If the child in your life loves to write or if you'd like her/him to gain more confidence in writing, come visit with authors and professional writers Judy Burnett Schneider and Mary Patouillet. The WRITE NOW Writing Camp Founders & Directors will be hosting a Meet & Greet session at Borders in the Shops at Northway on McKnight Road. They'll be there on Saturday, May 10, from noon until 2:00 PM answering questions and displaying some of the work students have completed during their intensive, fun-filled week at WRITE NOW Writing Camp.

Camp registrants will receive a prize, so come one, come all!

WRITE NOW Writing Camp will be held during the week of June 16-20, 2008 in the music section of the North Hills Borders. It is open to students entering grades 5-8. One returning camper's mom said her daughter "loved the camp and used the material she learned there throughout her sixth grade year."

Can't make it to the Meet & Greet? Email Judy at judy@fatplum.com for more information.

We're looking forward to catching up with our past campers and meeting future students, too!

For example, as of his writing, you can bid on a proposal to be read by agent Jeff Herman. The current bid is $16. Agent Meredith Bernstein is offering to evaluate a proposal with a 24-48 hour response time. That bid is currently at $330.

Check it out and let us know if you bid and/or win!

As you may have gathered, it's my tertiary involvement with the book that keeps my envy from turning into something ugly. Because I've always wanted to write a weekly humor column. Have I ever tried to secure my dream job? Well, no. But I now recognize the wisdom of my inertia. Because my life is just not as funny as Tracy's.

Tracy was a hip, cool New York city girl until having a baby forced her into the suburbs of New Jersey. As she explains, "It's just one of those things that happens, like taxes and varicose veins." Her essays highlight her foibles and survival strategies adjusting to the double-whammy of motherhood and suburban life. There's cellulite on her thighs and ducks in the pool. Near-brawls in the school-supply aisle and raised eyebrows over her spiky-short haircut. Even vacationing in the Magic Kingdom turns maniacal.

Even if my life were as humorous as Tracy's, I doubt I could convey it with the wit and sarcasm that are her trademarks. My only hope is that she'll publish another book. So if you won't buy it for your own enjoyment, please, pick up a copy so I can continue to live my dream vicariously. You can buy it through any bookseller or at www.RebelWithout AMinivan.com

Westmoreland Arts & Heritage Festival Poetry and Short Story Contest closes March 15. Poetry entry fee is $10 for up to 2 poems. Short Story entry fee is $10 for one story 4,000 words or less. Awards are $200.

Story Quarterly's Love Story Contest closes March 31. Entries can be short stories, novel excerpts, essays, memoirs and book-length nonfiction excerpts, no longer than 8,000 words. There is a $20 fee First Prize is $2,500. "The subject is love in any and all of its varieties and incarnations — familial, filial, romantic, platonic, the love of place, nature, animals, possessions, beauty, or truth, love that is intellectual, erotic, patriotic, real or imagined, fulfilled or denied, tragic or comedic. Tell us the truth about love!"

Good luck!

Friday February 8th at 7pm is the next UPWords at the Union Project featuring writers Lori Jakiela and Stacey Waite. Join us for an intimate evening of free entertainment. UPWords is a monthly reading series generally occurring the  2nd Friday of each month. Union Project is located at 801 N. Negley Ave., on the corner of Stanton Ave. and Negley Ave. For more information please visit www.unionproject.org, email hilary@unionproject.org or call 412-363-4550 x 26.
 
Lori Jakiela is the author of a memoir, Miss New York Has Everything (Warner 2006), and a poetry collection, The Regulars (Liquid Paper Press 2001). Her second memoir, Call Your Mother, is forthcoming. Jakiela's essays and poems have appeared in literary journals, newspapers, and anthologies in the U.S. and the U.K., including The Chicago Tribune, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 5 AM, Tears in the Fence, River Styx, Nerve Cowboy, and elsewhere. Jakiela is an Associate Professor of English at The University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg.
 
Winner of the 2004 Frank O'Hara Prize for Poetry for her first chapbook entitled Choke. Stacey Waite teaches writing and gender studies courses at the University of Pittsburgh. Her poems have appeared most recently in Poet Lore, Nimrod, 5AM, West Branch, Chiron Review and Pearl.

You can read an excerpt of Wish on the site and submit a review of it and any other excerpts you read. The reviews you write will contribute to the decision of which books reach the finals on March 3rd. The winning novelist will receive a publishing contract with Penguin.

Congrats to Beth on making the cut — we believe in Wish and think it will go far!

My first novel, Kamal Ascending, will be released by Frog Books, Mumbai by the end of this month.

Kamal Ascending is the story of a Kashmiri girl who wants to become a meaningful painter. After graduation and an acclaimed art show, she marries Satyavan and has two children. To fulfill his ambition, Satyavan decides to immigrate to America. Coming to a foreign land and taking care of her family, Kamal loses touch with her artistic self. She must discover her way back to artistic and spiritual awareness or she will fade into nothingness.

We're so proud of Madhu. She has been working on this first novel for many years, and in our Boot Camps and weekend critiques we've seen her revise it tirelessly, to strengthen the characters and hone the story.

In addition to being a writer, Madhu is an accomplished artist. The painting on the cover of the book is one she created.

Congratulations, Madhu!

On January 11th from 7pm-9pm, Union Project will host their monthly reader/writer series UPWords. The evening will highlight esteemed fiction author Sherrie Flick and acclaimed poet Nancy Krygowski. UPwords, hosted and coordinated by fiction writer Damian Dressick, will be held in the Union Project's Atrium and is free to the public. The Union Project located at 801 N. Negley Ave. is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing community space to connect, create, and celebrate.

Damian teaches creative writing and literature at Robert Morris University, he is also the 2007 winner of Harriette Arnow Award for short fiction.

Sherrie Flick is an award- winning fiction writer whose work has been included in two anthologies from Norton: New Sudden Fiction and Flash Fiction Forward.

Nancy Krygowski is a poet and an adult literacy instructor; her first book of poems Velocity won the 2006 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize from the University of Pittsburgh Press.

Sherrie Flick and Nancy Krygowski are both Assistant Artistic Directors, and co-founders of the Gist Street Reading Series.

UPWords is a free monthly reader writer series that is held at the Union Project the second Friday of every month. More information about the Union Project, and upcoming events can be found at www.unionproject.org.

Both Sherrie and Nancy are friends of mine, but even if they weren't I'd recommend this reading: Their writing is excellent, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Are you searching for a group of fellow writers who would seriously read and critique your work? Why not join Brown Bag Critique Group? Its facilitators are searching for writers just like you.

BBCG meets on the second Wednesday of each month from 10:00-1:00 in Wexford. A lunch follows the meeting. (You bring your own lunch.)

The only criteria for joining the group is that you should have a
completed work. It could be at any stage of writing: from a first rough draft to a manuscript almost ready for publication. Your work shows that you are committed to your writing and have spent time on it.

By surrounding yourself with professional writers you'll feel encouraged not only to write daily but to keep writing when doubt and fear hinder your creative process.

The writers of BBCG have experience in journalism, teaching, and academic and fiction writing. They help one another in improving flow of language, editing and research.

For details email Madhu B Wangu at: m.wangu@comcast.net