May 2, 2024
Dear Writers,
Thank you for signing up for Writing with Hart: News and Opportunities for Writers. I’m so glad you’re here!
A shout out to two former writing students this month. The first, Ron Tinsley, just released his memoir Promise: A Story of Race, Culture and Black Potential. I got to read an early chapter involving Stevie Wonder, and I found it absolutely mesmerizing.
Longtime travel writer Cheryl Landes, whom I interviewed for my VIA magazine article “Souvenirs of Travel: Simple Ways to Enrich a Journey and Create Lasting Memories,” has just released The Best I Can Do: A True Story of Navigating the Complexities of Mental Illness and Homelessness. Cheryl wrote this related piece while working on the book, and it completely knocked my socks off: I Was Married With A Full-Time Job. Then I Had To Move Into My Car. | HuffPost HuffPost Personal
Today, since tree pollen allergies are making my life miserable (love you, maples—really!), I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Namely, I want to teach you how to help promote a writer’s work in five minutes or fewer.
You’re busy. I get it. You also love good writing. In under five minutes, you can do the following to help get a writer’s work out into the world:
- Write and post a book review online. I just did this while I drank my morning coffee. It was fun!
- Share a writer’s social media post, whether on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn. (Does anyone still use Twitter–I’m NOT going to call it X—or Pinterest? I need to know.)
- Create a social media post of your own in which you mention a writer’s article, book, essay, screenplay, poem, or cat manifesto.
- Fill out an online form at your local library and/or call your local bookstore and ask them to order an author’s book.
- Suggest an author as a speaker to your friends who work as teachers and/or librarians.
- Buy a beloved book online and send it to a friend. I sent a copy of Geraldine Brooks’ novel Horse to my sister-in-law, not knowing that Black Beauty had put her off equine-themed books for life. Be discerning. 😊
See how easy it is to be a force for good in the literary community? Onward. Achoo! Damn maples.
What I’m Publishing.
I’ve just filed a slew of articles (including a new one related to my piece Slow Mobility on the Accessible Coast – Oregon Coast Visitors Association (visittheoregoncoast.com)) plus essays which will appear in print later this month. I have an upcoming Los Angeles Times commentary about a quail flocking with our local turkeys!
Don’t believe it? See my TikTok video as proof!
Please, if you haven’t read my essay “The Vaudevillian Ghosts of Liberty” at Hidden Compass, will you read and share and maybe donate a few dollars toward their crowdfunding campaign for this piece? I’d be grateful! It’s an important piece about race, sexuality & culture in an art form that directly inspired both The Muppet Show and America’s Got Talent! It stars my great-grandparents, pictured below. Aren’t they fine?
Where I’ll Be Soon
May 8-10, 2024. I’m offering Ask-a-Pro Sessions – Nonfiction Writers Conference. You still have time to register—this conference is all online, and I’m eager to attend every single session!
July 12-13th, 2024—I’m teaching—yes, teaching—at the Oregon Country Fair, specifically on the Spoken Word stage. More details soon. Will I wear fairy wings and cat ears and a tail? You can count on it!
Want me to keynote and/or teach at your conference, school, library, or decades-old hippie fair? I’d be thrilled! See my website for information on what I teach or ask me to teach something else!
A Few Cool Resources for Writers
- The indefatigable Peter Shankman has launched Help Every Reporter Out (HERO) to link journalists with interview sources. I look to this site when I’m writing a newspaper or magazine article, and I respond to journalist queries if I can be of use to them. It’s brilliant!
- Anne Lamott has a new book out at age 70, and she’s all over the media with excellent writing advice for us all. Here’s her recent interview on NPR One—her suggestion to approach a task “bird by bird” consistently keeps me from panicking whether I’m writing a historical novel or washing my windows during a frenzy of Spring cleaning.
- I taught a workshop on how to start and sustain a book-length project for Oregon Writers Colony’s annual conference last weekend, and I mentioned this Ologies podcast episode: LIFE ADVICE: For anyone who is tired & needs some hacks — alie ward . Friends, it’s worth it for the mention of a simple button in Gmail which allows you to add a “task”–and the related email–to a calendar which then sends you alerts. I no longer miss deadlines or misplace emails thanks to this hack!
Conferences, Residencies, Fellowships, & Calls for Submissions
- Portland Community College and the Humanities invites applications for the Carolyn Moore Writing Residency. Three- to eight-week terms with a stipend, in a beautiful house near Portland, Oregon.
- The AWP (Associated Writers and Writing Projects) Conference takes place at the end of March 2025, but those interested in proposing panels and other events need to submit ideas soon. I’m busily submitting proposals right now, and it’s a project. Get on it and let me know if you need any tips. My biggest tip is to consider diversity in all its forms as you’re putting together your events. I’ve moderated three super-successful and fun AWP panels. Come and join the party!
- GrubStreet in Boston is offering a Teaching Fellowship for Black Writers with a $25,000 award. Pass this info on to everyone you know who might be interested, will you?
- Realm and Austin Film Festival are looking for audio series projects focused on Millennial or Gen-Z women in the genres of romance, thriller, and/or horror for their Fiction Podcast Award and Fellowship.
- The Speculative Literature Foundation is offering $1000 grants for writers over 50 years old. The deadline to apply is May 31st. Good luck!
- As always, visit these sites for editors’ calls for submissions: Calls for Submissions :: Where to Submit – NewPages.com, Practicing Writing – Erika Dreifus, Opportunities of the Week Newsletter – Sonia Weiser (wordpress.com), FundsforWriters and Call for Submissions | Poets & Writers (pw.org).
Okay, that’s all for now. Let me know if you want me to include any writing resources in my June issue, and I’ll do so!
Much gratitude,
Melissa
P.S. Here’s me teaching first-graders about owls and my novel Avenging the Owl in honor of Earth Day.
Melissa Hart is the author of seven books including the novels Daisy Woodworm Changes the World and Avenging the Owl, and the nonfiction titles Better with Books: 500 Diverse Books to Ignite Empathy and Encourage Self-Acceptance in Tweens and Teens, Wild Within: How Rescuing Owls Inspired a Family, and Gringa: A Contradictory Girlhood. Find out more at www.melissahart.com
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