It was standing room at the Royall House in Medford 
tonight. My husband Alex and I spoke about the slave history of Boston. This is a project that he has been working on for years. I recently joined him in the research. About 75 people attended.
“When’s the book coming out?” several people said. Others said, “Your presentation really opened my mind to history in a way I’be never seen it before.”
We do hope to publish it as a book someday.
March is National Reading Month, when we celebrate the joy of reading. Schools all over the country are planning literacy-related activities to highlight reading in fun and unusual ways. Writers can celebrate the observance by reading to schoolchildren. Not only is this a meaningful avenue for volunteering, it provides some benefit to the writer. Here’s how you can make the most of it.
So let’s celebration National Reading Month. Let’s get reading and see where it takes us.
Dorothy O’Connor Contest
The second annual Dorothy O’Connor Writing Contest is for Boston-area women who have published an essay or article of interest for her community and beyond in the past year (in a newspaper or journal; in print or online). Only WNBA-Boston members can nominate, but nominees do not need to be members. The winner will receive a cash prize of $500.
All submission are due on March 14th, 2015 at news.wnbaboston@gmail.com. Please submit the following: Author’s name, date and place of publication, and the essay/article (acceptable formats: .jpeg, .pdf, .doc, .docx, .pages).
Should you have any questions or have problems acquiring the essay/article do not hesitate to contact us at news.wnbaboston@gmail.com
Jina Ortiz, co-editor of All about Skin: Short Fiction by Women of Color, has a busy schedule these days promoting the highly acclaimed anthology. Over the next several weeks, she’ll be hosting book parties in Springfield, Massachusetts, New York City, Washington, D.C. and other locations.
Despite her hectic schedule, she was able to spend a recent afternoon in Newton, Massachusetts, as guest of honor at my monthly book club meeting. All about Skin features 27 stories by women of color whose short fiction has earned them a range of honors. The prose in the multicultural anthology addresses such themes as racial prejudice, the media’s portrayal of beauty, and family relationships.
During our book club discussion, Jina mentioned how fortunate she and
co-editor Rochelle Spencer were to work with such a nice group of writers. “All the women were really, professional, cooperative and humble. We lucked out,” she said.
She said that the women were supportive of her in her own writing pursuits, have enriched her writing, and have served as a source of inspiration. A writer and poet, Jina’s work has appeared in many publications, including New Millennium Writings, Afro-Hispanic Review, and Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices.
Jina probably doesn’t know this, but my spending the afternoon with her has enriched my writing and inspired me as well. Thanks, Jina!
I’ve been plugged into the writing community for years and have wondered if it’s worth my time, attending writing conferences, taking classes at Grub Street Creative Writing Center, and reading the trades magazines. I’ve spent hours scouring the “calls for submissions” in the back of Poets and Writers magazine and the online site NewPages.com, looking for places where I could submit my writing.
After spending an afternoon with writer and poet Jina Ortiz, I’ve come to a conclusion about the worth of my efforts. Jina is co-editor of All About Skin: Short Fiction by Women of Color, one of the most talked about anthologies. The volume features 27 stories by women of color whose short fiction has earned them a range of honors, from the Guggenheim Fellowship, to inclusion in The Best American Short Stories and the O. Henry Anthologies.
All About Skin was given a favorable review in a recent issue of Ms. Magazine and a lengthy write-up in Poets and Writers.
I’ve known Jina for years and got her to agree to be the speaker at my book club meeting recently. I asked her about the submission process for the anthology. She said that she and co-editor Rochelle Spencer received more than 100 submissions, which they whittled down to 27. She said they sought stories from authors they knew, put out an open call through writing networks, including writing publications, and attended writing conferences, where they solicited work.
While being plugged into the writing network is time-consuming, I believe it is worth it. The writers whose stories appear in All About Skin now have another high-profile platform to showcase their work. The volume is being looked at by some universities to be included as a textbook.
