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"Nothing you write, if you hope to be any good, will ever come out as you first hoped." - Lillian Hellman
CONTENTS OF THE OCTOBER ISSUE
Writers' Night OUT! - Monday, October 16
Writers' Night IN! - Monday, October 23
Our 2024 Book Party - Sunday, February 4
Learning to Love Rejection
Want a Place to Sell Your Books?
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!
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WRITERS' NIGHT OUT
MONDAY, OCTOBER 16 @ 6:00 P.M.
730 TAVERN, CENTRAL SQUARE, CAMBRIDGE
The National Writers Union’s Boston Chapter would like to see you next week on Monday. We get together once a month in person to share stories of the writing life, and anything else that comes up in discussion, such as books, travel, TV shows, or where to find the best pumpkin muffins. We can eat, and possibly have a drink, and socialize in real life. If you are interested, please email Shannon O’Connor.
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WRITERS' NIGHT IN (ON ZOOM)
MONDAY, October 23 @ 5:30-6:30 P.M.
This is the time of year folks in New England play one of our favorite party games: "Who'll be the last to turn on the heat?" The little exercise gets more interesting every year since fuel prices are on the rise again this winter. Oh, well...
How about warming up with a hot cuppa or whatever while you hang with NWU colleagues and friends at this month's "Writers' Night In"? Come let us know what you've been up to.
RSVP to Charles Coe for the ZOOM link.
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SAVE THE DATE FOR OUR FABULOUS 2024 BOOK PARTY
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2024
@ 2 P.M.
We're planning to go live this year for the first time since 2020. We'll meet at the Dance Complex at 536 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, convenient to the Red Line and buses, site of past Book Parties. We'll be honoring our members who have published books in 2023, hearing some of these members reading from their work, catching up with people we haven't seen in person for years, enjoying a delicious buffet, and hearing from an outstanding guest speaker: Boston Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola.
If you have a book that will have been published by the end of the year, contact editor Barbara Mende. Let Barbara know, too, if you're interested in reading from your book at the party.
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LEARNING TO LOVE REJECTION
by CHARLES COE
Those of us who've been in the writing game for a while remember the days when you came home at the end of a long day and saw a fat letter or envelope in your mailbox. You grabbed it only to see your own handwriting...the dreaded Self Addressed Stamped Envelope, into which an editor or publisher stuffed your rejected submitted manuscript, along with a photocopied polite "Thanks but no thanks." Nowadays, of course, since most publications accept only electronic submissions, writers no longer see that SASE sticking out of the mailbox, returned like the Prodigal Son.
But then as now, any time you get a personal rejection letter (or probably email) it's a big deal. If the publisher or editor thinks your work has merit but for some reason isn’t a fit, a personally worded, kind rejection notice is an implied invitation to “try again."
There are a lot of reasons one's writing might get rejected. The editors might have published something in a recent issue that’s similar to your submission. Or they might just think that particular piece isn't the best fit for them. In any case, after a short self pity break, the best strategy is to crack our knuckles, sit down, and get back to work.
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WANT A PLACE TO SELL YOUR BOOKS?
Authors Without Borders (AWB) is a regional consortium of book writers and authors, founded in 2007 by four authors whose mission is to jointly market their books and assist other writers in navigating the course to marketing and publication. “We like to help writers avoid some of the pitfalls we experienced.”
AWB still has opportunities for authors to sell their books: at Durfee-Fall River - December 2d and 3d.
Please email authorswb6@gmail.com for more information.
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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 Chair Willie Wideman-Pleasants.
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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.
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CALLING ALL BOOK AUTHORS! TUNE-IN TUESDAYS
FIRST TUESDAY 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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CHARLES COE's "This Tomato" was published recently in "Meat for Tea: The Valley Review."
LESLIE WHEELER is a publisher and contributing editor of Wolfsbane, Best New England Crime Stories 2023, which came out on October 6 from Crime Spell Books. The anthology contains a total of 21 original stories, some dark and some lighter, by both well-known authors and newbies. The editors - Wheeler, Susan Oleksiw, and Christine Bagley - are thrilled to publish three mystery authors for the very first time. The first story in the book is the winner of this year’s Al Blanchard Short Crime Fiction Contest.
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.
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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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Chair: Willie Wideman-Pleasants
Editor and Webmaster: Barbara Mende
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