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This year’s New York City conference will be held at the
Sheraton Times Square Hotel
811 7th Avenue at West 53rd Street, New York City.

I owe so much of my full-time freelance writing career to ASJA

Conference Schedule • Friday, May 18 • Members-Only Day

Conference Schedule • Saturday, May 19 • Open to the Public

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

CONFERENCE TRACK CHAIRS

• Aimee Ross
Aimee Ross is the author of Permanent Marker: A Memoir (KiCam Projects, March 2018). She worked as a Regional Educator in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for ten years. In addition, she is a nationally award-winning educator who has been a high school English teacher for the past twenty-five years. @AimeeRoss
• Daniel Jones
Daniel Jones has edited the Modern Love column in the Sunday Styles section of the New York Times since its inception in 2004. His books include “Love Illuminated,” two essay anthologies—“Modern Love” and “The Bastard on the Couch”—and the novel “After Lucy,” which was a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Award. Jones appears weekly on the Modern Love Podcast, which had 20 million downloads in its first year. Jones has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, CBS This Morning, ABC News, CNN and NPR. His writing can also be found in The Times, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar and elsewhere. @DanielJones
• Katherine Reynolds Lewis
Katherine Reynolds Lewis is an award-winning independent journalist, author and speaker. Her book, The Good News About Bad Behavior (PublicAffairs, April 2018), grew out of her school discipline story for Mother Jones that became the magazine’s most-read piece. Katherine contributes to The Atlantic, Fortune, Washington Post and more.

TRACK CHAIRS

The conference theme is based on the three tracks:

Navigate (Beginner). Motivate (Intermediate). Captivate (Advanced).

• Carolyn Crist
Beginning Track Manager and Detailed Overseer @CarolynCrist

• Nancy Dunham
Mid-Career Track Manager and Volunteer Coordinator. @NancyDunham

• Dorri Olds
Advanced Track Chair and Social Media Maven @DorriOlds

Stay tuned for more info about #ASJA2018! Hope to see you there!

The post What to Expect at #ASJA2018 Writers Conference • May 18–19, 2018 • New York City appeared first on Award-Winning Writer and Graphic Designer.

Facebook suggested I friend him. I guess our social networks overlapped. I guided the mouse toward his photo, and the little pointed hand hovered over his face. Fear and anger swelled up but curiosity won out and I clicked “Add Friend.” He accepted within minutes. Stunned, I wondered if he had forgotten raping me, or if he thought I had.

At 13, I was a lonely upper-middle-class Jewish nerd living on Long Island, in search of a tougher persona. He was part of an edgy crowd that hung out in a parking lot behind the school, sprawling over the cement steps like bored cats on a sofa. It was 1973, and the boys wore black leather jackets, smoked Marlboros and stashed pints of Tango and Thunderbird in their back pockets. One afternoon, making sure my long brown hair covered the blemish on my cheek, I went over and said, “Hi.”

That was really all it took. A few offered nods. One of the girls asked if I wanted to come out with them that night to the cemetery.

“Isn’t that spooky?” I whispered.

She laughed. Her voice had a ring of confidence mine never did, so I went, wearing — against Mom’s orders — a shimmery, low-cut shirt. As dusk fell we ambled past the wrought-iron gates, onto the lawn. The guys set down brown bags with bottles. I reached for the pint of Bacardi. Sweet rum burned my throat. With my eyes closed I was Keith Richards chugging onstage at Madison Square Garden.

“Wow, you can really drink,” he said.

I nodded with fake nonchalance, as if this were my forte instead of my first time. Two other girls wandered off with their boyfriends to make out, leaving me standing alone, feeling like a loser. I grinned in relief when one of the boys waved “c’mere,” as if to confide something. But then the boy grabbed me, clamped his hand over my mouth and threw me on the ground, shoving a knee into my hipbone. At first I thought it was a joke. Then four other guys surrounded me. I realized this had been planned.

With the other boys holding me down, he slammed on top of me.

“Is that how you like it?” he said. His breath stank of cigarettes and beer.

Another boy said, “She may have an ugly face, man, but she has a really nice body.”

I’m not sure which was sadder, that I believed my face was ugly or that I was flattered he liked my body. I tried to scream, but it came out muffled. They laughed. I gagged. They took turns. Then it was over. I pulled myself up, retrieved my pink Hanes and almost fell over getting my foot through the leg hole. I leaned against a tree for balance and tugged up my jeans, and then I started screaming.

