The PEN USA Emerging Voices Fellowship was a big step forward in my career as a writer. I was one of five Fellows selected for the 2011 program, which is a year-long and consisted of 16 separate Author Evenings, one-on-one mentor with an established author, a vocal coach, master class workshops, five public readings (including one at The Hammer museum) and a $1,000 stipend. The cumulative effect of these components has made me a better writer and reader of my own work, not to mentioned that the fellowship gave me a wide and deep introduction to literary community, so much so that I'm a part of this wonderful literary world now.
I highly recommend any emerging writer (who doesn't have an MFA) apply. Applications are available here: http://penusa.org/node/245.
You can read an excerpt of my novel that I worked on during the Fellowship in the anthology Best Lesbian Romance 2011 http://www.amazon.com/Best-Lesbian-Romance-2011-Radclyffe/dp/1573444278/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1293398132&sr=1-1
~Jamie Schaffner
2011 PEN Emerging Voices Fellow
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:
If you're considering applying for the PEN USA Fellowship and have any questions feel free to contact me. The NEA says it's the only one of its in kind in nation, so definitely take advantage of this opportunity! p.s. It's open to writers of fiction, non-fiction and POETS!
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