Who We Are

Elrena Evans, LM's Marketing and Publicity Manager, holds an MFA from The Pennsylvania State University, and together with Senior Editor Caroline Grant is co-editor of Mama, PhD: Women Write About Motherhood and Academic Life (Rutgers University Press, 2008). She writes the column Me and My House for Literary Mama, and her writing has also appeared in Brain, Child, Hip Mama, MotherVerse, Mamazine, and the anthologies Twentysomething Essays by Twentysomething Writers (Random House, 2006) and How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel (Seal Press, 2008). She lives in Pennsylvania with her family, and blogs at her website, http://www.elrenaevans.com.

Teaching and Tae Kwon Do

Libby Gruner, LM's Children's Lit Book Group columnist, has written an article titled, "Teaching and Tae Kwon Do" in the March 21st issue of Inside Higher Ed. Libby, the self-described "least athletic person I know," joined her son's class after an invitation from his teacher. In the article, Libby says,

"Some days class felt like an anarchist miracle. How did we all, at our various levels, learn? And stay focused, and not get bored? I watched as Master Gibson walked beginners through chong ji, the first pattern; kids with higher belts moved right alongside, in patterned unison. He praised, he corrected, he encouraged. I began to wonder if I could apply the lessons to my own teaching."

Special Needs Mama

Vicki Forman, LM's Special Needs Mama columnist has won the 2008 Bakeless Prize in Creative Nonfiction for her memoir, "This Lovely Life." The book will be published in the summer of 2009 by Houghton Mifflin and she will be a fellow at Bread Loaf that summer as well.

Mother Writer Workshops

MotherVerse is also launching an exciting new addition, mother writer workshops. These virtual workshops are designed to help facilitate mother writing by encouraging mother writers to come together to learn and guide one another. We will be offering two workshops "Writing Motherhood" and "Publishing a Blog" with will begin at the end of April and early May. If you are interested in joining please sign up as soon as possible as each workshop has a limited enrollment. We look forward to seeing you in one! Visit http://www.motherverse.com/workshops.

Switchback

Switchback, a publication of the MFA of the University of San Francisco is looking for submissions.

Eighth Issue: "Stillness vs. Frenzy"
The editors of Switchback are now accepting submissions for our eighth issue. The theme is Stillness vs. Frenzy. Poetry and prose submissions are not required to address the theme. We continue to seek work from writers in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, writing on any topic imaginable.

How do action and inaction work in narrative? In art? Art and literature often contain adventure or a fixed setting, like home. Inner monologue could be stillness and frenzy: a still body with an ever-moving train of thought (or even beating heart, live inner-workings). What can come of something entirely static or entirely frenetic? Or both at once?

Hitchcock said "the terror is not in the bang, but in the anticipation of it." Submissions might address the topic of "Stillness vs. Frenzy" as it applies to literature and the creative process. Switchback encourages writers to submit their own thoughts on this topic using whichever perspective they choose.

The deadline for submissions is April 4th, 2008.

GENERAL GUIDELINES:

We prefer pieces that have not been previously published. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, although please inform us if you have sent your piece elsewhere. Due to the online nature of the magazine, shorter pieces are preferred (2,000 words or less), although longer pieces of exceptional writing will also be considered.

All critical essays must address the topic "Stillness vs. Frenzy" and be less than 2,000 words. Works in other genres are not required to address the topic.

Submissions should be sent in Microsoft Word format (preferred) or an RTF format. We will accept three poems per writer or a maximum of five pages of poetry, or one fiction, nonfiction or critical essay submission per writer. In the subject line write the genre (fiction, nonfiction, critical essay or poetry) and the title of your piece, i.e., FICTION: (Insert Your Fictional Title). Send your submission(s), one piece per email, to: submissions at swback dot com. (You may use the links at the bottom of this page.)

Due to the process of blind selection, include your name in the email, but not in the piece itself.

The eighth issue will be released in Summer/Fall 2008.

