Writers Unbound

Memoir Prompt

Remember going into the library in the summertime? A 30-degree temperature drop. The rustlings and whispers and soft noises. The librarians, and how you interpreted their faces: the stern one, the sweet one, the flustered one. The section upstairs with the pygmy-sized table and a stack of board books. The smell of crayons, though you never saw anyone coloring. Beyond the toddlers and mommies waiting their story hour was your section. You knew the rows of metal shelves like your own bedroom. You knew the shortest line to your favorites. You spotted a new title in two seconds. You could curl up there and lose the afternoon.

Magazines Seeking Submissions

• From a CraigsList ad, a new (unnamed) inspirational magazine seeks submissions. Instructions say to email complete manuscript; you might send an email asking for further information before you provide a complete article to an unnamed source. Topic: large range, “wisdom and inspiration through practical solutions.” Pay: $30 to $150. Deadline: June 27th.
• The ad is from February, but the blog is quite active and there is no deadline on submission for The Entertainment Critic magazine. Topic: review, excerpt of your book, or celebrity/entertainment article. Pay: none mentioned. Deadline: none mentioned.
• A youngish, online magazine, The Writer’s Eye, is accepting poetry, fiction, and nonfiction submissions. Topic: open-ended on poetry and fiction; nonfiction articles should be personal, involving the creative process. Deadline: August 1 for the Sep/Oct issue. Pay: $20 for poetry; .02 to .05/word for fiction and nonfiction.

Happy Monday. Make it a good day!

Thank you kindly to those who followed our markets series that wrapped up yesterday. 

Moving on, I am currently reviewing “The Anti 9-5″ for my freelance writing site at About.com. It’s about leaving behind the cubicle farm for the “freedom” of freelancing.” Haha. While I adore the book, I do have a shot of reality I’d like to share!

For all those considering freelancing as a career, hoping for some of that “freedom,” I’ve decided to share with you a rundown of a day in the life of a full time freelancer:

• 7:30 Up and out the door. Since we’re down to one car for the next couple days, I have become the official chauffeur. Drop off child #1, drop off husband, drop off child #2.
• 9:00 Stop at Office Max and pick up ink for the printer that decided to suddenly die with no warning at 11:30 last night.
• 9:30 Back home. Let dog out, feed cats, print grad school applications and etc to get into the mail by 10a. Yeah, um, the deadline is Friday.
• 10 Time to “start work,” although I’m not sure what that means I’ve been doing since 7:30.
• 10 to 12 Work on editorial management of regional magazine. I have a meeting today at 4:30 with the magazine’s publisher. I showed up at the last meeting with not enough done, and the guy’s flying to Guatemala for a month on Thursday! Needless to say, he’s a bit antsy about the issue’s MLK print date.

So, this two hours of work consists of: managing his magazine, managing my email and other projects who are poking me for attention, researching for a subject interview for this afternoon, and researching for a client call also coming up this afternoon. In addition, I haven’t done any subject interview for over a year, so I have to cough up my recording equipment and digital camera.

• 12:30 Shower and prep for the interview
• 1:40 Leave
• 2:00 Realize I forgot my laptop, which I need for my 4:30 meeting with my publisher. Crap.
• 2:10 Arrive at interview. Early. Hoping he will be ready. Early.
• 2:40 Subject arrives…late.
• 3:10 I should leave the interview right now. We arranged a half hour, which should be enough for a half a page with the research already done and a stock bio covering the first paragraph.
• 3:15 Ok, I really should leave now.
• 3:30 Finally leave. Call my daughter’s school and let them know I am on my way to pick her up.
• 3:45 Pick kid up, 15 minutes late.
• 3:50 Coach kid not to make a peep during 4 pm phone interview.
• 4:00 Potential client calls. Did I mention I’m still in the car?
• 4:10 Arrive home, gather laptop, get back in car to head to next appointment. Yup, still on the phone interview with client.
• 4:30 Pick up hubby. Still on the phone interview. Yes, we still only have one car. But at least now he can drive while I talk.
• 4:34 Phone interview over.
• 4:35 Dropped off at meeting with publisher at local internet cafe.
• 5:15 Publisher has family emergency. Is called away. I eat dinner alone while waiting for my family to pick me up. They are finishing up their dinner down the street.
•  5:30-8 Family time.
• 8: Children to bed, back to work.
• 9: Conference call with About.com’s fellow channel guides.
• 10-11: Back to work (typing this post, among other things.)

A time breakdown:

1. 4 hours family time
2.  7.5 hours work time
3. 3 hours ”other”- shower, travel time, pets

;-} So that’s my life…not that I’m complaining! Hope I’ve infused some reality into your view. Best of luck!

After finishing the book ‘Reading Lolita in Tehran,’ I remarked to a friend who’s an English professor that writers working in English as a second language are often more eloquent than those of us who speak it as a primary language. Azar Nafisi managed to write long sentences uncharacteristic of American writers, with layers and layers of meaning. It’s a beautiful book.

I felt the same way after reading Ishmael Beah’s ‘A Long Way Gone.’ Beah brings the oral history of his native Sierra Leone to the forefront. Starbucks Coffee Company helped bring this book to the marketplace. I have to say Starbucks really supports authors and literacy here in my hometown as well. I’ve done quite a few author events at different locations here. And even if you’re not a best-selling author, staffers treat you exceedingly well. The company donated $2 from sales of each copy of Beah’s book to support UNICEF programs for children affected by armed conflict.

Beah’s story for me is a page turner. It’s hard to imagine a young boy being converted into a child soldier, being fed drugs to keep him awake and aggressive, and losing his whole immediate family in a bloody war.

There’s a passage towards the end of the book—I’ve read and re-read it. I think it’s a well-nigh perfect piece of nonfiction writing. I learned a lot simply by reading and studying it. Beah is addressing the UN Economic and Social Council chamber about his experiences in a war-torn country:

“I am from Sierra Leone, and the problem that is affecting us children is the war that forces us to run away from our homes, lose our families, and aimlessly roam the forests. As a result, we get involved in the conflict as soldiers, carriers of loads, and in many other difficult tasks. All this is because of starvation, the loss of our families, and the need to feel safe and be part of something when all else has broken down. I joined the army really because of the loss of my family and starvation. I wanted to avenge the deaths of my family. I also had to get some food to survive, and the only way to do that was to be part of the army. It was not easy being a soldier, but we just had to do it. I have been rehabilitated now, so don’t be afraid of me. I am not a soldier anymore; I am a child. We are all brothers and sisters. What I have learned from my experiences is that revenge is not good. I joined the army to avenge the deaths of my family and to survive, but I’ve come to learn that if I am going to take revenge, in that process I will kill another person whose family will want revenge; then revenge and revenge and revenge will never come to an end…”

Beah wrote his memoir as an adult, but the syntax and tone in this passage are those of a child. There is so much in this single passage, especially in the genuine feeling back-lighting his words, “…don’t be afraid of me.”

English might not be Beah’s primary language, but he’s certainly mastered it well enough to move a reader, to shape his words as a revelation of universal truths.

Word Press, Technorati, Tags, Child Soldier, Beah, book, memoir, armed conflict, Sierra Leone, Starbucks, UNICEF, Civil War