Newish Post-MFA Blog out of Montana?

This blog is about life after the MFA.

"Musings on the daily travails of three MFA graduates. Faced with the unsettling future(s) of to-be-determinedism, we seek plans, jobs, and constant distractions. We hope to share the above in all of its uncensored glory here. For you."

Three recent MFA graduates host it: Trina, Kelly, and Laurie.

I scanned it for a few minutes and then looked at other websites also.

Electronic Writing Seminar This Saturday

American Independent Writers is presenting, "Push the Electronic Envelope: Sharing Your Writing and Selling Your Work in Cyberspace" at GMU on Saturday September 6, in Research Building Room No. 163.

• 9:00–10:15 am: Writing for Online Audiences: Writing Web Copy, Selling to e-Markets, and Standing Out Online

• 10:30–11:45 am: Social Networking and Social Media: How to Pump Up Your Marketing Efforts and Get the Most Out of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and More

• 1:00–2:15 pm: Breaking into the Blogosphere: Blogging, Vlogging, and Microblogging

• 2:30–3:45 pm: What Every Writer Needs to Know About Professional Websites

Free to GMU MFAers.

Five Star Literary Stories

This post courtesy of Clifford Garstang, whose blog I often check for good things to link to.

The latest good thing (since I've been posting about online journals recently) comes from TJ Forrester, who has started the site Five Star Literary Stories. The site, in his words, "combines three integral facets of the writing life: publisher, story, and reviewer. Each story is editor-nominated and considered one of the best the mag has published."

If you're interested in checking out good online fiction, visit Forrester's site every now and then to see what's going on.

My Favorite Thesaurus

I was talking to Erin the other day about The Synonym Finder. It's the best thesaurus in the universe and I always try to keep one nearby when I write. I showed her one page, and Erin immediately bought it online. So, I thought I'd share it's wonderfulness with you all fellow Mason MFA writers (past, present, and future). No, I am not receiving commission as a salesperson for The Synonym Finder, but maybe I should apply for such position!

For each word entry, all synonyms are linked under separate sections, categorized according to the different meanings of the word. The format is more alike to that of a dictionary. The real benefit to this book is the extensive list for each entry. For some, there are hundreds of synonyms. Anyways, you got to trust me on this one. I'm buying another myself because my old copy is literally falling apart.

You can buy it here on Amazon.com.

Creative Writing Opportunities

Allison Joseph offers a fine service over at Yahoo Groups for those interested: she moderates a listserv devoted to announcing current creative writing opportunities, such as contests, calls for submission, fellowships, etc. The list is on hiatus at the moment and will restart in early January, but if you're interested, visit this link.

I've been a member for a month or two (thanks to Wade, who showed it to me). But local writer Cliff Garstang, posted a reminder to join over at his blog, so I figured I'd follow his lead. He also does an interesting analysis of the Pushcart Prize, which is worth a look here.

Now that the semester's over...

...you need something to read over the break, right? Alan presents his holiday reading list over at NPR. Put down the required reading and move away - the semester is over.

Phoebe Resources

Another thing I've been meaning to mention to everyone: Phoebe, our literary journal, seems like a good resource for those of you interested in checking out what other journals are looking for. This can be helpful if you've got a story that you'd like to submit somewhere, but haven't had a chance to read enough journals to find a match. Ideally, it'd be great if we could all subscribe everywhere and then read everything, but that's not the case. And usually bookstores don't carry a wide variety of journals anyhow (on a related note: check out Stephen King's introduction to the latest Best American Short Stories for his take on this; it's excerpted here).

Phoebe, though, exchanges issues with quite a few journals, and as a result we've built up a decent library. Anyone is welcome to stop by our office (SUB I, 206A) to check out a few issues - please sign them out in the blue three ring notebook on top of the bookshelf.

Here's a list of what we've recently received in the mail:

• Zone3, Fall 07
• Santa Clara Review, Spring/Summer 07
• Indiana Review, Summer 07
• Crazyhorse, Spring 07
• Quarterly West, Spring/Summer 07
• Bellingham Review, Spring/Fall 07
• Hayden's Ferry Review, Spring/Summer 07
• Mid-American Review, Volume XXVII, Number 2
• Yemassee, Spring 07
• Alaska Quarterly Review, Spring/Summer 07
• West Branch, Spring/Summer 07
• Natural Bridge, Spring 07
• The Journal, Spring/Summer 07
• Prairie Schooner, Summer 07
• Willow Springs, Fall 07
• Sycamore Review, Summer/Fall 07
  

I suppose I could have put this in alphabetical order...

Place To Find Agents

Many of you already know about this site, I'm sure, but I thought I'd pass it along for those who don't. Mediabistro is mainly for nonficiton writers, but there's a lot of crossover stuff, too. Among other things, the site runs biographies of agents and what they're interested in, though you have to join (I think it's $50 a year) to get that.

www.mediabistro.com