SWITCHBACK is a publication of the Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program of the University of San Francisco, Aaron Shurin, Director.

SWITCHBACK is a forum for the writers of USF's MFA community, including alumni, students, and faculty, as well as the wider literary community, in the areas of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and critical essays.

We look forward to reading your work.

Sincerely,

The SWITCHBACK Editorial Staff

Use these links to submit by email: fiction ; nonfiction ; critical essay ; poetry

Have you heard about The Writer Mama Scholarship?

Are you a mom, who would love to take the Writing and Publishing the Short Stuff Class that starts April 16th with author Christina Katz, but you would not otherwise be able to afford it?

Then you qualify for The Writer Mama Scholarship!

The deadline for your short application is one week only: Saturday, March 8th - Saturday March 15th at midnight (please note, slight date change).

Please read the guidelines completely and double-check your work. The recipient will be announced by midnight, March 16th, in the Writer Mama Riffs blog and in the April The Writer Mama zine (you can subscribe at the blog by clicking on the envelope).

Please feel free to spread the word about the scholarship, even if you do not intend to apply!

Copy and paste the application: The Writer Mama

MINDFUL MOMENTS FOR MOTHERS & DAUGHTERS

"Every woman is a mother, a daughter, or both," says Tzivia Gover, workshop leader and author of Mindful Moments for Stressful Days. "Whether or not we have children of our own, we each play the role of nurturer, teacher, and protector in some way. Likewise, whether our mothers are in our lives today or not, each of us has a yearning to receive unconditional love and wise guidance. Mother/daughter relationships are potentially our richest source of love and nourishment. They can also be complicated and confusing.

Mindful Moments for Mothers and Daughters is a workshop led by Gover in which participants can explore their roles and relationships as mothers and daughters in a safe and welcoming environment. The workshop will be held on Mother's Day weekend, May 9-11 at Esalen Institute, Big Sur, California.

Participants will use the practice of mindfulness to find clarity, peace, and a spirit of joyful relaxation to guide us in this process of discovery and deeper connection. Through a series of discussions, simple art and writing activities, guided meditations, and values clarification exercises, participants will:

Identify strengths and challenges in their mother/daughter roles and relationships

Bring a spirit of mindful intention to the process of growth and healing in their lives as mothers and daughters

Discover the common and complementary values they bring to those relationships.

Connect with feelings of gratitude, joy, and love toward themselves as well as their mothers and/or daughters.

Throughout the workshop participants will have the opportunity to work individually, in pairs, and in small groups.

Mindful Moments for Mothers and Daughters is appropriate for all women who want to deepen their understanding of themselves as mothers and/or daughters, whether attending individually or with their mother and/or adult daughter.

Mother's Day Weekend, May 9-11, 2008
at ESALEN, Big Sur, California

visit: www.tziviagover.com or www.esalen.org for more information and to register. Or contact Esalen Institute at 831-667-3005.

life, love and change in our 40s

Call for submissions – help create the first anthology about
life, love and change in our 40s

• Are you a 40-something woman?
• Do you have something to say about life in your 40s?
• Do you want to be part of a talented, interesting group of women across the country who are making a difference?

We are publishing an anthology of personal essays, currently called Laugh Lines, by women from a variety of backgrounds. In this book, 40-something women tell it straight about what it means to be in your 40s. They talk openly and honestly about work and family, sex and divorce, new confidences and lingering doubts. This anthology will consist of 25-30 personal essays combined into one print title for publication in Fall 2008.

Brief Synopsis
Turning 40 is a milestone for women. We spent our 20s going to college, and perhaps graduate school, launching our careers and perhaps our marriage. We spent our 30s building our careers, achieving a track record, and perhaps starting a family. What are the 40s all about?

The contributors will answer:
What is a major experience, realization or change that I have gone through in my 40s, and what have I learned from it? (themes include bodies, work, relationships, children, self-image, priorities, parents and following your passion. Other topic ideas welcomed.)

