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Writers' TIPS

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Writing OPPORTUNITIES

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"Alpine Hiking 101" a short story by Susan Chiavelli
in Spindrift (Spring, 2004)

How did this story come about?
"Years ago I attended nursing school at Shoreline Community College in Seattle where Spindrift is published. Ironically, I had no idea at the time that they published a literary magazine, or that it had been around since 1962. I was so focused on my nursing studies, among other things, that I managed to walk right past it in the book store. Focused as I was, I did allow myself the diversion of one hiking class. Thus, the setting for the story is real.

"Prior to writing the story I had the pleasure of attending a reading by Tobias Wolff at U. C. Santa Barbara. I recall him saying that he could still remember the distinct difference in his work when he first found the courage to use a piece of his life--something he knew to be true--in a story. Inspired, I went home and wrote 'Alpine Hiking' that very night, or maybe the story wrote me. I'm not really sure. But it did come out all in one piece--one of those rare and exhilarating experiences that is a gift."

For more information on Spindrift and how to order: http://success.shoreline.edu/pio/spindrift_literary_magazine_2002.htm

"Daily Double" by Sheila MacAvoy
in The Iowa Review (Spring 2004, Vol. 34 No. 1)

It takes not only talent, but perseverance to get a story accepted at such a fine literary magazine. We asked Sheila how she did it and this is what she had to say:

"I am shameless," Sheila says. "I try to use every bit of dialogue I hear so I keep a notebook in my purse in which I write down the gems that fall out of people's mouths—in Ralph's, on the movie line, in the Ladies Room.

"'Daily Double' started a long time ago, following a day at Santa Anita race track. I overheard a conversation between two men who were running late for the Double following a fender bender on the way to the Track. I have a file I keep in my computer called Starters. In it, I placed a line of dialogue I had jotted down on my spiral pad, "I ain't seein' double or anything." I forgot about it for ten years or so.

"Then, a few years ago, I heard a woman in the Santa Barbara Library say to another, as she showed off a matched pair of scabs on her arm, "Python bit me." That went in the Starters file, too.

"One morning about 4 AM, I was browsing through my Starters file and these two unconnected bits of dialogue sounded like they belonged together. I started noodling around with them. A whole world of characters started shouting to get into the action and I was flying. It took about three or four starts to get the main character who would own the story, but once there, it got written as if I were taking dictation.

"I had sent 'Daily Double' out at least two dozen times before I got the word from The Iowa Review. And in fact, it always came back with positive comments along with the usual, "Not for us." I should also mention that the story was at The Iowa Review for nine months before I heard. During that time, I wrote and phoned and had finally given up when the wonderful news came."

"Daily Double" is now available in The Iowa Review, Spring 2004 issue. You may order a copy by contacting the University of Iowa Publication Order services at 1-800-235-2665.

Sheila wishes to thank this Community of Voices for your fabulous support and encouragement..

A Routine Bank Robbery

Jim Williams' latest mystery/crime short story, "A Routine Bank Robbery," is available in the April issue of ORCHARD PRESS MYSTERIES, an Internet online magazine. (Go to ORCHARD PRESS MYSTERIES, click on SHORT STORIES and then the story title.) His story "A Perfect Crime" was posted there in September 2003.

His radio drama, "A Close Encounter of the Confederate Kind," produced by Santa Barbara's Virtual Theatre Company, airs Sunday, May 23, at 5:30 p.m., on KZBN radio (1290 AM), Santa Barbara, and Sunday, May 30, at 7 p.m., on THE MIX (96.7 FM), Solvang. The play reached the final round of the MIDWEST RADIO THEATRE WORKSHOP in Missouri three years ago.

His western stories are in the audio books, TALL TALES OF THE OLD WEST (Americanabooks.com); and THE OLD WEST, available in the five-book package, BEST OF WESTERNS (Topics Books).

Jim and his wife, Joan, also a writer, are Goleta residents.

Linda Stewart-Oaten’s 2nd person essay “Confession"
has been published in BARBARICYAWP

The quarterly, published in upstate New York, takes its name from a line in Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass:

“I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”

In addition to the title, Linda was drawn to the journal by the editors’ advice in the Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market: “Send whatever is important to you.”

