Time for some more shameless promotion of the latest edition of NSSWM. I guess I'm making a habit of posting interview excerpts on Monday. Here's a bit from Sigrid Nunez: 

Looking back on your experiences writing and publishing five successful novels, what is the lesson you've learned with respect to craft that you most wish you could travel back in time and tell your pre-Feather self in order to save her anxiety and/or grief? What bit of publishing knowledge would you share with her?

To begin with publishing knowledge, I think many writers believe that if they could just get that first book sold, all their problems would be solved. The truth is, only one problem would be solved, and a great many others would arise. If you're going to survive as a writer, you need a lot of patience in order to deal with the inevitable frustrations and disappointments of being published. Few writers I know have not been dismayed to learn they have almost no say in how their book will be produced, presented to the world, and marketed.

With regard to craft, I wish I'd learned earlier to be braver and more ruthless about cutting or abandoning drafts. Just because you spent hours or weeks, or perhaps even longer, revising and polishing something doesn't mean in the end it will be any good. It may still have to be discarded, and you have to learn to see this not as failure, or as wasted time, but rather as part of the process. Writing well is something you have to learn, and as with most human endeavors, much of what is essential can be learned best by doing it wrong first.

Check out the book for the full interview by Lauren Mosko. Nunez talks about the inspiration for some of her books, blending fact and fiction in her stories, the disclosure of self in writing, teaching, and the usefulness of fellowships and conferences.

If there's a specific topic you'd like to see addressed, shoot me an email at nsswm AT fwpubs DOT com.

Fish Publishing is the place to go if you write short crime fiction, but especially if you write historical crime. They sponsor several contests over the summer, with the winners receiving cash and publication in an anthology. They have the Micro-Fiction Showcase (deadline Aug 31),  Fish-Knife Award (deadline Sept 30), Short Histories III (deadline Sept 30), Criminally-Short Short Histories (deadline Sept 30), and the 14th Fish International Short Story Prize (deadline Nov 30). All of these contests are online submissions only, with story lengths and prizes of varying size.

Book clubs. Love 'em or hate 'em, they're been around for decades and look to stay that way. F&W sponsors several book clubs as do other publishers of fiction and nonfiction. In fact, usually it's publishing companies that sponsor a book club.

Here is another excerpt from the 2008 NSSWM. This time it’s Rochelle Krich, author of the Molly Blume and Jessie Drake mysteries, interviewed by yours truly.

You are an active member of Sisters in Crime and several other organizations. How has that helped you as a writer? Would you recommend new writers get involved in similar organizations?

I’ll answer the last part of your question first: Absolutely!

I’m the national Sisters in Crime president, but twenty years ago, when a parent of one of my students suggested that I attend a Sisters in Crime meeting, I’d never heard of the organization. I attended a meeting, became a member and found myself part of group that offered me advice, networking opportunities, and most importantly, long-lasting friendships. Through Sisters in Crime I learned how to set up book signings and do PR, and I joined a critique group that provided me with valuable feedback and taught me to relax my defenses and learn how to accept constructive criticism. I’m also a member of Mystery Writers of America (I served on the national board) and the American Crime Writers League. Writing is a solitary occupation. Belonging to these organizations, all of which have newsletters and on-line listservs where members can exchange ideas and concerns, makes me feel that I’m part of a close knit, supportive community.

Go to the book to read of the rest of the article where Krich discusses how to incorporate a specific culture into the story, the benefits and difficulties of writing series verses stand alone novels, and the relationship between theme and plot.

Oh, and I highly recommend Krich’s books if you like mysteries with low sex and gore quotas.

Here are a few venues and contests you may not know about.

1. Horror. Pseudopod is a horror podcast magazine. They post a new story every week, and the stories and readers are pretty good. Ben Phillips is the editor. They will take horror stories of 2000-6000 words, but they prefer 3000-5000 words. They also take flash fiction, with a preferred length of 500-1000 words. They pay $50 for the short stories and $20 for flash fiction. Oh, and they accept previously published material.

2. Fantasy. Launching this month, PodCastle is an audio ezine run by editors Rachel Swirsky & Ann Leckie. They’re asking for fantasy stories of 1000-6000 and will pay $20-100. The editors will have their performers read your story if it’s accepted. It’s a sister site to Pseudopod, so PodCastle is likely to turn out quality material. PodCastle prefers to work with previously published material.

3. Contest. Cream City Review sponsors the A. David Schwartz Fiction Prize. This year's judge is Michael Martone. The deadline for this year's contest is December 1. Prize is $1,000 plus publication. Entries should be less than 30 pages and there is a $15 entry fee.

4. Contest. Dzanc Books is sponsoring the “Inaugural Dzanc Prize – a monetary award to a writer with both a work in progress, and an interest in performing some form of literary community service.” Winner receives $5,000 and no requirement to submit their finished work to Dzanc. To submit, send your current cv, a ten page excerpt from your work in progress and your idea for literary community service. Deadline is November 1st. The winner will be announced in December.

Walking down my street this morning on the way to my car, I saw a neighbor's little blue Toyota with the best bumper sticker I've seen in a while:

I found a new little online magazine called On the Premises. Their set-up is a little different. On the Premises refers to itself as a contest-based magazine. Every four months they have a contest where writers are asked to pen a short story based on the premise the editors give them. Then the editors judge the stories blindly, and winners receive a cash prize and publication in the magazine. The only way into the magazine is through the contest, but the different part is that there's no entry fee.

As is the nature of things, another good thing has come to an end. A few weeks ago I found the online magazine Darker Matter, which focuses on speculative fiction. I contacted editor Ben Coppin to get details and permission to list Darker Matter in NSSWM. A few days after I got Darker Matter into our mammoth database, I got an email from Ben letting me know that he has decided to stop publishing Darker Matter after only 5 issues. I'm saddened that he has decided to close shop, but the website will remain up for a while, and there are some good stories there. I particularly enjoyed Sponsored By..., by Hank Quense.