Mediabistro’s Laura Palotie interviewed me recently for an article on guest blogging–the how, what, and where of it all. The story’s now live. Here’s an excerpt:

Talk to most professional journalists, and they are quick to say that the age of “making it” exclusively through traditional media outlets has passed. Wait for the green light from The New York Times, and you’re quickly missing your opportunity; download the fruits of your reporting online and comment on the message boards of other writers, and you’re on your way to creating a footprint that becomes more pronounced with each post. Blogs, too, have quickly transitioned from vanity projects to the building blocks of large communities.

Opening up one’s site to the work of another writer or expert can build traffic and help form a more multidimensional platform. These “guest blogging” gigs rarely provide a financial solution for journalists — in fact, many are unpaid — but can help establish credibility, build up expertise, and increase the public’s interest in a writer’s work.

Deborah Siegel, author and lecturer, initially began blogging in January of 2007, when she started touring with her first book, Only Child: Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo. More than a way to seek publicity, she intended her blog to be a way for her family and friends to keep track of her whereabouts during the tour. Soon, however, she began including broader feminist commentary, from mothering to popular culture, and saw her page views increase. “I’d get comments from people I didn’t recognize, and I knew it couldn’t all be my mom,” she says.

Besides keeping up her own site, Girl With Pen, that currently gets between 1,000-2,000 hits a week, Siegel guest blogs for The Huffington Post and Majority Post. She doesn’t make money from these gigs, but extending her public scope consistently spikes traffic on her own site and helps her draw attention to her other work, including her newest book, Sisterhood: Interrupted. Siegel has also been asked to give a talk on blogging at this spring’s Council on Contemporary Families Conference in Chicago.

“I don’t think of blogging as separate from my work,” Siegel says. “It helps me stay accountable at keeping up with the areas I write about. It also has a real sense of immediacy with an audience, those comments that people post that really make me think.”

Full article posted here.

And here at GWP, Guest Blogger Laura Mazer is up next!
(Image cred)

Well, Rachel Kramer Bussel has done it again. A prolific erotica writer herself, Rachel gathers 26 other uninhibited women in her new collection from Seal titled Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women. Love that the book flap answers Freud’s infamously infuriating question, “What do women really want?” with the following: “They want it all.” Because “it all” is pretty much what you’ll find between these covers. And believe me, if you read it, you will only be left wanting one thing: More.

The collection is, as Rachel notes in her intro, “dirty and sweet, wrapped up in one.” Like Rachel herself–who also runs a cupcake blog (anyone catch her recent appearance on Martha Stewart? for reals). This recipe for good erotica starts, of course, by dutifully deconstructing “dirty.” Writes Rachel:

“All too often we denigrate the dirty girls–the ones who dare to publicly show their naughty sides–as incorrigible sluts rather than realizing just how exciting it is to tap into our lustiest selves. Once you crack the surface of those who are seeingly prim and proper–the demure suburban housewife, the suited up banker, the quet secretary, the curious bookworm, the shy computer nerd–you’ll very likely find that the simplicity of the word ‘dirty’ doesn’t go anywhere near far enough to describe the kinds that lurk within them.”

Ultimately, Dirty Girls is playful, yet hot. As couples therapist Esther Perel has noted elsewhere, democracy isn’t always the hottest thing when it comes to the bedroom, and the stories here are loath to follow any PC guidelines. Thank goodness. The result? A book filled with “erotic adrenaline.” Full of fantasy, yet real. Which, btw, reminds me of another recent nonfiction title, which I hear reads like a modern-day McKinnsey study, full of to-the-minute kinks. It’s called America Unzipped. I’d be eager to hear what Rachel has to say about it–in fact, I bet she’s blogged about it over at Lusty Lady. I’m off to check out the latest on her awesome (and inspiring!) blog.

For those who are local, Rachel is throwing a book party here in NYC on Thursday, where there will be BOOB cake from Moist and Tasty. At Sutra Lounge, 16 First Avenue off First Street, Thursday, April 10, 7-9, FREE, 21+. She’ll also be hitting Atlanta, where she’ll be talking, with others, at Sex 2.0. CONGRATS, Rachel, and thanks for giving us this book!

