Monday, April 21, 2014

Why send your work to overseas lit mags?

I have an article up now on The Review Review - a fantastic resource of news, links and articles about literary magazines whose newsletter is really worth subscribing to. Becky asked me to write about setting up ShortStops and when i thought about how to make it appealing to non-UK writers and readers, I realised that the issue of submitting your work outside your own national borders was one that had played quite a major part in my own writing life. Here's a snippet:
When I was finally ready to send my short stories out, I thought first of all the American lit mags I'd been introduced to and loved. I was quite surprised to find (this was a while ago, remember) that many of them weren't set up for overseas submissions – there was much faffing around with postal subs and self-addressed envelopes/postal orders – and when I queried to ask if I might send stories by email, they seemed surprised to hear from a non-American. Surprised and yet delighted to help – some even changed their submissions guidelines to accommodate me and any other non-US-based writers.
Read the rest of the article here >> and check out ShortStops, of course!

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

The WoMentoring Project Launches!

I am so thrilled to be involved in Kerry Hudson's amazing initiative, The WoMentoring Project which launches today! Women writers offering free mentoring to other women writers - nothing brings me more joy than helping others with their writing in any way I can. What's it all about? Here's more...

About?


The WoMentoring Project exists to offer free mentoring by professional literary women to up and coming female writers who would otherwise find it difficult to access similar opportunities.


The mission of The WoMentoring Project is simply to introduce successful literary women to other women writers at the beginning of their careers who would benefit from some insight, knowledge and support. The hope is that we’ll see new, talented and diverse female voices emerging as a result of time and guidance received from our mentors.


Each mentor selects their own mentee and it is at their discretion how little or much time they donate. We have no budget, it’s a completely free initiative and every aspect of the project - from the project management to the website design to the PR support - is being volunteered by a collective of female literary professionals. Quite simply this is about exceptional women supporting exceptional women. Welcome to The WoMentoring Project. 


Why do we need it?
© Sally Jane Thompson
Like many great ideas the WoMentoring Project came about via a conversation on Twitter. While discussing the current lack of peer mentoring and the prohibitive expense for many of professional mentoring we asked our followers - largely writers, editors and agents - who would be willing to donate a few hours of their time to another woman just starting out. The response was overwhelming – within two hours we had over sixty volunteer mentors.


The WoMentoring Project is run on an entirely voluntary basis and all of our mentors are professional writers, editors or literary agents. Many of us received unofficial or official mentoring ourselves which helped us get ahead and the emphasis is on ‘paying forward’ some of the support we’ve been given.


In an industry where male writers are still reviewed and paid more than their female counterparts in the UK, we wanted to balance the playing field. Likewise, we want to give female voices that would otherwise find it hard to be heard, a greater opportunity of reaching their true potential.


Applications
© Sally Jane Thompson
In an ideal world we would offer a mentor to every writer who needed and wanted one. Of course this isn't possible so instead we've tried to ensure the application process is accessible while also ensuring that out mentors have enough information with which to make their selection.


Applicant mentees will submit a 1000 word writing sample and a 500 word statement about how they would benefit from free mentoring. All applications will be for a specific mentor and mentees can only apply for one mentor at a time. Selections will be at the mentor's discretion. 

Find out more here: www.womentoringproject.co.uk
and follow the project on twitter www.twitter.com/WoMentoringP

Monday, April 07, 2014

And the winners are...

Yes, you are all very clever, I was in Reyjyavik, Iceland, - and it was COLD! So, picked by a random number generator, the winners of the 8 books and lit mags are:


Andrew
Ade
Miriam
Grace
Sursanchari
Sonya
Nora
Miriam


Dear all, please email me your postal address, to taniah(at)gmail(dot)com and I will dispatch your goodies at random!