Mayborn Conference for Nonfiction Writers

Hi readers and writers,
I just got on the mailing list for an interesting conference on nonfiction writing.  One of the organizers sent this handy summary so I thought I'd post it here for those looking for a good conference this summer.  Cheers, Laura

George Getschow

Got an essay or book manuscript gathering dust in your dresser drawer? Are you looking to find a publisher? Then come to the nationally-acclaimed Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. Now in its eighth year, the Mayborn Conference will explore the myriad ways in which storytellers crisscross the murky terrain between fiction, nonfiction and other genres. Speakers include Luis Alberto Urrea, a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist who has been published extensively in all genres, including poetry; Richard Rhodes, the Pulitizer Prize-winning author and editor of 26 works of fiction, history, biography and memoir; Isabel Wilkerson, the first black woman in the history of American journalism to win a Pulitzer Prize; Debby Applegate, a Pulitzer Prize winning biographer; Tom Junod, Writer-At-Large for Esquire; Jeanne Marie Laskas, a bestselling nonfiction author and journalist whose narratives in GQ, Esquire and other magazines capture the voice of her subjects more adroitly than a ventriloquist; Alisa Valdes, a former staff writer for the Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times, who has become a bestselling novelist; Mark Sundeen, one of America’s most innovative writers of literary nonfiction, and many more nationally acclaimed storytellers.

The conference, held July 20-22 (Friday through Sunday) in Grapevine, TX, sponsors a national writing competition that awards $15,000 in cash prizes and publication in its award winning literary journal, “Ten Spurs,” for the best essays and reported narratives submitted to the conference. It also offers major cash awards for the three best book manuscripts submitted to the conference. The top book manuscript selected by jurists earns a publishing contract.

Deadline for submitting your book manuscripts, reported narratives and essays is June 18. Twenty people are selected for the manuscript workshops and 50 people are selected for the essay and reported narrative workshops. All workshops are conducted on Thursday, July 19, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. before the offical start of the conference on Friday.

For more information and to register, go to: http://journalism.unt.edu/maybornconference

Small Writing vs. Big Writing

Hi readers and writers,

I need to work on a biography that is almost finished and a novel that is about 1/3 done, the latter being a requirement for my MFA program, due by next May in its entirety.  So why is it that my mind skips away to rewriting a travel essay so I can submit it to a contest, polishing up a story about a CO who worked in an insane asylum during WW II to submit to another contest, reformatting a third story to submit for a June 1 deadline?  These contests are fine, but they're just putting off what I really need to do.

Write these books.  Concentrate.  I put my tailbone to the chair and I open the computer and then, my mind plays hooky.  I am getting tired of it, but still, day after day, I don't get down to the jobs I really need to do.

Anyone out there faced this problem and found some great solutions you'd like to share?  I bet I'm not the only one who procrastinates by "pretending" to write, working on the non-urgent jobs and avoiding the important ones.  How can I point my errant brain to what I need it to work on?  My problem is, any time I get too logical, I can no longer write (or I go into science-writing-style, using passive, chronological, logical, simplified, direct, no dialog, no "i").  But this situation is very stressful.  I'd love to get some good, constructive suggestions!

cheers,
Laura