Check out this YouTube video by Shut the Freud Up Productions. Warning: It’s long (9 minutes). The bulk of it is male pundits spewing chunks, with meta commentary from Edward R. Murrow superimposed, and scary Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana music creshendoing in the background. Keith Oberman gets lumped in with the other nuts, which I think is slightly unfair, but hey. My favorite part is around minute 6, when it turns into an montage to the beat of Alanis Morrisette [correction: Meredith Brooks!] belting “I’m a bitch, I’m a lover, I’m a sinner, I’m a mother.” Check out these lyrics–pretty a propos:

Yesterday I cried
Must have been to see the softer side
I can understand how you’d be so confused
I don’t envy you
I’m a little bit of everything
All rolled into one

I’m a bitch I’m a lover
I’m a child I’m a mother
I’m a sinner I’m a saint
I do not feel ashamed
I’m your hell I’m your dream
I’m nothin’ in between
You know, you wouldn’t want it any other way

Today is my day to review Rachel Kramer Bussel’s new book, as part of a blog tour. And I promise my post is coming soon–just want to run out and catch some exercise before the day begins. I’m psyched to be in such good company on this one–check out who’s also reviewing as part of the tour, and do visit them too if interested:

April 9 Deborah Siegel
April 10 Babeland
April 11 NYC Urban Gypsy
April 12 FunkyBrown Chick
April 13 Boinkology
April 14 Audacia Ray
April 15 Pretty Dumb Things

For all you writers wondering how a blog tour actually works–and how to set one up for yourself–I’m teaching blogging seminars at upcoming conferences and will def cover the topic. For starters:

Council on Contemporary Families – April 26, U of Illinois, Chicago
National Council for Research on Women – June 7, New York University

I’ve posted here before about my friend Rebecca Segall’s amazing venture Writopia Lab and just wanted to share a quick update for those of you in NYC. Her young (middle and high schooler) writers have been arduously developing short stories, memoirs, op-eds, scripts, and poetry over the past six months and will be sharing them in Bryant Park on Sunday, May 18th, from noon to 3:00pm! One of her writers will be guest posting here on GWP soon, and I can’t wait to share her voice with you all. And mongo congrats to Rebecca, who was just awarded Scholastic’s Golden Apple Teacher Award for “submitting the most outstanding group of submissions on the national level” in the Scholastic Art & Writing event. I just learned she was also nominated by students and selected to be entered into the 11th Edition of Who’s Who Among American Teachers. I’m so proud of my friend, I could just burst.

After a month of being on the road, I’m finally able to get back to doing some book review posts. Here’s a preview of the pile that came in while I was gone–books I hope to be writing about here and there over the next few weeks. Judging just from their covers, I can’t wait to read them:

Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women, edited by Lusty Lady Rachel Kramer Bussel (hint: VERY hot cover)

It’s a Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable Environments, by Amanda Marcotte (love the superhero cover on this one!)

Maiden USA: Girl Icons Come of Age, by Kathleen Sweeney (haunting cover image of girl staring back)

Parenting, Inc.: How We Are Sold on $800 Strollers, Fetal Education, Baby Sign Language, Sleeping Coaches, Toddler Couture, and Diaper Wipe Warmers–and What It Means for Our Children, by Pamela Paul (awesome subtitle is so long not much room for image, but image is of baby in a dollar-patterned diaper and very a propros)

Stay tuned…!

My Progressive Women’s Voices colleague Sonia Osario is up to some amazing stuff as the head of NOW-NYC. Like this event, for instance:

The Girlfriend’s Guide To Marriage
April 17th, 2008, 6:30 pm

Don’t just plan your wedding, plan your marriage. Join NOW-NYC for The Girlfriend’s Guide to Marriage, and learn the top 10 things you should know before getting married. Speak with our relationship and legal experts, and tackle questions on every bride’s mind. His name or yours? Is it better to combine banking accounts or keep them separate? The first year of marriage can be the most difficult, but we can help you make a smooth transition. Featuring attorney, Sherri Donovan, matrimonial and family law expert.

Event will be held at NOW-NYC office | 150 West 28th Street (btw. 6th & 7th) | RSVP (212) 627-9895 | $7 donation for non-members.

