The UIndy Publishing Internship Network (PLUS: A Call For More Presses/Journals)
Posted: April 8, 2014 Filed under: Guest Posts, Shining Examples | Tags: internships, jobs, publishing Leave a commentWhat if all creative writing programs did this? What if instead of expecting our students to figure it out on their own, we gave them some stars to steer by?
Be a Literary Citizen, Get a Free House
Posted: December 18, 2013 Filed under: Actions, Shining Examples | Tags: Detroit, residency, Write-a-House Leave a comment
Check out the mission of Write-a-House:
Our mission is simple: to enliven the literary arts of Detroit by renovating homes and giving them to authors, journalists, poets, aka writers. It’s like a writer-in-residence program, only in this case we’re actually giving the writer the residence, forever.
And here’s the best part, how you get to keep the house: be a literary citizen.
The WAH Author-in-Residence will also be expected to:
- contribute content to the WAH blog on a regular basis.
- participate in local readings and other cultural events
- use the home as their primary residence.
- In general, they will be responsible home owners, engaged neighbors, committed city residents and good literary citizens.
Apply for a residency and spread the word.
Lori May’s roundup on Literary Citizenship
Posted: November 7, 2013 Filed under: Definitions, Shining Examples Leave a commentOn her blog, Journeys and Destinations, Lori May offers a roundup of links about Lit Cit.
In print. Online. Everything. Hooray!
That itself is literary citizenship!
She says:
I couldn’t be happier to see so much discussion of late on the topic of literary citizenship. This is a topic near and dear to me and one I’ve had the pleasure of discussing at a number of MFA programs and community writing events over the years. We can never discuss this topic too much. Our involvement in the community—as writers, as readers—only nets good, as far as I’m concerned. Whether helping a small press get off the ground through volunteer hours, or sharing a recommended read with a booklover at work, a little good goes a long way in fostering not only our literary and cultural communities, but our regular old day-to-day life as people.
Bringing New York Publishing to Muncie, Indiana
Posted: May 8, 2013 Filed under: Online Community, Shining Examples | Tags: Ball State, Discovery Group, literary citizenship, Social Media Leave a comment
Kiley Neal, Sara Rae Rust, and Kam McBride at the first meeting of the Discovery 2013 Internship, which will give 11 Ball State students the chance to work directly with literary agents, authors, and other publishing professionals. Boo ya!
Thanks to a grant from the Discovery Group, I’ve hired 11 Ball State students for internships at this summer’s Midwest Writers Workshop. I want to tell you about it, so mosey on over to The Big Thing to learn more. They will be teaching literary citizenship to others. It’s really amazing.
Hey, there’s an award for Literary Citizenship!
Posted: January 16, 2013 Filed under: Definitions, Shining Examples | Tags: Beyond the Margins, Dinty Moore, Lee Martin, literary citizenship Leave a commentHey, there’s an award for Literary Citizenship
The blog Beyond the Margins (a great one for writers to follow) put out a call for nominations for what they called “The Above and Beyond Award,” and got fifty nominations…
…fifty of the most generous souls in the writing world: writers who have taught, mentored, published, connected, fostered, championed, edited, soft-shouldered – even paid bills — for other writers. It’s like finding a Map of the Mensches.
I know many of the names listed IRL or from Facebook/Twitter, but have to add two names:
- Dinty Moore, whose daily writing quotes on Facebook and blog for Brevity have taught me much.
- Lee Martin, whose blog posts on teaching and consistent praise for his students at Ohio State always make my day.
Note: these are not millennials. These are two guys who, like me, didn’t grow up with social media but have learned how to use it in a mindful, positive way. See, blogging and SM doesn’t have to be all about self-promotion and bragging on yourself, and it’s not just something the kids do.
An Interview with Vouched Books founder Christopher Newgent
Posted: January 9, 2013 Filed under: Attend/Organize Literary Events, Buy Books, Interview Writers, Online Community, Shining Examples | Tags: Christopher Newgent, definitions, Social Media, Vouched Books Leave a comment
Ball State’s own literary citizen: Christopher Newgent, founder of Vouched, talks to Adam Robinson.
Matt Bell describes Lit Cit
Posted: September 24, 2012 Filed under: Definitions, Shining Examples | Tags: Matt Bell Leave a commentWhat is Literary Citizenship?
Posted: September 24, 2012 Filed under: Definitions, Shining Examples | Tags: definition, Shannon Cain 1 Comment
Advice to an Aspiring Author on How to Publish Your Book
by Shannon Cain
1.) Write well. Pursue this goal for about 10 or 20 years.
2.) Tend to your literary citizenship:
- Read. A lot.
- Subscribe to literary magazines.
- Buy books. Review them, and publish the reviews.
- Teach.
- Celebrate the achievements of your colleagues. Champion their work.
- Share your power.
- Donate to small presses. Volunteer. Join a governing board.
- Practice humility.
- In workshop, be patient and kind and truthful.
- Attend talks and conferences. Listen hard.
- Mentor a new writer. Be mentored.
- Be a good friend to other writers. Keep generosity in your heart.
3.) Realize that literary citizenship makes you a better writer. Know that the more you give, the more you get back. Forget about publishing. Just write. And give.
Shannon Cain’s story collection, The Necessity of Certain Behaviors, won the 2011 Drue Heinz Literature Prize. She is a manuscript consultant and teaches fiction in the MFA program at Bennington College. This advice appeared in the newsletter for Kore Press. Leslie Pietryzk noticed how awesome it was and blogged about it at Work-in-Progress.
Literary Citizenship 