MCWW News and Literary Triumphs

Author and MCWW client Margaret Willson wins the silver medal in the 2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards for Dance Lest We All Fall Down!

Ashley’s short story “Or Best Offer” wins Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train’s 2008 Fiction Open

Ashley’s short piece on Minnesota Hotdish will appear in the February 2009 issue of Relish.

 

 

 

 

                      MCWW News

 

MCWW Literary Triumphs

A Dozen Invisible Pieces and Other Confessions of Motherhood by Kimmelin Hull

 

Ashley had the good fortune to work with talented writer Kimmelin Hull when she was putting together her memoir of motherhood (three children under the age of four!), A Dozen Invisible Pieces. Over the course of a few months, Ashley  edited Kimmelin’s manuscript and they worked

Dance Lest We All Fall Down by Margaret Willson

 

While working for Penguin, Ashley acquired and edited an anthology titled Fat: The Anthropology of an Obsession. The author of one of the most

engaging pieces in the book came to Ashley with a book project she was working on, about having started a nonprofit for underprivileged girls in Brazil’s Bahia state. At that time, Ashley was un-

Able to acquire the book for Penguin. A couple years later, when Ashley had left Penguin to work

on her second book and to freelance edit, the author, Margaret Willson, came to her with the book, determined to finish it and get it published. Ashley gave the manuscript a comprehensive edit (twice!) Very soon after editing was completed, Margaret published her book. It is a remarkable story of a remarkable woman (though she’d never say this of herself) who has made an enormous difference to girls who would otherwise not have had an opportunity to escape the grip of poverty in Brazil. Her organization, Bahia Street, is thriving, and her book is doing well. Far more than just a story about how a nonprofit was born, Dance Lest We All Fall Down takes readers into the very heart of Bahia. You will come to love the people you meet in this book, the vibrant culture of Salvador, Bahia, and Margaret’s wry humor.

 

closely together to identify and remedy structural issues and other areas of the manuscript that needed attention. The result is this wonderful book, published by Cold Tree Press. In it, Kimmelin Hull becomes an instant friend on the page. Her candor about her own experience as a mother raising three children under the age of four; her feelings about motherhood, about giving up a career to stay at home, then starting up a new business; about the joys (and occasional indignities) of being a mom; societal expectations of and assumptions about women; marital and mental health issues; and more all combine to create a great read, which provokes lots of laughs along the way.

As an editor at Penguin, Ashley Shelby acquired and edited numerous books, many by first-time authors. As a freelance editor and teacher, she has had the privilege of working with and editing several writers who came to her with hopes of publication, and who saw those hopes realized very soon after having their work edited. As time goes on, we hope to add more MCWW-affiliated authors to this list. Maybe you’ll be next! (This page is under construction—more books to be added!)

 

The books discussed can be ordered directly from Amazon by clicking on the book jacket.

Opportunities for Writers

Updated Weekly

 

American Literary Review Literary Awards

 

Three prizes of  $1,000 each and publication in the American Literary Review are given annually for winning works, which will appear in the Fall 2009 issue. Submit up to three poems, a short story up to 8000 words or  an essay/memoir fragment up to 6500 words, along with a $15 entry fee by September 1st. Complete guidelines are available on the ALR website: http://www.engl.unt.edu/alr/contests.html.

 

Carolina Wren Press Doris Bakwin Award

 

A prize of $2,000 and publication by Carolina Wren Press is given biennially for a collection of short stories, a novel, or a memoir by a woman. Jeanne M. Leiby will judge. Submit two copies of a manuscript of 150 to 500 pages with a $20 entry fee by December 1. Send an SASE, e-mail, or visit the Web site for complete guidelines.

 

 

The Girl Least Likely Anthology

 

From the listing:

 

I'm working on putting together an anthology of essays entitled "The Girl Least Likely..." These will all center around a general theme of woman who have stumbled into motherhood after working in academia, as artists or writers, or in the corporate world. We look for writers that aren't ashamed to breast feed in public, who are homeschooling, or found themselves as teen moms who came ahead.

 

700-3,000 words, queries welcome [and encouraged!]

 

Director’s Note: When authors are putting anthologies together, they are very often doing so without a publishing contract in hand. Therefore, they typically cannot pay for accepted submissions until they find an interested publishers. This is a legitimate approach to publishing anthologies, but it is something the author should keep in mind. If your piece is accepted, always ask the anthology editor how much you can expect to be paid or what percentage of the advance and/or royalty rates.

Invention Analysis and Claiming: A Patent Lawyer’s Guide by Ronald D. Slusky

Renowned patent lawyer Ronald D. Slusky came to Ashley with a proposal for a book on invention analysis and claiming, designed especially for patent lawyers. After Ashley  helped to shape, order, and edit the proposal, Ron sold his book to the American Bar Association publishers.  It was published in 2007 and continues to sell briskly.