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Join NOW!Men will not protect you anymore. At Jezebel, Madeleine Davies advises that “now is a time for fury and force.” Mark Binelli looks into life on the border town of Nogales for Guernica. Here at The Rumpus, Matthew Clair writes about how we must do more than simply gaze upon suffering; actions speak louder than images.
...moreMeryl Williams was going to publish her roller derby memoir in 2016. Then she moved. Then she decided to move again. Some other things happened too. In a new essay for The Billfold, Williams walks us through her one step forward, two steps back journey towards (not) getting published (yet). She is good at showing the silver lining […]
...moreWhen you’re a freelance writer — or any type of freelancer — you make yourself a lot of promises, mostly about getting out of the house and about wearing real, non-pajama clothing. But with no one to hold you accountable, these promises often go unfulfilled. For The Billfold, Allegra Ringo walks us through a routine of (not) writing many of […]
...moreSettling the debate about whether “writer” is job that arose with Merritt Tierce’s Marie Claire essay about going broke post-debut novel, and a response piece by Ester Bloom at The Billfold calling writing a hobby, Lincoln Michel finds a middle ground between the two stances, arguing at Electric Literature that yes, writing should be considered a job—and the […]
...moreAt The Billfold, Christine Sneed gets real about the long, hard path to finding success writing books—even after being published—and why she wouldn’t have chosen a different career path regardless: I can’t imagine not being a writer. Maybe this seems a failure of imagination. I know that if I needed a steadier and better income, […]
...moreKatey Schultz published her debut collection of stories, Flashes of War, through a university press. Lacking the support of a major publishing house meant Schultz ended up self-financing her book tour. To get started, she spent $12,000 on a publicist, tour manager, and airfare—about forty-percent of her yearly income—she tells The Billfold. But she knew if […]
...moreWith writers, it’s usually neither rags to riches nor riches to rags. Marx had Engels, Austen had her family. Read this and rest assured: some cool people lived with their parents. Austen didn’t start out rich and she never got rich by writing excellent and even popular fiction, not by a long shot. She remained […]
...moreDoes everything happen for a reason? That’s the question writer Laura Leigh Abby had to ask herself after a car accident allowed her to graduate with an MFA degree loan-free: For most of my life I’ve been doing things without worrying too much about the consequences. Going to grad school was one of those things. When […]
...moreThe second installment of Nicole Dieker’s series on life as a full-time freelance writer is up at The Billfold, and this time she’s talking about pitching essays (and getting paid for them). The post includes useful tips on how to pitch, where to pitch, and what happens once you’ve sent a pitch out to an editor.
...moreFor those of us who have our hearts set on becoming professors, a Ph.D. is a necessary step toward landing a coveted tenure-track position. But if we aren’t planning to spend our lives at the blackboard, is a doctoral degree worth its hefty price tag? If you’re currently toiling away at your dissertation, you might want […]
...moreOver at The Billfold, writer Nicole Dieker kicks off a new series on all aspects of life as a full-time freelancer. In her first installment, she covers the four different types of paid assignments and how her personal writing projects fit with her professional obligations. Now that I’ve got the defensive posturing aside: well, sure. […]
...moreWho started the rumor that every university teacher should be called “professor”? The Billfold is here to refute the misconception with a list of cold facts on the labor practices of adjuncts vs. tenured professors, and how those distinctions define who should be called “professor.” Karen Gregory, a PhD candidate, and other adjuncts teaching within […]
...moreFor a website about money and personal finances, The Billfold publishes some really heartfelt stories. This one, by Sarah Todd, is about the “just been slimed in my heart” feeling of realizing your passport has expired the day before you leave on an international trip. Todd relates what it’s like waiting in line—and sharing McDonald’s […]
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