For years I’ve been a customer at The Hair Kingdom, a salon in the Roxbury section of Boston. Little did I know that Mamie, the owner, would become one of the biggest supporters of my literary efforts. Read more about that on my guest blog post on the GrubStreet creative writing center website.
I was looking forward to reading my monthly e-newsletter from Bestsellers Café, 
the bookstore/coffee shop in Medford, Massachusetts. I always like to see what books they recommend and the listing of upcoming author and live music events. However, I was saddened to see that the latest email was a good-bye letter. Bestsellers Café will be closing down at the end of January because of “unfavorable terms of a lease agreement.” I am so sorry to hear this. Bestsellers Café showcases the work of rising authors and has a section devoted to books published by local authors and independent presses. A couple of months ago they invited me in to speak about the essay I got published in the Chicken Soup for the Soul anthology. The manager gave me a lovely introduction before I gave my talk. Only a handful of copies of the book were sold, but I was invited to come back the next time I have something published.
Writers who are trying to get established depend on this country’s privately owned and independent bookstores like Bestsellers Café for support. You’d have to be a highly successful commercial author before Barnes and Noble would consider hosting an event for you. There’s nothing to be done about the closing of Bestsellers Café, but let it be a reminder to all of us of the importance of supporting locally owned bookstores. Because if we don’t, they will cease to exist.
A few days ago one of my essays, “Processing ‘Go Back to Where You Came from When Where You Came From is Here,” was published on National Public Radio affiliate WBUR’s Cognoscenti ideas and opinions web page. A writer friend of mine in the National Writers Union Boston Chapter, Barbara Beckwith, had been suggesting for months that I contribute to the site–she’s been published there several times–but I had no interest because I prefer to see my work in a printed publication so it will have an indefinite shelf life. However, by publishing online I’ve been able to get immediate feedback from the public in the “comments” section of the web page and a few people have tweeted the link to my story.
I don’t have a copy of my essay in a bound publication, but it’s reached many more people.
If you’re thinking about hosting a book party for your organization, but don’t know where to start, let Boston National Writers Union guide you along. Each January, NWU books space for member authors to display and sell the books they’ve had published during the past year. This coming January the party will be held at the Cambridge Family YMCA and will feature William Martin, historical fiction writer and author of ten novels, a brief reading by six NWU authors of new books and a silent auction in which massages and vacation home rentals may be up for grabs.
Of course, a party wouldn’t be complete without refreshments. The event will be catered by a nearby Middle Eastern restaurant.
The book party is open to the public and should help members build an audience within the organization and in general.
The book party is one of the most popular events from NWU. Why not make it a program your organization can sponsor?
As a writer who hopes to one day get her novel published, I find myself fantasizing about my first book signing. I’ll be stationed at a table at one of the popular independent bookstores in town with a long line of avid readers clutching copies of my book as if they are precious cargo, awaiting my signature and some witty note I’ll include.
As my hand starts to cramp from signing my name 40, 50, 60 times, my publicist will pull me aside to tell me it’s time to head to my next event 45 miles down the road where more of my readers are waiting. In this fantasy, I’m at the beginning of my author tour, which will last a year and include not only cities along the Eastern Seaboard but major cities across the country.
But I don’t have to live in the fantasy to enjoy some measure of reality, in order to conduct a book signing or get the practice of doing a public reading. And neither do you. All you need is to have one story published in one publication online or in print to become a celebrated writer.
Recently The Hair Kingdom, the salon in the Roxbury section of Boston where I’m a client, hosted a Saturday afternoon brunch featuring several female entrepreneurs, an up-and-coming professional singer, and me. While we dined on wine, cheese, and some hearty chicken soup served right out of a slow cooker, to tie in with the title of the anthology I’m published in—Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Dating Game, I read an excerpt from my essay, “Short Distance Romance.” Then I did a signing. Despite the fact that I have one story in an anthology and not an entire book, the guests at the brunch were excited to meet me and thrilled to spend the afternoon with an author. I made a point to tuck a post card with my blog address into every book I signed. The event was a great way to build an audience and encourage me to keep writing.
I’ll be signing copies of Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Dating Game.
