The AWP Conference Reminded Me that Writing Can Be Play
April 2,, 2023
Dear Writers,
This is from my Substack newsletter, Writing with Hart: News and Opportunities for Writers. I’m so glad you’re here!
First, a shout-out to my new friend Andrea Ross, who wrote this gorgeous piece titled “…to play, to engage, to stop and pay attention” for Terrain.org. Andrea and I, along with three other authors, sat on a panel at last month’s AWP conference about how to promote your published books with short articles and essays in magazines and newspapers.
Spending four days in the company of thousands of other writers, I remembered how writing can be playful. I saw literary journals in the form of postcard collections and comic books. I met a man who walked the Camino Real in California and wrote a book about it. I met an indigenous woman who turned government documents dictating mandatory boarding school into found poems colored to look like beadwork. I met a memoir writer who told the story of her grandma, a burlesque dancer, through poetry and old photos.
I returned home feeling free to play with form and ideas in a way I haven’t for a long time. I hope you’re feeling that same freedom, as well. Here are a couple of websites to peruse if you need a bit of inspiration for how to play with form and content: An Introduction to the Lyric Essay (bookriot.com) & The digital literary revolution – The Writer (writermag.com)
What I’m Publishing
My agent’s pitching my top-secret book proposal right now—all I can say is that it’s a nonfiction book for middle-schoolers, the first of its kind, and I’m super-excited. Stay tuned!
In March, I got all fired up and wrote, pitched, and sold a short piece to HuffPost Personal in about two hours. You can read it here: I Wrote One Of The Few Tween Books About Down Syndrome. A Couple Of Sentences May Get It Banned. | HuffPost HuffPost Personal
Did the essay generate some hate mail? It did. Did a troll write a one-star review of my newest book on Amazon? She did. Was it worth it to speak my truth? You bet. (If anyone would like to review Daisy Woodworm Changes the World on Amazon to counteract the heinous review, I’d be most grateful.)
If you’re in or around Oregon, check out my article How to Give Back to Your Favorite Oregon Hiking Trails – Travel Oregon . Myself, I’m going to put on a pair of pink wings and head out to my local hiking trails to pick up dog poop bags left behind by owners, just like the Poop Fairy I interviewed for The Problem with Dog Poop Bags | The Bark
A Few Cool Resources for Writers
- It’s National Poetry Writing Month! You can immerse yourself in this genre thanks to the thoughtful and generous creator of NaPoWriMo—a website with daily poems, prompts, and other inspiring resources for poets and writers.
- Interested in giving back to younger writers? Check out mentorship opportunities here: Girls Write Now | Writing & Mentoring Community for Diverse Voices
- I still remember the magical hum of my mother’s electric typewriter as she wrote newspaper articles and book reviews when I was a child. Clive Thompson meditates eloquently on the surprising virtues of typewriters here: Why Writing On A Typewriter Feels So Strangely Modern | by Clive Thompson | Mar, 2023 | Medium
- If you’re at all interested in digital journalism, you’ll want to read this: 8 Terms Every Digital Media Journalist Should Know (mediabistro.com)
- Mystified by how to use social media? This article will help: 7 Ways Writers Can Use Social Media to Boost Their Personal Brands (mediabistro.com)
Conferences, Residencies, and Calls for Submissions
- The Willamette Writers Conference offers an exciting hybrid event August 2-6. I’ll be teaching two workshops in person on August 5th—”The Art of the Query Letter” and “Biplanes, Juggling Clubs and My Naked Great Grandmother: How You, Too, Can Turn Historical Research into Fiction.” See you in Portland!
- The Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow is accepting applications from parent writers and environmental writers. See more here: The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow / Fellowships (writerscolony.org)
- Oregon Humanities has a call for submissions on the theme “Shelter.” Call for Submissions — Oregon Humanities. I loved writing this essay for them a while back: The Privilege to Raise Our Voices — Oregon Humanities . They’re good people and a pleasure to work with.
- And, because I’m writing this newsletter on the eve of my first colonoscopy, here’s the most hilarious call for submissions I’ve seen in a while: Dayna McAlpine at HuffPost wants pitches centered around “gut health, poo, IBS, etc.” (I shudder to think of what etc. could be.) Pitch Dayna at dayna.mcalpine@huffpost.com
And now, can I tell you a secret? I adore working as an independent editor and writing coach. I’ve amassed so much knowledge about writing over 22 years, and it’s thrilling to help storytellers find direction, refine their drafts, and learn how to get their work into the world. Do you need an independent editor and/or writing coach? Let’s talk! Details right here!
Much gratitude,
Melissa
P.S. Here’s me with my guy surrounded by cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C.
Writing with Hart 