News • Updates • Cool Clicks
TW’s Holiday 2013 Issue: “Writing and Faith”
Launch Date: December 2, 2013
If the search for meaning is a lifelong journey, so is being a writer. In our next issue, TW authors explore the challenges of writing about faith. Highlights:
- Theme Essays: Jewish mysticism, seeing Jesus (for real), and poetry as prayer
- Book Review: Margaret Atwood's MaddAdam and the literary trilogy
- Writer's Life: "I Write, Therefore I Cook"
- Yawping Wild: Unintentional writing—and not knowing the route
Don't Miss These Fall 2013 Features
- Distraction: ADHD Writers, Unite!
- Writer's Life: Wordless: Writer's Block and Grief
- Books: What Makes a Good Writing Guide?
- Talking Indie: Why Aren't More People Reading E-Books?
Talk Floats—and Flies! Three Ways To Support TW
As the end of the year approaches, we're raising funds to support Talking Writing in 2014, enabling us to publish the magazine. TW is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so we rely on your donations. In the coming weeks, we'll roll out additional enticing options for giving.
Here are three ways to help TW right now—and continue to make talk float!
Direct Donations to TW
Fly right over to TW's Donate page. Use our PayPal system or mail us a check. Direct donations to Talking Writing make a real difference—and if you gave to TW last year, please consider increasing your donation in 2013. We appreciate any contribution you can make.
Holiday Card Fundraiser
This year, we're offering two special-edition holiday cards through CafePress. One features our new design for "Talk Floats." The other features "Blessing Myself," a poem by TW's Poetry Editor Carol Dorf.
When you buy these beautiful cards, a percentage of the proceeds goes to TW as a charitable donation.
- "Talk Floats—and Flies!"
Click here to order TW cards. - "Blessing Myself" by Carol Dorf
Click here to order TW cards.
AmazonSmile Shopping
Black Friday is almost upon us, so here's another great way to add to your TW donation. When you start your shopping at AmazonSmile, 0.5% of the price of your purchase of qualified items will be donated to TW.
Shopping through AmazonSmile is the same as shopping through Amazon: same products, Amazon Prime benefits, and wish lists. Just click the link above or in the ad in our sidebar—and you're off!
Submissions Update
We’re currently soliciting poems for TW's annual poetry spotlight—only one week to the deadline!—and essays for the Spring 2014 issue of Talking Writing.
Poetry Spotlight:
Honoring Rukeyser
"Breathe-in experience, breathe-out poetry," as Muriel Rukeyser wrote. One of the great boundary-breaking poets of the twentieth century, Rukeyser took on the Spanish Civil War, motherhood, sex, racism, cities. In honor of her centennial year, TW seeks poems that follow in Rukeyser's footsteps by engaging personally and politically with the world.
Submission deadline: December 2, 2013.
Spring 2014: Family Stories
Writing about family goes straight to the heart—and complicates the head. How do you decide whether to write about your family or contend with the “truthfulness” of family stories? Is it ever okay to reveal family secrets?
Submission deadline: February 3, 2014.
Feel free to query us first about a theme essay.
Please send all queries and submissions to TW at talkingwriting.submittable.com.
TW Author Highlight
TW's Editor in Chief Martha Nichols has recently published several pieces in other journals, including a celebration of her son and National Adoption Day this past weekend. Her Women's Review of Books essay "A Profound Absence" grapples with why female intellectuals are missing from the public conversation.
- "National Adoption Day: My Son Tells It His Way" by Martha Nichols, Christian Science Monitor ("Modern Parenthood"), November 23, 2013.
- "A Profound Absence: For WRB's 30th Anniversary" by Martha Nichols, Women's Review of Books, November/December 2013.
- "The Intellect in Action on Twitter" by Martha Nichols, Women=Books, November 25, 2013.
Havana Curveball Fundraiser
In the spring of 2012, filmmakers Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider published "Films Convey Reality Better Than Words" in TW. The documentary they wrote about, now renamed Havana Curveball, is almost done, and they'll be previewing it at a fundraiser in San Francisco in early December. Details from Marcia and Ken:
If you are in the Bay area, we’d like to extend an invitation to join us for an inaugural event—THE 8TH INNING STRETCH—a sneak preview screening, completion fundraiser, and youth activism showcase. You can see our brand new trailer here: https://vimeo.com/78935577.
We’re thrilled that the San Francisco Film Society’s Education Department,Working Films, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Full Circle Fund, and Altruvistas are all co-presenting.
To register: click here.
TW Session at the Muse 2014
The topic is "Digital Lit: Why Online Journals Deserve More Respect—Insider Info, Community, Submissions." TW's Martha Nichols and co-panelist Lee Hope Betcher 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 1–4.
Conference sessions have't been scheduled yet, but stay tuned for E-News updates about the exact time and date for "Digital Lit."
For general information about The Muse and Grub Street, click here.
TW's New Website: FAQs
Do I need to renew my TW subscription?
If you subscribed to the old TW site, we hope you're still receiving our weekly email notifications. If not, you may need to renew your free subscription by clicking on the "Subscribe" button in the sidebar.
Of course, getting the word out to subscribers who are no longer receiving TW emails is a conundrum. For that reason, we're also relying on current subscribers to nudge other TW readers to renew their subscriptions. Your help is appreciated.
What are TW channels?
Our new website now provides many ways to access the wealth of writing available at TW. If you haven't explored our channel feeds—which broadcast all material in a particular genre such as "Poetry," "Personal Stories," or "Interviews"—try clicking on the colorful icons at the top of every page.
In the "Themes" channel, for example, you'll find all TW themes listed in the sidebar. Just click on one of those to see all the features related to a given theme, such as "Distraction" or "Teaching Writing."
But what about missing themes or back issues?
Some older themes and issues haven't yet been formatted for the new website, especially those from TW's first year (Fall 2010 to Fall 2011). When you click on an older theme, you may come across "There is currently no content classified with this term." However, all older TW pieces still exist, and we'll be completing the transfer of our entire archive to the new site in the coming months.
To see the back issues that are currently available on the TW website, click on "Past Issues" in the Main Menu.
Apply for a TW Internship
Every semester, Talking Writing has openings for unpaid internships. We encourage student writers and others interested in learning about online literary magazines to apply. Interns are mentored by TW editors, many of whom teach writing at the college level or are seasoned publishing professionals. (Students enrolled at the Harvard University Extension School may also be eligible for course credit.)
We’re presently looking for social media, marketing, and development interns. Experience with tweeting and a knowledge of the current literary industry is helpful but not required. A passion for reading and words is.
To apply for a TW internship, please contact us by email at editor[at]talkingwriting.com and include a resume.
