The Writer January 2022

AS JANUARY APPROACHES, IT’S TIME to sit down and forge our creative goals for the coming year. And since I’ve yet to meet a writer who wants to write less in the new year, I know many of us are scheming how to get more one-on-one time with our manuscripts in 2022. But I also know vague goals to “write more” do little good without creating an actionable framework to show how exactly we’ll write more in the next 12 months. For me, this means taking the time now, as winter descends in earnest, to reflect on the year I’ve had and to dream of where I’d like to go next. It’s a perfect season to take inventory of my creative stores, to build an inspirational nest out of all the…

https://www.theliterarygiftcompany.com/products/banned-literature-calendar-2022 1. Banned books Each month of this wall calendar spotlights a different banned author from history, including Toni Morrison, John Steinbeck, George Orwell, and Maya Angelou. $17.92, theliterarygiftcompany.com https://www.calendars.com/shop/reading-woman-2022-wall-calendar/202200000842 2. Reading women Decorate a room of one’s own with this fine art calendar, featuring 12 paintings of women reading from the 18th and 19th centuries. $14.99, calendars.com https://bookshop.org/books/dreyer-s-english-2022-day-to-day-calendar-an-utterly-correct-guide-to-clarity-and-style/9780789340054 3. Dreyer’s English If you loved Random House Copy Chief Benjamin Dreyer’s 2019 bestseller Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style, the companion 2022 desk calendar is a must-purchase. $15.99, bookshop.org bookshop.org/books/the-curious-reader-2022-day-to-day-calendar-literary-miscellany-for-book-lovers/9781524868956 4. Literary miscellany Hone your bookish trivia skills with this daily desk calendar from Mental Floss containing interesting tidbits and anecdotes about famous works of literature and their authors. $15.99, bookshop.org https://www.chroniclebooks.com/products/2022-wall-cal-this-is-my-bookstore 5. Worldly bookshops Got a case of writerly wanderlust? Tour a charming new bookstore around the world at the start of every…

TURNING A LARGE-SCALE WRITERS’ conference into a remote event has been revelatory for Lin Oliver, outgoing Executive Director of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). “I don’t think we’ll ever go back to having big conferences that are only in person,” she says. “They’ve become so much more available to everyone because they’re virtual. They’re more equitable in terms of making the same information available to everyone, regardless of what people can pay.” Every year, SCBWI holds two major conferences – a February event in New York City and a July gathering in Los Angeles. The February 2022 conference takes place virtually, and the July conference will be hybrid or remote depending on pandemic statistics. “New remote platforms are making all kinds of wonderful things available,” Oliver explains. “People…

FACES MAGAZINE, PART OF CRICKET Media, attracts readers between 9 and 14 years old with innovative and surprising stories about people, places, and traditions worldwide. Editor Elizabeth Crooker looks for lively, diverse story angles full of what she calls “Megan moments,” named after her niece who was very young when Crooker started editing Faces. “If I came across a detail in an article for the magazine that was really fun and really interesting, I’d call her up and tell her. I called them ‘Megan moments’ – bits of information we still love to include in every article, in every issue.” Tone, editorial content One of these “Megan moments” appears in the January 2022 issue of Faces, focused on Cairo. It’s an article about a motorcycle race through the Egyptian desert. “The finish line…

WRITING HAS BEEN AN EXHILARATing and painful journey for me, the source of my life’s highest highs and lowest lows. I have terrible doubts every day about whether I have what it takes, about whether I have enough talent, about whether I will ever write anything that is really, really good. And it’s a tough business. When you write a piece, it might get rejected dozens of times before someone accepts it. You might get rejected by dozens of agents before one will take you on. Once a publisher actually buys your book, your editor is going to look at the manuscript and want you to make changes that are sometimes massive. So, there’s more revision. After the book comes out, then you have to worry about whether the reviews…

HerStry: Nonfiction HerStry seeks previously unpublished true stories about sex from writers who are not cis men. Submit by January 2. herstry.submittable.com Heron Tree: Found poetry The ninth volume of this journal will be devoted to found poetry; accepted poems will appear in a free downloadable ebook as well as online. Submit by January 15. herontree.com/how Headland: Nonfiction Submit work by January 31 to be considered for Headland’s 17th issue, which will be a special edition dedicated to nonfiction. headland.org.nz/submissions Nothing Without Us Too: Short fiction The second iteration of this anthology seeks short fiction from “writers across the disability, mental illness, developmental disabilities, neurodiversity, Blind, and d/Deaf spectrums,” especially from writers who reside in Canada. Submit by January 31. http://nothingwithoutusanthology.wordpress.com/submission-guidelines/ The Darling Axe’s Clash of the Query Letters Submit a query letter for your original, unpublished work by January 31 for a…