Jessica’s Writerly Items!

Read these Books:

On Fiction Craft, for Inspiration and About the Business of Writing:

• Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway and The Art of Fiction by John Gardner
• The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them) by Jack M. Bickham
• The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders and On Writing by Stephen King
• What It Is by Lynda Barry and Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
• The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield
• From Where You Dream by Robert Olen Butler
• How To Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead by Ariel Gore
• How To Be Your Own Literary Agent (Ultimate Insider’s Guide to Getting Published) by Martin Levin

Short fiction collections (I like novels too, but reading mind-blowing short stories teaches me more about how to write; all titles before the maple leaf are Canadian):

• Pleased to Meet You by Caroline Adderson, Play the Monster Blind by Lynn Coady, Long Story Short by Elyse Friedman, All the Anxious Girls on Earth by Zsuzsi Gartner, The Broken Record Technique by Lee Henderson, 19 Knives by Mark Jarman, Meet Me in the Parking Lot by Alexandra Leggat, Oxygen by Annabel Lyon, Open by Lisa Moore, Buying Cigarettes for the Dog by Stuart Ross, Black Coffee Night by Emily Schultz, This Cake Is for the Party by Sarah Selecky, Once by Rebecca Rosenblum, Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod, Ladykiller by Charlotte Gill, Young Men by Russell Smith, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline and Pastoralia by George Saunders, No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July, The Girl on the Fridge by Etgar Keret, Honored Guest by Joy Williams, The Dog of the Marriage by Amy Hempel and any collection by Raymond Carver, Ernest Hemingway, Lorrie Moore, Alice Munro, Dorothy Parker and Ali Smith

Visit these Websites:

• www.bookmadam.com & www.bookninja.com (delightful windows to the literary world)
• www.nomediakings.org (DIY guru Jim Munroe: see his “Indie Books” section)
• www.placesforwriters.com (great resource for writers looking to submit their work)
• www.writersunion.ca (Writers’ Union of Canada: see their “Getting Published” section)

Do these Things:

• Invest in a pen and a notebook that you love, and use them often.
• Go to other writers’ readings, and politely pay attention. If there’s an open mic, bring something to read, but make sure to keep it short (2 or 3 minutes max), or the audience will probably not like you. And if you enjoyed something somebody read, let them know. That will make them happy.
• Attend small-press, comic & zine fairs (better yet — make a zine and bring it to exchange, or book a table to sell and exchange it), attend writing workshops and talks, and start your own writers’ group.
• Join Facebook and Twitter (but only if you have interesting things to say and are interested in what other people have to say), and get your own website (keep it simple if you’re not design-inclined).
• Apply for writing grants (if you’re not a student). The more you apply, the easier the process (and the better your applications) will get. Ontario writers: Apply to the OAC Writers’ Reserve Program. Even if you don’t get a grant, you might connect with a publication or press that likes your work.
• Before submitting work to literary magazines, read them first to see if your writing is a good fit. Read & follow submission guidelines. Include a short cover letter with the story title and word count (+ brief bio if requested), addressed to the correct (and correctly spelled) editor. Number your story pages. Include your name & contact info on every page (except with blind-judged contests & grant applications). Double-space & use a one-inch margin. Use black ink in an easy-to-read, 12-point font on plain, white paper. Do a spell & grammar check of your cover letter & story, and/or ask an eagle-eyed person to look them over. Include a SASE for mailed submissions. Keep track of submissions, e.g. in a Word or Excel table (what, when & where sent, and the response). Also, cheer yourself on.
• Always be gracious about rejection — especially personalized rejection notes, which are like gold! Make sure to follow up and submit more work to those publications that want to see more of your writing. Include a brief thank you to the editor who wrote the note, and mention the title of the story you submitted previously.
• From Stephen King’s On Writing: “You can’t make them like your story, but you can at least make it easy for them to try to like it.”

(Say hello to me at www.jessicawesthead.com)