The Details
Deadline
Submissions are open until May 15, 2008, and the final acceptances will be communicated by June 1, 2008. Submissions should be sent to molly_rosen@yahoo.com Please put Laugh Lines Submission in the subject line. We will send a reply email to confirm receipt.

Audience
The audience is women aged 31-50 who will be inspired by other women’s stories, and will appreciate getting a better understanding of “what’s happening” or “what comes next.”

Project Specifications/Development Schedule: All essays will be written in the first person, with an honest, informal tone. Each will be 1600-2000 words (about 4-5 pages, double-spaced). Each contributor will title the essay, and submit a short (1 paragraph) bio. The book will consist of 25-30 essays total.

Contributors: The contributors will come from a range of backgrounds and professions. Some will be professional writers, many will not. All will be interesting women who have something to say about life in their 40s. By sending in a submission you are agreeing to your work being edited and also to it being published in the new anthology. If your essay is not chosen for the anthology, you will retain all copyrights to publish.

Compensation: This is a labor of love, a project to bring together a fantastic network of women to leave a legacy for others. Money from book sales will first be used to recoup expenses, including a launch party for the contributors to promote connection among this fabulous network of women. Net proceeds will be donated to a not-for-profit organization supporting access to care and finding a cure for breast cancer.

Reading: For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth about Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance

Bay Area folks! Come on out for a reading from the Seal Press anthology "For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth about Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance" edited by Victoria Zackheim.

Saturday, March 8th, 7:00pm
A Great Good Place For Books
6120 La Salle Avenue, Oakland
(in Montclair Village)
(510) 339-8210

One of the anthology authors who will be reading is Susan Ito, Literary Mama columnist ("Life in the Sandwich") and Creative Nonfiction Co-Editor. Come on out and say hello!

For Keeps is an inspirational collection by top women writers on their relationships with their bodies. It explores with awe and intelligence the surprises and challenges of our bodies — whether caused by illness, aging, injury, or life circumstances — that make us rethink the way we see ourselves, and even live our lives. These empowering essays reveal the journeys women take as they age and change in ways both good and bad. Each unique story in this collection brings the reader closer to understanding her relationship with her own body — both physical and emotional.

Our bodies, our health, our relationships with other people—are bound to change over time, Victoria Zackheim reminds readers. And while aging will inevitably become difficult to control, in the end, we can’t ignore the message that always “hovers just beyond the coast of consciousness: Our bodies are for keeps. No matter what life brings us, we must forge ahead and celebrate.”

Being An Author Broad

LM Fiction Co-editor Suzanne Kamata was a featured speaker at the Being An Author Broad career seminar in Tokyo. During the event, which was sponsored by the Tokyo-based magazine Being A Broad, Kamata, author of Losing Kei and editor of Love You to Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs. Author, columnist and Kodansha Publishers,Inc. editor Kit Nagamura, and Caroline Pover, author of Being A Broad in Japan, spoke about their experiences writing, publishing and editing to an audience of about fifty expatriate women.

Who We Are

C. Delia Scarpitti, Columns Co-Editor has a new poem,
"The Lament of the Bearded Lady" that just went live at the flash-literature pioneer magazine, Flashquake.
She was also recently awarded a grant from her home state as an Emerging Artist in Fiction for 2008 based on her novel manuscript, Migration Summer. More info about that can be found at Delia's website:
www.cdeliascarpitti.com

Want to be a Seal author?

Here’s your chance. Seal Press is launching a new series and we’re looking for writers who are experts on the following topics:

Car repair
Camping
Home repair
BBQing
We’re looking for women writers who are passionate about these topics. Whether it be your passion, your hobby, or your profession, the main qualifier is that you really know your stuff. We want writers who can translate these subjects in an intelligent, fun, and accessible style. We’ll tell you the details of the series upon seeing your qualifications.