One of them said: “Oh, man, this chick is nuts. Let’s go.” And they did.

With a child’s logic, I figured the boys thought I wasn’t a virgin because of my sexy shirt. Too ashamed to confide in my parents or older sisters, I tried to tell a teacher after class one day. I stood by her desk shifting my weight from one foot to the other. But I was afraid of being shunned at school if I reported it, so all I said was “See you tomorrow.”

From those early teen years until my mid-20s, I let boyfriends come and go like subway cars, certain that they would trick and humiliate me. If they liked me too much it scared me away. Loneliness plagued me. When I saw happy couples I wondered, How do they do that? I drank heavily, hoping to forget what had happened. But I couldn’t forget.

Thirty-eight years later, I browsed through the Facebook friends of the boy who was the first to rape me, noticing names I remembered from high school. In his recent photos were snapshots of a boy with his nose and a pretty teenage girl with long silky hair parted in the middle. He gripped a beer while his belly drooped over his jeans. I found some older photos of his wedding, him with a pretty young bride.

The first time I talked about the rape I was 26 and in a therapist’s office. “I can help you,” she said, but it wasn’t a quick fix. I was in my 40s when I met Steve. He had a troubled past too, so we fit. When I buried my face in his hair, the smell, the closeness, made me feel safe. It still does.

Now I clicked back to my rapist’s wall for a link to his wife’s profile and sent her a friend request. I decided that my revenge would be to blow up his marriage. I planned what I’d tell her if she confirmed my request. A montage of memories flooded my head until I felt so queasy I had to lie down.

But when I looked at my computer again, I saw she’d written on my wall. She posted a sideways smiley face and complimented the photos of my dog. How could I tell her? She’d done nothing to me. My rage belonged to her husband.

So I went back to his profile page and typed a private message: “I hope that night has haunted you. I was naïve and a virgin. I see you have a teenage daughter now. Better keep her safe from guys like you.”

I wanted to hate him and hurt him but realized that the only way to be free was to let it all go. When I defriended him I felt strong. The past was the past, and my mouth wasn’t covered anymore.

The post Defriending My Rapist: personal essay in THE NEW YORK TIMES! appeared first on Award-Winning Writer and Graphic Designer.

Electric volts shoot off her five-ten frame. Her face looks spotlighted against black hair and blacker clothes and her laugh is infectious — wait, she’d cross that out and write, “Cliche.” Let’s try again — her laugh is sexy with a hint of raspy ex-smoker.

There is life before meeting Shapiro, and life afterwards in Shapiroville.

Before Susan Shapiro

I’d published four short stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul books and an essay in a Long Island regional paper.

Life in Shapiroville

My personal essay was published in The New York Times, Dr. Drew saw it. He called and had me as a guest on his show. Three editors asked me to write follow up pieces. A few more editors paid me to reprint it. And now it is required reading in a course at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY. I received hundreds of comments, emails and phone calls. It felt like my entire hometown contacted me. And best of all, young girls reached out to me for help.

Here I am reading the essay to Dr. Jan Yager‘s class:

Here’s what happened after the essay was published in The New York Times:

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE DR. DREW TV INTERVIEW

Here I answer the question that I am asked the most:
“Why didn’t you tell your mother, father, or two older sisters?”

And, as if all of that isn’t enough, under Shapiro’s tutelage I won the New York Press creative non-fiction award for my essay about suicide, “9 Lives for a Weeble.” I’ve written frequently for The Jewish Daily Forward (forward.com), The Fix (thefix.com), and many more publications. I am now hard at work on my memoir.

Writers and Wannabe Writers

Visit Susan Shapiro’s website: susanshapiro.net. Buy her books. Take her class.

The post Want To Be a Successful Writer? Two Magic Words: SUSAN SHAPIRO appeared first on Award-Winning Writer and Graphic Designer.

Facebook suggested I friend him. I guess our social networks overlapped. I guided the mouse toward his photo, and the little pointed hand hovered over his face. Fear and anger swelled up but curiosity won out and I clicked “Add Friend.” He accepted within minutes. Stunned, I wondered if he had forgotten raping me, or if he thought I had.

