News • Updates • Cool Clicks
TW’s Spring 2014 Issue: “Family Stories”
Launch Date: May 5, 2014
Family stories have sparked countless novels and memoirs, even if telling the truth is tricky. TW's next issue explores what's behind those family portraits. Highlights:
- Theme Essays: writing about an autistic son, adoption and the real story
- Memoir: summer matriarchs, abuelitas, a mother's exit
- Featured Debate: video games vs. novels
- Interview: Mark Vonnegut discusses storytelling and mental illness
TW 2014 Contests: Enter Now!
This year, we'll be awarding two nonfiction prizes:
- Talking Writing Prize for Writing Advice
Judge: Emily Toth, "Ms. Mentor" advice columnist
for the Chronicle of Higher Education.
- Talking Writing Prize for Flash Nonfiction
Judge: Dinty W. Moore, editor of Brevity magazine.
Deadline: October 1, 2014.
Awards: Each winner will receive $250 and publication in Talking Writing.
TW's annual prizes honor superlative magazine writing online. In 2014, our focus is first-person journalism. We want advice articles that display a fresh perspective, not just the usual "how to" suggestions for writers. Two TW examples: "Editors Read Your Pitches—Really" and "How to Be a Hermit Without Pissing off Your Family."
We're also celebrating literary nonfiction work of 500 words or less—be it a flash essay or mini-memoir. Here are two recent examples from Brevity: "The Saigon Kiss" and "If We Had Been Allowed to Take Pictures."
Our advice? Tell writers how to do it, be concise—brilliantly—and submit!
TW Job Openings
We're looking for a new treasurer for TW's advisory board. In addition, we invite candidates with diverse backgrounds to apply for two new editorial positions.
Working for Talking Writing is a great way to make a difference. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, TW is staffed almost entirely by volunteers. The following positions are all unpaid, but individuals selected to fill them will gain a perch on a well-regarded literary masthead—an excellent resume builder.
To apply, please send a cover letter and your resume to editor@talkingwriting.com.
Treasurer
The treasurer of the TW board serves on the executive committee, helps prepare the annual budget, and provides financial oversight. The time commitment is small, but the treasurer plays a strategic role at TW and works closely with the editor in chief and president of the board. Number of hours: varies, depending on the meeting schedule, but about 10 to 15 hours a year. Requirements: accounting and business experience, preferably with nonprofits. Recommended: an interest in literature.
New Position: Reading Series Editor
Talking Writing occasionally reprints selections from small press books or other magazines. We need an editor to manage our growing small press series and to select work for it. Number of hours: will vary, depending on personal inclinations, but a minimum of 5 hours each quarterly issue. Requirements: a love of small press writing. Recommended: connections with other magazine editors; facility with online publishing; the gift of gab.
New Position: Cartoon Editor
We're looking for one or more cartoon editors to help source great comics for TW and to increase the variety of those in the magazine. Number of hours: will vary, depending on personal inclinations, but a minimum of 2 hours each quarterly issue. Requirements: a background in cartooning or graphic novels. Recommended: your own online cartoon series; knowledge of literary topics and authors; the gift of gab (or talk bubbles).
Interns
We offer editorial, social media, and journalism internships. Interns are mentored by TW editors, many of whom teach writing at the college level. Number of hours: varies, depending on the semester or duration of the internship, but a minimum of 10 hours a month. Requirements: a passion for writing. Recommended: experience with tweeting and proofreading.
We'd prefer a treasurer who lives in the Boston area or can easily travel to meetings. Many TW editors and interns work remotely, so candidates for those positions can live anywhere in the country (or world).
Coming Soon! TW at Grub Street's "Muse" Conference
The topic is "Digital Lit: Why Online Journals Deserve More Respect—Insider Info, Community, Submissions." TW's Martha Nichols and co-panelist Lee Hope of Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices will run this session of Grub Street's "The Muse and the Marketplace" conference. The Muse 2014 in Boston runs from May 2–4.
The "Digital Lit" session is scheduled for Friday, May 2, 3:45 to 4:45 p.m.
Martha and Lee will also participate in "Shop Talk Lunch Tables" from 12:00 to 1:15 p.m. on May 2. Only a few seats remain, so register soon.
For general information about The Muse and Grub Street, click here.
TW Submissions Update
We're now soliciting theme essays for our Fall 2014 and Holiday 2014 issues. Note that TW will be reprising "Writing and Faith" this year.
Fall 2014: Money!
If money makes the world go round, then writers are out of the loop. This issue of TW will explore the complicated relationship authors have with getting paid. Does money corrupt creativity—or make creative life possible? Theme essays can range from practical advice to serious or humorous tales of woe. Submission deadline: June 2, 2014.
Holiday 2014: Writing and Faith
Back by popular demand!
How do you tackle life's Big Questions? During the holiday season, TW will examine why writing is such a powerful tool for soul searching, creating meaning, and defining one's spiritual beliefs. Submission deadline: September 15, 2014.
Feel free to query us first about a theme essay.
Please send all queries and submissions to TW at talkingwriting.submittable.com.
Featured Quote
Laurie Weisz on her "ferocious loyalty" to the authors she's loved:
It’s a strangely intimate process, choosing a writer’s world over your own. Immersion, submission, abandon. Writers like Salinger, McCarthy, and Thomas Wolfe introduced me to the total union, the undiscerning love, that can exist between a book and a reader. For any awkward, estranged adolescent, writing is a desire to be understood—and writers are their own lawyers.
