus’ L’Etranger, uses the second person (you) to convey the anomie the Camus character showed toward the unjustified killing. 

 

Julia Alvarez’s Yo!, revolving around a Dominican-American girl, is narrated by the girl’s sisters, cousins, parents, grandparents, professor, a housemaid, and a stalker, to illuminate the dynamics of gender, class, race and culture

.

Epistolary formats became popular in the 18th century with novels such as Richardson’s Pamela and Laclos’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses. My 21st century favorites include Eowyn Ivey’s To The Bright Edge of the World, told in a woman’s letters to her husband in Alaska’s wilderness, and Brendan Halpin’s Donorboy, a detective story told in emails and texts.

The quirkiest format: Yannick Murphy’s The Call conveys trauma and revenge, via a veterinarian’s logbook!


Non-fiction writers try non-traditional formats, as well. Joan Wickersham’s memoir, The Suicide Index, explores her father’s death as a book index. “I stumbled upon the “index” format,” says Wickersham. “It was how this particular story had to be told to give it a trajectory of emotion.”


Valeria Luiselli’s Tell Me How It Ends tells an enlightening and empathetic story about Central American children seeking amnesty, by organizing it around 40 questions the children are asked to determine if they will be allowed to stay in the U.S

.

And in the just-published Dear White Woman: Please Come Home, African American Kimberlee Yolanda Williams writes letters to the white women she thought could be her friend until their biases crushed her hopes.


I look forward to reading more stories structured in ways that offer fresh ways of seeing. If you feel stuck in your writing, try one of these innovative structures -- or one of your own making.

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 Chair Willie Wideman-Pleasants.

OPEN MIC EVERY THURSDAY

The NWU New York Chapter, which for many years hosted open mics at the Muhlenberg branch library, is now holding virtual open mics weekly: every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:00 pm.

All writers from all genres are welcome. You can read for up to seven minutes. Just RSVP on meetup.com to view the link to join.

CALLING ALL BOOK AUTHORS! TUNE-IN TUESDAYS

FIRST TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH

Royalty, Compensation & 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 meeting program email chair Dan McCrory.


CHARLES COE wrote two poems that were part "Love in the Time Of. . .," a presentation by the Boston Opera Collaborative where ten poets wrote new lyrics for Schumann's "Dichterliebe."


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.

Open Mic Every Thursday (see above)

Tune-In Tuesdays - First Tuesday of Every Month (see above)

Romancing New England: Events for Local Romance Authors and Readers

NWU-Boston Annual Book Party - Sunday, February 5

The Power of Narrative Conference (BU) - March 17-18

Second Saturdays - Wising Up Zoom Discussion Groups

Authors Guild "From Manuscript to Marketplace" series

Grub Street Workshops

New England Science Fiction Association

New England Science Writers Events

Writers' Conferences

Tips and Tools for Writers to Advance Their Careers

Writing Contests


SEND US NEWS OF YOUR UPCOMING READINGS, BOOK LAUNCHES, OR OTHER PUBLIC APPEARANCES. WE'LL TRY TO HELP YOU RAISE A (VIRTUAL OR IN-PERSON) CROWD.

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.

Chair: Willie Wideman-Pleasants

Editor and Webmaster: Barbara Mende