Hi ladies! An author friend of mine, Shannon Jackson Arnold, just sent me this announcement from a friend of hers. (Are you following this?) I immediately thought of all my BWS writer friends. I bet several of you already have pieces of writing that match what Harriet is looking for here. Just wanted to pass along the tip.

--Prill


From: Harriet Brown <hnbrown@tds.net>
Date: February 14, 2005 12:37:25 AM CST
Subject: Call for submissions

Dear friends (and friends of friends),

Have you--or any women you know--ever been involved with a Mr. Wrong? Ever written about it, or been tempted to? I'm in the initial stages of pulling together an anthology about Mr. Wrong, and I'm looking for essays, works of creative nonfiction, short fiction, and possibly poems on the subject. An agent has expressed interest in representing the collection; now we just need the right pieces to take it to publishers.

The trick is to come at the subject in a way that's fresh. I'm looking for a few good pieces with a strong sense of voice. You can write funny, write tragic, write wise with a soupcon of despair. Flipness encouraged, as are humor, self-knowledge, and a sense of the absurd. Irony and revenge fantasies acceptable.

Write about one particular relationship, or a pattern of them. Maybe you met a bad boy who turned into a good boy, a James Dean who settled down. Maybe you married Mr. Right but still dream about a Mr. Wrong. Or maybe you married Mr. Wrong and lived to rue the day--or at least have a good story to dine out on. Maybe you've watched a friend, or a daughter, go through her own rite of passage with a Mr. Wrong.

Please pass this message along to other women writers. No particular deadline--once I get two or three strong pieces we'll submit the proposal to publishers. Obviously the sooner the better.

Yours,

--Harriet Brown
Madison, Wisconsin
hnbrown@tds.net