Requirements:

One-page cover letter detailing why you’re the person to write on this topic
Resume or CV
Previous publishing experience
Anything that you think sets you apart from other applicants (keep this within reason, please)
Send materials in a word document attachment, in the order listed above, to Brooke Warner at: brooke.warner@avalonpub.com.

Please allow three weeks for a response.

The StoryQuarterly Love Story Contest

StoryQuarterly Contest is open to all writers. We’re looking for the heart of the story presented in fiction or nonfiction in the following categories: short stories, short short stories, novel excerpts, essays, memoirs, and excerpts from book-length nonfiction. Entries must be previously unpublished, no longer than 8,000 words, and must not have previously been chosen as a winner, finalist, or honorable mention in another contest.

The subject is love in any and all of its varieties and incarnations — familial, filial, romantic, platonic, the love of place, nature, animals, possessions, beauty, or truth, love that is intellectual, erotic, patriotic, real or imagined, fulfilled or denied, tragic or comedic. Tell us the truth about love!

Awards: First Prize is $2,500, Second Prize is $1,500, and Third Prize is $750. The prize winners will be announced in SQ online and will be eligible for inclusion in the 2008 StoryQuarterly Annual. Additionally, ten finalists will receive $100 each. We’ll announce finalists in the magazine as well.

There is a $20 fee for each entry. And with your entry, you’ll receive six months complimentary access to Narrative Backstage.

Entries will be accepted between between January 1 and March 31, 2008.

The contest will be judged by the editors of the magazine. Winners and finalists will be announced to the public by by April 30, 2008. All writers who enter will be notified by email of the judges’ decisions.

We accept online entries only. We do accept simultaneous submissions, but if your entry is accepted elsewhere, please let us know as soon as possible (and accept our congratulations!).

Entries should be formatted as follows: Double-spaced, with 12-point type, at least one-inch margins, and sequentially numbered pages. Please give the author’s name, address, telephone number, and email address at the top of the first page.
http://narrativemagazine.com/SQ/shared/contest.php

Divorce is Rad!

Call for Submissions

Pay: $100+ on acceptance of manuscript

Length: 2,000-4,000 words

You are welcome to send a fully-written essay, but a query with a 1-2 paragraph proposal is also fine. Make sure to include a bio, other publishing credits (and a writing sample, if you're not sending a complete piece.

Please email queries and submissions to: candace.walsh@gmail.com.

Project Overview:

Divorce needs a makeover. So many women and children are trapped in unhappy marriages just because they can't get past the perception that divorce is the devil. Sure, it's not what we wish for when we walk down the aisle (whether we wear a white gown or a scarlet shift)but if it's the escape hatch into our best life, it should have more romise around it. It should hold more of a space for the positive.

Divorce is Rad!will be a spicy, bracing, riveting selection of essays from women from all walks of life. The words within will make you laugh, cry, nod your head, and shake your fist. The unifying thread is,“I got divorced, and it rocked my world.You can't take the deepest core of grief and loss away from something that has its unavoidable traumatic component, but divorce can lose the shame/fear/stigma frosting on its sometimes bitter cake. Because you know what? A lot of those bites are surprisingly sweet.

Divorce is Rad! is about divorce dusted off, reviewed, and spit-shined for our generation's post-taboo, post-seventies-casual, post- pseudo “family values. It's the sparkling shore for the woman who been standing on the gangplank of a fatally becalmed boat. It's the kind, warm current that leads her to that shore, and the beach towel and picnic lunch that awaits her when she gets solid ground under her feet.

www.marrit.info

Feminist Parenting

Amy Hudock, LM's CEO and Stephanie Hunt, LM's column Editor, participated in a panel called, "Feminist Parenting" for the Women and Gender studies program at the College of Charleston. Under the direction of Dr. Alison Piepmeier, the Women and Gender studies program offers, Third Thursdays, a monthly series of informal, conversational salons.

Faculty, staff, and students from the College of Charleston were invited to join with members of the Charleston community to discuss feminism, faculty research, and what Women's and Gender Studies actually involves.

