My “Making It Pop: Translating Your Ideas for Trade” bloginar has come to a close, and I miss those gals already. In the spirit of cntinuing to share some of what goes on in the course here on GWP, here are some resources.

Looking for a place to bone up on your nonfiction writing technique? Try these:

Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism – March 14-16, Boston
Associated Writers and Writing Programs Annual Conference – Jan 30-Feb 2, NYC
Mediabistro – jobs, classes, community, and news for media professionals (they have excellent classes, are based on both coasts, and also offer courses online)

Looking to find out who’s publishing what? Try:

Publisher’s Lunch – book publishing news (including news about which editors are buying which books and from which agents)

Want to start reviewing books? You first need to know what books are currently in the pipeline and not yet released. Here’s where to go:

Kirkus Reviews
Publishers Weekly

Remember that magazines need a 3-month lead time, so look for books that list their publication dates as being at least 3 months away. To pitch an editor, find their email address and send them 2-3 brief paragraphs proposing your review. Mediabistro offers great classes on writing pitch letters, writing features, writing reviews…pretty much everything. I took a class from them soon after I decided to pursue a popular writing career and will likely be teaching a 1-day intensive in 2008 on doing anthologies. Stay tuned…

On Dec. 5, the Centers for Disease Control reported that, after 14 years of decline, the birthrate for women between the ages of 15 and 19 had increased. In 2006, there were 41.9 births for every 1,000 girls in that age range, a 3% rise from 2005.

Why has the teenage birthrate increased after years of decline? Experts are trying to figure it out (experts–please post?) but in the meantime, check out Saturday’s op-ed from Meghan Daum of the Los Angeles Times. Writes Daum, after some interesting meditations (which I related to) on being in high school in the 1980s,

Some experts say it’s because condoms are not quite the must-have item they once were now that AIDS is increasingly being perceived, rightly or wrongly, as a manageable disease rather than a death sentence. But I also have to wonder if, in the grand scheme of things, pregnancy is just not as frightening to the current crop of teens as it was to past generations. Considering that kids have been forced to think in a very real way about things that can actually kill you, like terrorist attacks and school shootings and, yes, HIV infection, getting pregnant — and even raising a child — might seem like a lesser inconvenience. As for embarrassment, these are kids who post their diaries on MySpace. Do we really expect them to abstain because they’re afraid of gossip?

Thoughts?

Women, Action & the Media (WAM!) 2008 conference is coming soon: March 28-30, 2008, at MIT’s Stata Center in Cambridge, MA. Register here.

I’ll be there as part of a panel on publishing feminist books, along with Courtney Martin, author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body (Free Press, Simon & Schuster); Amy Caldwell, Executive Editor at Beacon Press; and Laura Mazer, Managing Editor of Seal Press. Here’s the descript:

Public debate lacks a sensitive discussion of the complex forces shaping the lives of women and girls. Researchers, advocates, and savvy writers everywhere have the opportunity to frame public debate about these issues. Too often, however, important work about women fails to reach an audience outside the academic and advocacy worlds. Writing a “trade” book is one way to enter debate. To sell a book in today’s competitive publishing climate, one must be able to write engaging, accessible prose that will appeal to a wide audience—and know how to market it oneself.
 This session brings together published book authors with editors at houses that publish feminist work. Panelists will discuss the components of a successful book proposal. Participants will learn why it’s essential to think about audience, market, and “platform” and explore ways to use new media to garner visibility for their work after publication.

BTW, I just noticed that the WAM! site has posted a slew of facts and figures and links to articles on women in the media. Def worth checking out.

Ok, so I haven’t really participated in memes before (blogger tag, for those not in the know), and I must say: Reading the posts from the people I tagged yesterday just made my friggin day! Here’s just a sampling, and they’ve tagged a bunch of folks too, so what out all over the blogosphere for some “teacher thank you” love. (And thanks to J.K. Gayle for starting it of course!)

