“October is #NaNoPrepMo” Write Now Columbus – October 2020

 

Write Now Columbus – October 2020

Hi Writers:

With colleges back in session and groups and bookstores figuring out how to host online events, the central Ohio writing event scene is abundant. I posted 43 events on the calendar. Much of the world has headed to zoom. This makes competition for attendees greater than ever. I hope you’ll continue to “attend” central Ohio events.

I don’t usually post contests, but as a board member of the Women’s National Book Association of San Francisco, I’m honor bound to tell you about the . Submissions are open. I wrote a bit here about how contests are a sometimes overlooked path to publication.

Writing Articles

If you’re not (yet) following me on your favorite social media channel, you won’t know that I’ve begun to post writing-related information and articles at 7pm every evening. Here’s a sample of recent posts:

“Getting in The Right Zone To Write” by Greta Solomon

New podcast! Word Matters | Merriam-Webster – NEPM Podcasts

The Anonymous Lawyer Behind @nyttypos

Artist Relief Organization Extends COVID-19 Grants to End of 2020

Writing Prompts

Each day at noon on my social media channels, I continue to post a writing prompt using the hashtag #tenminutesgo. Here are a few from last month:

A time when everything mattered . . .
A time when nothing mattered . . .
My big dream . . .
A time I stayed quiet . . .
This time I’m going tell the truth . . .

If you write fiction, write these from the point of view of one of your characters. Set that timer, “Ten minutes. Go!”

NaNoWriMo

Speaking of fiction, it’s October which makes it #NaNoPrepMo, time to prepare for National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo.) I’ve written about my love of NaNoWriMo on my blog. I’ll spare you a repeat. For those of you not aware, it’s a writing challenge that begins November 1st. Like most things, it will be virtual this year. So no write-ins at Colin’s Coffee. *sadface* But the challenge lives. We plan now. In November, we write like mad!

Intern

If you know of a college student looking for an internship, my intern graduated and I could use a new one! The lucky candidate can add “intern to award-winning author” to her LinkedIn profile. Reply to this email for details.

My Activities

This month has been lovely busy with many “featured ins” which you can find here, and several workshops.

I was also surprised and honored to be invited to join this panel on “” on The Writing Cooperative’s “This Week in Writing” podcast.

Thursday I’m giving a webinar at the Columbus Bar Association. It is open to anyone, but there is a fee. Lawyers are eligible for CLE. I’m always grateful for these opportunities.

Thank you!

I’ll close with some much-needed levity from this piece in McSweeney’s, “.”

Thank you for subscribing to Write Now Columbus. Please tell your friends!

Take care and please, for the future of us all, wear a mask!

~ Nita

Nita Sweeney
(c)Nita Sweeney, 2020, all rights reserved

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McSweeney’s Needs Help Too

Yikes. More financial difficulty on the literary front. This time McSweeney’s needs our help. If you’re not familiar with McSweeney’s, click here.

The following is an excerpt from McSweeney’s June update:

As you may know, it’s been tough going for many independent publishers, McSweeney’s included, since our distributor filed for bankruptcy last December 29. We lost about $130,000 — actual earnings that were simply erased. Due to the intricacies of the settlement, the real hurt didn’t hit right away, but it’s hitting now. Like most small publishers, our business is basically a break-even proposition in the best of times, so there’s really no way to absorb a loss that big.

We are committed to getting through and past this difficult time, and we’re hoping you, the readers who have from the start made McSweeney’s possible, will help us.

Over the next week or so, we’ll be holding an inventory sell-off and rare-item auction, which we hope will make a dent in the losses we sustained.

So if you’ve had your eye on anything we’ve produced, now would be a great time to take the plunge. For the next week or so, subscriptions are $5 off, new books are 30 percent off, and all backlist is 50 percent off. Please check out the store and enjoy the astounding savings, while knowing every purchase will help dig us out of a big hole.

Many of our contributors have stepped up and given us original artwork and limited editions to auction off. We’ve got original artwork from Chris Ware, Marcel Dzama, David Byrne, and Tony Millionaire; a limited-edition music mix from Nick Hornby; rare early issues of the quarterly, direct from Sean Wilsey’s closet; and more. We’re even auctioning off Dave Eggers’s painting of George Bush as a double-amputee, from the cover of Issue 14.

I hate to be alarmist, but, well, I’m alarmed. Think I’ll surf over to McSweeney’s now and see what I “need.”

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