This gathering featured a panel of feminist moms and dads-- Brian McGee, Brian McCann, Stephanie Hunt, and Amy Hudock--who discussed their approach to parenting and the challenges and rewards it brings.

Motherhood and Writing, by Kathryn Trueblood

Before I had children, I had all these rituals to get myself in the mood for writing” you know, the right music, fragrant tea, some quiet reflective time. After I had children I learned to go at it like a high diver off the spring board, no preliminaries. I learned to write to the soundtrack of Sesame Street with a cockatiel crapping on my shoulder.

It took me seven years to write my second book, The Baby Lottery. As the mother of two children, a writer, and an associate professor, I understand the complications of balancing a career and a family, though I'm not even sure that using the verb balancing is honest, since my life often resembles wildly tipping scales. I don't want to sound like the commercial women's magazines that always offer time-saving tips, which seem to imply that we should cram even more into a day. The impetus for this book was my desire to portray women's lives as authentically as I could.

The question I'm most often asked is, how do you do it all, i.e. parenting, teaching, writing. I think the question encourages women to mythologize each other. The answer certainly offers the temptation of mythologizing oneself (oh, I just have a lot of energy). The truth is by the time I'd finished, my health had crashed, and I was beset by some stark epiphanies.

I have to say that having children politicized me. My first child was born before the Family Leave Act, and I went back to work two weeks after his birth because otherwise, my family would have lost health insurance. Although there are five women from different professions featured in The Baby Lottery, including an obstetric nurse, a social worker, and public relations professional, I came up with my character Virginia out of my own experience, and many times it was through her that I was able to return to the book. Often, I had to put the book away for long stretches. I kept the manuscripts in a cardboard box under my desk, which I'd drag out. Before I could begin writing again, I had to get over being away for so long. I'd read the manuscript and think: Who are these people? Virginia allowed me to record some of my own frustration. She teaches at a community college whereas I teach at a state college, but her struggle to finish her novel reflects my own.

I wrote this book in many ways to keep myself company and to keep my women friends company. In the chick lit zeitgeist, there's a bias against any kind of implicit social or political content, but it mattered to me very much to write about women at work with their loyalties divided. It mattered to me to portray the tremendous amount of pressure on families, and I'm talking middle-class families. The former Pope, Jean Paul, said we live in an age of savage capitalism. I wanted to record the savage feelings that go along with that. Women are exhausted; men are exhausted; children see that in their parents. The social changes that feminists envisioned in the the 70s were not enacted. These things are very real to me. I feel there's little social analysis in the public forum, in fact, I think instead men and women are encouraged to blame each other, ”the so-called mommy wars." Or we're encouraged to pathologize our problems, the exhaustion of the impossible task must be some personality disorder. Two parents working full time and trying to raise children is such a grind, one scarcely has any feelings left. It mattered to me to write about men and women finding unconventional arrangements because maybe the old forms of partnership are worn out and don't work.

In the book, Virginia, who has separated from her husband Finely, realizes ruefully that she only has time to rest and create outside of the marriage. Finley, to his credit, realizes that the space she needs separate from him can be brought back into the marriage, which is why there's some hope for them at the end of the book. But that didn't happen in my case. Without knowing it, I allowed myself to explore a lot of issues that pertained to my life, and in the end while my character Finley understood, my former husband didn't. My children have been fairly good-natured through it all, though they've learned to scrabble in the laundry baskets like the rat family because clean clothes never get in the drawers. No one gets a perfect life, I tell them.

I'm lucky that both my parents were mavericks in their way and modeled risk-taking professions. My father was a medical resident at L.A. County Hospital before Roe v. Wade was passed, and he worked the O.B. Infection Ward where women with botched abortions ended up if they didn't die first. His views as a result of that experience have had a lasting effect upon my writing. My mother worked as a script supervisor on film crews where she was often the only woman besides the make-up lady, and she worked on early multicultural films like House Made of Dawn. My parents dared to live unconventional lives; they lived with their children, not for them. I think you could say that's true for me as a mother of two children who also writes and teaches. I believe it's as important to model the creative act as it is to encourage it.