Courtney Martin at Crucial Minutiae includes:
2. Papa, for teaching me how to be kind to and curious about every human being on earth
3. Chris, for making me shoot baskets in the alley, teaching me how to roll a joint, and making me feel like the most precious creature on earth
4. Nikolai, for teaching me how to breathe, be present, revel, and say “beef patty”

Elizabeth Curtis at A Blog without a Bicycle includes:
1. My mum, because she raised me to be a feminist without me even knowing it
2. My baby brother, because he is my hero and my role model
3. Ms. Cutrer, because she was the first person to tell me that I was a good writer in fourth grade

Alison Peipmeier at Baxter Sez: includes:
4. Kurt Eisen, also at Tennessee Tech. Kurt is the reason that, when I went to grad school, I decided to study American literature. He taught me about the literary canon and invited me to start taking it down.
5. Cecelia Tichi and Teresa Goddu at Vanderbilt University. As co-directors of my dissertation, these women reshaped my entire brain. It wasn’t always a pleasant process, but it worked. And Cecelia took me on as a personal project, hiring me as her research and teaching assistant, letting me help her run an NEH Summer Institute, taking me for countless coffees and lunches, mentoring me in how to be a scholar and a woman with a life. When I moved to Charleston, she sent me an afghan that her high school English teacher had made for her. She wanted to pass it on to me, and maybe someday I can give it to a special student of mine.

Wow–I got chills.

Tis the season for giving. Yet, as Courtney reminds us over at Crucial Minutiae, the giving and wrapping and consuming and grabbing so readily gets out of hand. This week, J.K. Gayle at Speakeristic reminded me of the value of giving personal and public credit to one’s best teachers. In fact, he created a meme, and tagged me. So in the spirit of giving the gift of gratitude, here are my responses to his question, “Who are the teachers who have most personally influenced you and how?” And this post is a public “thank you!” to them all….

1. Mom, who taught me “This too shall pass.”
2. Dad, who taught me not to be afraid.
3. Sherry Medwin, my high school English teacher, who introduced me to Adrienne Rich and Emily Dickinson and taught me how to write a term paper (“The Voice of the Woman Poet”!)
4. Susan Friendman, Susan Bernstein, and the late Nelly McKay–my dissertation committee members in graduate school–who let a thousand flowers bloom.
5. Grandma Pearl, who died this fall, and who taught me gentle graciousness at the very end of her life.
6. Robert Berson, who taught me I was whole.
7. My cat Amelia, who taught me how to nap.
8. My cousin Howard, who taught me to buy real estate.
9. My writers group, The Invisible Institute, who teach me how to be a writer in this crazy world.
10. Marco Acevedo, who teaches me the most important lesson: how to love.

For those who aren’t sure what a meme is, it’s kind of a bloggy chain letter, with content. So to pass it on, I tag:

Rebecca Wallace-Segall at WritopiaLab
Any of the awesome writers at the group blog Crucial Minutiae
Marci Alboher at Hey Marci, and Shifting Careers
PunditMom at PunditMom
Patti Binder at What’s Good for Girls
Elizabeth Curtis at A Blog without a Bicycle
Alison Piepmeier at Baxter Sez
Marco Acevedo at The Last Palace

Is this what happens when a woman’s bid for president and a writers strike coincide?

This spring, Fox will air a new reality show called “When Women Rule.” Here’s how reality guru Mike Darnell, who’s overseeing the project, describes it for Variety:

“You take 12 attractive women who feel like it’s still a man’s world and who think they’ve hit a glass ceiling, and you give them their own society to run. Then you take 12 macho, chauvinistic guys who also think men rule the world and see how they survive in a world where they’re literally manservants. … They’ll have to obey every command from the women.”

The cliches at play here are so tired they’re not even worth commenting on. Ok, one comment. Can you imagine anything more counterproductive? Master’s tools, master’s house and all that. Jeesh. But don’t worry. These man-eaters aren’t ugly feminists. They’re “attractive women.” Phew. And we all know that women who think that sexism still exists are really just out to punish men.

“Payback can be a bitch,” Darnell said.

According to Fox Entertainment prexy Peter Liguori (what’s a prexy??), the show is a sociological experiment:

“What it’s doing, in a very Fox-like fashion, is testing social mores,” he said. “This is a social experiment and not a sexual experiment. We decided, why not create this Petri dish of a society and see what happens.”

Fox-like indeed. But here’s my favorite part:

“The other part of the show becomes, what will the women do,” Darnell said. “Will they be able to create a great society or will they fight with each other?”

Oh goodie! I can hardly wait for the ensuing catfight, cuz catfights are so sexy. Catherine Price over at Broadsheet does a great takedown, based on the press release. I join her in prayer: May the writers strike be resolved soon. Save us from more bad “reality” tv.

Check out this upcoming series for professionals who are looking to get back into the workforce, called Opting Back In: A Program for Professionals Re-entering the Workforce.