All so very topical, of course, for this girl with a pen who is getting married this summer. And keeping her name. Or maybe hyphenating. But definitely not giving it up. My name, that is.

Oh my gosh–my mother has learned how to post comments at the New York Times! Mom, you make me proud! Renee (aka Mom, pictured left) posted in response to my online convo with Courtney over at Marci’s blog last week, Shifting Careers. Since I’m bursting with pride at Renee’s willingness to learn, and since I also loved what she wrote, I’m reposting her comment here:

“I really enjoyed this discussion between Deborah and Courtney– it touches on so many of the issues that I faced when I entered the work force. It is interesting to me, although a bit disappointing that younger feminists are still trying to achieve things like good child care, flexible hours, and that they ‘appear’ to be asking too much. Sense of entitlement? To me, if it is for valid reasons and causes, it’s fine. Entitlement only for oneself, without working for authentic and reasonable goals to be shared with other women, is not acceptable. Keep up the dialogue!” -Renee

And while I’m at it, I can’t resist posting this comment from some dude who thinks I’m a liar:

“Uh, I’m sorry but Ms. Siegal should not lie about here age. Clearly, she is no older than 29. If you wanna add some legitimacy to this debate a ‘boomer’ would have really been interesting.”
— Posted by Steven Cayce

Well, I AM 39 (as I’m IDed in the post) and for a wider range of generational perspective Steven, I invite you to come hear the panel Courtney and I doing at Harvard with Gloria Feldt and Kristal Brent Zook on April 18. For more on “WomenGirlsLadies: A FRESH Conversation Across Generations,” I invite folks to check out our group blog!

Tonight I’ll be teaming up with my lovely (and very pregnant!) coeditor from Only Child, Daphne Uviller, for a workshop at Mediaistro on “Breaking into Anthology Writing.” There are still a few slots left, so if interested, please join us!

WHEN Monday, April 7, 6:30-9:30 pm
WHERE mediabistro.com, 494 Broadway (Spring & Broome), New York, NY 10012
DIRECTIONS subway directions, map
PRICE $65 ($50 for )

Here’s the description:

Anthologies are among the most powerful and poignant records of the times in which we live. As a writer, anthologies are also a superb way to break into the business, learn the ropes , and get your name on the book. Publishers are more likely to take a chance on your proposal because you’ve got the weight of other established writers behind you. But with so many currently on the shelves, the market for selling anthologies has become highly competitive. You may have a great, funny, important, and original idea for a collection of essays that has an obvious audience, but what do you need to do to make your anthology stand out?

In this seminar, you will learn how to:

• Write a proposal
• Find contributors
• Manage and edit submissions
• Work with purchasing editors
• Make the best use of your in-house publicist
• Self-publicize

Participants will leave with a timeline in hand detailing the process by which they could reasonably expect to complete a salable anthology.

Speaking of war, do check out Courtney’s post on a recent New Yorker article titled “Exposure: The Woman Behind the Camera at Abu Ghraib,” by Phillip Gourevitch and Errol Morris. Writes Courtney:

In it, they look closely at the life of Sabrina Harman, the young soldier who took the photos of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib that have come to haunt us. The piece is so powerful, in part because the authors rely heavily on quotations from those involved, particularly Harman. Unlike most New Yorker pieces, which I find sometimes err on missing the voices of those at the center of the issue, this one is full of organic wanderings by the soldiers who got caught up in that horrendous place and time…What becomes clear very quickly is that Harman used her camera as a way to process the dissonance between what she felt was right–a small but nagging sentiment–and what she was watching happen all around her to the point of normalization. The lens becomes her way of organizing the world, of making sense of the nonsensical. Interestingly, she is known as the one who won’t even let people kill a bug, but she never speaks out directly about the abuse being heaped on detainees. Clearly this contrast tells us something even more frightening about the power of conditioning. She wasn’t seeing bugs tortured day in and day out. She was seeing people endure that to the point that it no longer seemed like something to endure or end.

Also, I just caught up on the news that the last bastion of male dominance in the US Navy has been cracked.Women will now be allowed to serve on submarines. It’s absolutely a step in the right direction, but damn if I don’t wish we could just put an end to all this war. (Via feministing).