Copies ($4.00 each) may be obtained by writing to:

John and Nancy Berbrich, Editors
Barbaric Yawp
3700 County Route 24
Russell, NY 13684

To Troy & Back
An Anthology of Very Short Stories, Essays and Poems
Inspired by The Works of Homer
Edited by John M. Daniel & Carolyn Fleg

John Daniel & Company have released To Troy & Back, their latest anthology of very short stories, essays and poems. Each piece is exactly 99 words long--not more, not less.  If you're looking for an unusual hostess gift, stocking stuffer, or bribe, order yours now and give the gift of tight, powerful writing:

To Troy & Back • paperback • $8.00
http://danielpublishing.com/bro/troy.html

The stories told by Homer about the Trojan War and the travels of Odysseus, plus related stories by other ancient storytellers, have been retold throughout the centuries. Euripides, Virgil, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Tennyson, Padriac Collum, James Joyce, Eugene O’Neill, Christopher Morley, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and the Coen Brothers are but a few of the hundreds who have reinterpreted these seminal tales, not only to embellish history but also to explain their own times. Now here are a few dozen more. Let them sing to us of war and waste, honor, love, and homesickness. In troubled times we need our bards.

—John M. Daniel, from the Foreword, To Troy & Back

Fran Davis's short story "Rest Stop" will appear in the Winter 2004 issue of Calyx—a Journal of Art and Literature by Women.

Fran says: "The idea for this story came from a sign I saw in the women's room at a rest stop on I-5. It was an appeal from a woman who claimed her car had broken down, stranding her and her children. I went racing out, ready to help with a donation (I assumed that was what she wanted), but she was gone and her story with her. So I had to make one up.

"The story went through a couple of incarnations before it was picked up by a journal. Curiously, the first and longer version was accepted after Calyx indicated an interest in the newly rewritten shorter version.

"Snake Nation, a journal in Georgia, had the story for eight months and by the time they'd accepted it, I'd done a rewrite and submitted it to Calyx. I received a notice from Calyx that they were considering it at about the same time that I heard from Snake Nation. So I actually got to choose where to place the story.

"I chose Calyx because it's a West Coast journal (a scarce commodity) and because I liked its feminist slant. I consider "Rest Stop" essentially a woman's story, although the men who've read it have liked it, too."

You can obtain a copy by writing:
    Calyx, Inc.
    P.O. Box B
    Corvallis, OR 97339
or contact them at their web site: www.proaxis.com/~calyx

JEAN HARFENIST at the Fitzgerald Theater 
St. Paul, MN, Jan 14, 2004

TALKING VOLUMES has selected "A Brief History of the Flood," Jean Harfenist's critically acclaimed novel-in-stories as their January book club selection. Talking volumes is a regional book club sponsored by Minnesota Public Radio, The Loft Literary Center, and the Star Tribune.

Can't make it to Minnesota in January? Then do the next best thing. Listen to an interview with Jean Harfenist on Minnesota Public Radio: http://www.mpr.org/www/books/talkingvolumes/index.shtml

Read an interview in the Star Tribune: http://www.startribune.com/stories/1437/4260520.html

Wondering about the life of Lillian Anderson after she leaves Acorn Lake?  Subscribe to Speakeasy and read "Willie's Diamonds" a new short story by Jean Harfenist that picks up where "A Brief History.." left off. http://www.speakeasymagazine.org/Current.html

ATTENTION Community of Voices Writers!

E-mail us about your accomplishments, such as, "I just got something published" or "I just won an award" or "I just signed with an agent" or "Knopf bought my collection of stories," to be posted here as both praise and inspiration.

Also, please send along incidental mini essays under the general theme of "Writers on Writing" that you would like to share.

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The Santa Ynez Writing Group resumes with Leonard Tourney as leader.
Information: Diane de Avalle-Arce, diandaa@mindspring.com

Ian Bernard's Writing Group (with a focus on humor)
Information: Ian Bernard, ian@syv.com

A long-standing Fiction Writer's Group with Yvonne Nelson Perry, Suzanne deCayette, Kathy O'Fallon, and other SBWC regulars is looking for new members. The group meets around San Diego twice a month, Saturday mornings at 10.
Information: Kathy O'Fallon, kathyofallon@earthlink.net

Literary Services
by Grace Rachow

Literary Services:
Daniel & Daniel Publishing

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