When : Wednesdays, January 9th, 16th and 23rd, 2008
Where : Newman Conference Center, 151 East 25th Street, NYC

Offered by the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College, Opting Back In is a program for women (and men) who want to relaunch their careers after stepping out of the workforce. For three intensive days, professional coaches, line managers, and Baruch faculty will help participants re-assess their career interests and goals, refresh their negotiating skills, re-energize their careers, and renew and update their knowledge of current business trends.

Speakers include current employers who have hired re-entry professionals, authors of recent books on career re-entry issues, award-winning business school faculty, and professionals who have successfully relaunched their careers after years at home.

My gal Lori Rotskoff is moderating one of the panels, and authors Leslie Bennetts and Pamela Stone are among the speakers. Psst…pass it on!

Not one, but two calls for you this morning, sent to me via Bitch cofounder Lisa Jervis:

1. Yes Means Yes!

Imagine a world where women enjoy sex on their own terms and aren’t shamed for it. Imagine a world where men treat their sexual partners as collaborators, not conquests. Imagine a world where rape is rare and swiftly punished.

Welcome to the world of Yes Means Yes.

Co-editors Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti are seeking submissions for their anthology on rape culture, to be published by Seal Press in Fall 2008. Yes Means Yes! will fly in the face of the conventional feminist wisdom that rape has nothing to do with sex. We are looking to collect sharp and insightful essays, from voices both established and new, that demonstrate how empowering female sexual pleasure is the key to dismantling rape culture.

Women and men, published and unpublished authors, are all encouraged to submit essays. Be creative, be forward-thinking, be funny! Perhaps most importantly, we are seeking essays with a pro-active bent that offer new and insightful thoughts and actions on how to dismantle rape culture. No more “No Means No,” let’s think “Yes Means Yes!”

Please submit your essays to yesmeansyes2008@gmail.com no later than March 1, 2008. Essays should be from 2000 to 5000 words, double spaced and paginated. Please include your address, phone number, email address and a short bio.

2. Kicked Out is a new anthology edited by Sassafras Lowrey which uniquely seeks to tell the tales of former queer youth and current queer youth who were forced to leave home because of their sexuality and/or gender identity. This anthology will tell our collective stories of survival, weaving together descriptions of abuse, and homelessness with poignant accounts of the ways in which queer community centers offered sanctuary, and the power and importance of creating our own chosen families in the face of losing everything we have ever known. Kicked Out offers advice and wisdom to the queer youth of today from those who have been in their shoes. Additionally, it provides the opportunity for readers to get a glimpse into the world of those queer youth who as a result of circumstance have to leave home, while simultaneously shattering the stereotypes of who queer youth are, and what they have the potential to become.

Submissions should be between 1,500 and 2,500 words in length and previously unpublished. Submit your piece via e-mail in .doc format to KickedOutAnthology@gmail.com. Multiple submissions per contributor are welcome. Please include a short biography and contact information with your submission. Submissions must be received no later than March 1, 2008. Visit us online at www.myspace.com/kickedoutanthology.

A new blogger friend of mine, J.K. Gayle, recently posted this awesome quiz. He’s also got a great meme going around on “favorite teachers,” reminding us of the value of giving personal and public credit to one’s best teachers. (I’m going to post mine soon!)

For those of you unfamiliar with J.K.’s blog, Speakeristic, I urge you to check it out. J.K. is a Ph.D. candidate in the English Department at Texas Christian University, working on “translating Aristotle’s Rhetoric, rhetorically, feministically.” As he writes, “The whole project works against the nature Aristotle appears to suppose: ‘rhetoric is subservient to logic; women are subservient to men; translation is subservient to the original authored text.'”

Amen.

Yesterday I learned that Sisterhood, Interrupted: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild has been named one of the top 20 best sellers in sociology for 2007!

For the record, I am not a trained sociologist but happy to have written a book that is categorized as such. My doctorate is in literature/cultural studies, but disciplines blur these days, and categories do, it seems, too.

Also, I’m booking up for Women’s History Month (March 2008). Bring me to your campus, company, or organization! I love to yap about the book, and talks spawn the kind of intergenerational dialogue I (and many others, I know) crave, so I’m very, very excited and feel quite fortunate to be on the speaking circuit this year.

To book me, please email Taryn Kutujian at taryn.kutujian@gmail.com. (And for the academics among you, as a member of the academic community, you are entitled to a free desk copy, to encourage you to consider adopting the book in your course! If interested, again, please contact Taryn.)

And borrowing a tactic from my fave blog feministing, please share your own shameless plugs in comments. I’d love to hear.