NWU-Boston August Update

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“Write what should not be forgotten.” —Isabel Allende

CONTENTS OF THE AUGUST ISSUE

Writers' Night OUT! - Monday, August 19

Writers' Night IN! - Monday, August 26

NWU-Boston Members' Meeting - Thursday,

September 12

All Members Are Invited to ExComm Meetings

Grants Available to Low-Income Writers

Calling All Book Authors! Tune-In Wednesdays

Kudos

Upcoming Events

Spread Your News on the Update and Our Website!

WRITERS' NIGHT OUT

MONDAY, AUGUST 19 @ 6:00 P.M.

730 TAVERN, CENTRAL SQUARE, CAMBRIDGE

Summer is winding down slowly like it always does, so why don’t you come to Writers Night Out in Central Square to hang out with members and friends of the National Writers Union? We can talk about places we’ve traveled or will travel, and we can also share stories about the writing life, have a cold drink, and maybe even sit outside, and enjoy the end of the summer. Please contact Shannon O’Connor to RSVP.

WRITERS' NIGHT IN (ON ZOOM)

MONDAY, AUGUST 26 @ 5:30-6:30 P.M.

To National Writers Union Members and Friends:

Apologies to those who tried to join Writers' Night In last month but were unable to do so because of technical difficulties. The IT guy responsible for the glitch (yours truly) apologizes sincerely and promises to buy you an ice cream cone next time I see you in real life.

Meanwhile, we're on for the 26th at 5:30. Now that the the smoke has cleared from an "interesting" Olympics competition, I'm curious to hear what folks thought about it. The incredible Simone Biles. The ubiquitous Snoop Dogg, squiring Martha Stewart. The preposterously, hilariously awful Australian break dancer. And so on...

Hope to see you there.

RSVP to Charles Coe for the ZOOM link.

NWU-BOSTON MEMBERS' MEETING

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 @ 7 P.M. ON ZOOM

The Boston Chapter is having a Members' Meeting, for the members of our chapter to get together and share ideas on Zoom.

Olivia Schwob will be our guest speaker. She will talk about the Freelance Solidarity Project (FSP), which is the Digital Media Division of the NWU. The FSP was started to help writers and other freelances get paid for their work. Olivia is the first Vice President of the national NWU.

If you are interested in attending, please email webmaster Barbara Mende to request an invitation.

ALL MEMBERS ARE INVITED TO EXCOMM MEETINGS

THIRD THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH

The National Executive Committee invites us all to attend our union’s Executive Committee meetings, which are held monthly on the third Thursday from 5-6:30 p.m. EST. The ExComm is developing a formal process for members to submit agenda items for consideration at Executive Committee meetings — for now, you can email Recording Secretary Jonathan Rosenblum if you have something you’d like to discuss at an upcoming meeting.

CALLING ALL BOOK AUTHORS! TUNE-IN WEDNESDAYS

FIRST WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH

Royalty, Compensation, and Distribution Issues for Book Authors

Join a discussion about the most pressing issues for book authors today. Share your experience and knowledge, and advance your career, in this virtual event hosted by Book Division Chair Dan McCrory and NY Member Timothy Sheard. Planned topics for the next several sessions are listed here.

To REGISTER for the Zoom program, email chair Dan McCrory.

Charles Coe's fifth volume of poetry, Charles Coe: New and Selected Works has just been released by Leapfrog Press.

JOHN HODGE was interviewed by Willie Wideman-Pleasants about his books and views. The interview was aired in May, 2024, for Community TV by the Boston Neighborhood Network. It is now available on YouTube here.

JOHN McDAID performed featured concerts at the North American Science Fiction Convention in Buffalo (in person) and the World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow (virtual).

Please send any news of a publication, award, or writing-related appearance that has already happened to editor Barbara Mende. (A piece on your own blog or website doesn't qualify.) Send 50 words or less, plus your name and a link to the publication, event, or website where readers can find more info about you or the happening. Don't send notices of work that will be published in the future. Do send news of future events, but see the "Upcoming Events" block for that.

National ExComm Meetings - Third Thursday of Every Month (see above)

Open Mic (Virtual from NYC) Second Thursday of Every Month

Tune-In Wednesdays - First Wednesday of Every Month (see above)

Narrative Calls for Submissions

New England Book Festivals

Boston Book Festival - Saturday, October 26

Narrative Fiction Workshop 11/7-10

Poets & Writers Literary Events Calendar

Romancing New England: Events for Local Romance Authors and Readers

Writers' Conferences: 60 Events Worth Attending

Second Saturdays - Wising Up Zoom Discussion Groups

Authors Guild Conferences and Seminars

GrubStreet Workshops

New England Science Fiction Association

New England Science Writers Events

Authors Publish workshops

Writers' Conferences

Tips and Tools for Writers to Advance Their Careers

Writing Contests (curated by the Authors Guild)

More Writing Contests

SEND US NEWS OF YOUR UPCOMING READINGS, BOOK LAUNCHES, OR OTHER PUBLIC APPEARANCES. WE'LL TRY TO HELP YOU RAISE A (VIRTUAL OR IN-PERSON) CROWD.

USE THE UPDATE AND OUR WEBSITE TO SPREAD YOUR NEWS

Are you speaking or reading from your work in the near future? Do you want to publicize an event that writers would be interested in zooming in to? Can you provide a service, such as editing or indexing or publicity, for your fellow union members? Do you just want to introduce yourself to the NWU membership?

Our Boston Chapter website, which you can reach at

nwu.org/chapters/boston/ or www.nwuboston.org , is here for you to use. Not only that, but if you send us an announcement of a specific event by the second Monday of each month, we'll try to include it in these updates.

Please send us news of any upcoming events that you'd like us to publicize, along with Zoom links or PDF posters if you have them. If you'd like to promote your services, plug your latest book, tell us about something writing-related that happened to you, or post anything else you can think of, we'll try to give it a place on the website.

And we'd love to hear from you if you'd like to contribute to these updates. Do you have information or a viewpoint on some phase of writing or publishing that you'd like to pass along? Do you have tips that you'd like to share with your fellow writers? Send them in! And don't forget, if you've published something or participated in an event or made an appearance, we'll post it under Kudos.

Send all your news for the Update and website to your webmaster.

Chair: Shannon O'Connor

Editor and Webmaster: Barbara Mende