Kathryn Trueblood's most recent novel, The Baby Lottery, was a Book Sense Pick in 2007 (published by The Permanent Press). She is an Associate Professor of English at Western Washington University.

ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH ON MOTHERING AND DEMETER PRESS

POETRY

BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY

*THEME: MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS

DEADLINE: MAY 1, 2008

Prizes of $500 for 1st place, $300 for 2nd place, and $200 for 3rd place, will be awarded for poems, creative non-fiction, and photography on the theme of Mother and Daughters. The winning works in all categories, as well as a selection of honorable mention contest entries, will be published in JARM, Journal of the Association of Research on Mothering, special issue on Mother and Daughters in October 2008. All works will be considered for publication in the journal and subsequently in a literary anthology to be published by Demeter Press in honor of Mother’s Day, May 2009. Prizes in each category will be announced in August 2008 and awarded at the ARM Conference, October 24-26, 2008.

Poets whose works are included in the issue will celebrate the launch of the issue with readings at a Literary Gala Event as part of the conference.

Guidelines:

Poetry: Submit up to three unpublished poems with $20.00 CAD entry fee ($3 for each additional poem).

Creative Non-Fiction: Entries should be short literary memoir, autobiography, lyric essay 300-1,000 words max. One submission only with $20.00 ($3 for each additional entry).

Photography: Black and white photographs should be submitted as 8” x 10” prints and mailed in hard copy to the ARM/Demeter Press office. *Contest participants outside of Canada and the U.S may email an electronic photo submission to arm@yorku.ca. Please be sure to include all required information with your submission. Submit up to three submissions ($3.00 for each additional entry).

Do not include name or identification on entries; this information should be provided on the entry form. Send entries for poetry and creative non-fiction by email to arm@yorku.ca. Photography submissions should be sent be regular mail to the ARM/Demeter Press office (address and payment information below). Clearly identify your entry with a subject heading: Poetry Contest or Creative Non-Fiction Contest or Photography Contest. All submissions (Poetry, Creative Non-Fiction, Photography) must be accompanied by an entry form. For prose and poetry entries, send in one word attachment. Entries that include separate files for each poem or prose entry will not be considered. Once your payment and entry has been filed, acknowledgment of your contest entry will be made by email.

Deadline:

Deadline: May 15, 2008 Judges TBA

Additional Photo Contest Rules and Regulations:

*By submitting the photo(s) you confirm that you are the exclusive rights holder of the photo(s). Model releases (i.e., permission of people in the photograph) are the responsibility of the entrant and must be available in the event that the photo is a winner.

Photographers of selected photos will retain their rights after publication with the understanding that ARM and Demeter Press can reprint in future publications without payment or royalty fees. ARM/Demeter Press will hold first time North American publication rights. Selected photos may be included in a future ARM/Demeter Press publication, promotional materials, and/or exhibitions.

Photos that have been previously published or won an award are not eligible.

Submitted photos and entries cannot be returned.

Demeter Press and ARM are not responsible for lost or delayed entries, or entries damaged in transit.

Photographs will be judged on creativity and excellence and how they best capture the contest theme. Judging decisions are final.

Payment Information:

Payment can be made by credit card (Visa or Mastercard) using forms available on our website at: http://www.yorku.ca/arm/creditcard.html

Please fax form to 416-736-5766 or email to arm@yorku.ca.

Alternately you can send your forms and payment by cheque or money order to our offices at

ARM/Demeter Press

Rm 726 Atkinson, York University

4700 Keele St.

Toronto, ON M3J 1P3.

**Entry form and payment must accompany all submissions.

Association for Research on Mothering (ARM)
Demeter Press
726 Atkinson, York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON,
Canada, M3J 1P3
416-736-2100 x60366 (fax) 416-736-5766
arm@yorku.ca
www.yorku.ca/arm