At 13, I was a lonely upper-middle-class Jewish nerd living on Long Island, in search of a tougher persona. He was part of an edgy crowd that hung out in a parking lot behind the school, sprawling over the cement steps like bored cats on a sofa. It was 1973, and the boys wore black leather jackets, smoked Marlboros and stashed pints of Tango and Thunderbird in their back pockets. One afternoon, making sure my long brown hair covered the blemish on my cheek, I went over and said, “Hi.”

That was really all it took. A few offered nods. One of the girls asked if I wanted to come out with them that night to the cemetery.

Read more

The post My New York Times Essay ‘Defriending My Rapist’ is a Required Reading at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY appeared first on Award-Winning Writer and Graphic Designer.

I just finished editing My ASJA Conference Notes! Now they are legible enough to share with you in a Google Doc. This Google Doc contains my “scribblings” from the panels that I attended at this year’s #ASJA writers conference. I also added a few post-conference bits. Please note, these were written for myself but it would take me too long to go in and delete all of my side comments (Like, “Hahaha” or “Weeeee!”) so those were left in. Please feel free to ignore those side commentaries. I promise you there is a ton of useful info for all writers in this doc.

This year, I spoke on two panels, which I’ve done for many years. One panel was “Use Social Media to Land Writing Gigs and Make Money” and here’s a link to my social media handout.

My second panel was “Secrets of Interviewing Famous People.”

For any writer who doesn’t already know, ASJA is the American Society of Journalists and Authors. It is a non-profit organization for writers to network with each other and with editors, publishers, agents. This org has been incredibly helpful to me and is a big chunk of what helped me become a full-time freelance writer.

The other great boost to my writing career came after I’d published a few short stories and a couple of articles. I decided to get serious about full-time writing and took Susan Shapiro’s “Instant Gratification Takes Too Long” essay classes. The idea is to write and sell a piece during the class to pay for the class. She’s a phenomenal teacher and I love to tell people about her.

Speakers quoted in my notes include:

Susan Shapiro, author and professor

Daniel Jones, Modern Love editor, NYTimes

Honor Jones, Opinionator editor, NYTimes (no relation to Daniel)

Rob Spillman, editor at Tin House literary magazine

and many more…

Laura Shin, Catherine Dold, Linda Konner, John Hanc, Susan Lennon, Beena Kamlani, Kirby Kim, Renee Zuckerbrot, Victoria Moy, Katia Bachko, Whitney Frick, Molly Langmuir, David Lidsky, Jessica Winter, Royal Young, Kate Walter, Gabrielle Selz, Kevin Scott Hall, Sharon Goldman, Alicianne Rand, Clare McDermott, Laura Lorber, Allison Mezzafonte, Jack El-Hai, Tina Traster, Laurie Chittenden, Tracy Bernstein, Shaun Dolan, Kathleen Napolitano, Sherri Amatenstein

Tutorials

Please contact me if you’d like to learn social media tips and tricks that can land you writing gigs and sell your books. I give classes in person or via Skype or telephone. If you email me with the subject line #ASJA2010 or #BEA15 and let me know that you are contacting me to set up a lesson, I will give you the discounted price of $80 per hour. My normal fee is $100/hour.

We will discuss your specific business goals and who your target audience is. Then I will provide you with instruction tailored to your unique needs.

In addition to social media, I teach branding, marketing and SEO (search engine optimization).

Click here for my Google Doc of ASJA Conference Notes

The post Notes from #ASJA2015 Annual Conference for Writers appeared first on Award-Winning Writer and Graphic Designer.

Here’s my review:

“I expect to take version 7.0 of the iPad, place it under my butt and have it take me like a hovercraft
to work,” said Times media journalist David Carr in the new movie PAGE ONE.

Carr’s world—25 years of in-depth reporting—got by fine without tweets, blogs and Wikileaks.

PAGE ONE begins with archaic-looking conveyor belts chugging along. The camera pans back to workers on beaten-up motorized carts that strain to lift stacks of newspapers and load them onto wheezing trucks readying for their morning deliveries. The whining and creaking of old equipment sadly conveys a dying industry.

Carr is typing a story by punching keys and looking obsessed. With a voice more gravelly than Tom Waits, he said to the camera, “News is not dying. The medium is not the message, and the message is not the medium.” He’s referring to the opposite sentiment made famous by writer Marshall McLuhan in his 1964 book, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man.

Carr’s young coworker, Brian Stelter, is shown at his Times desk surrounded by electronics—a CPU with large monitor, a laptop, an iPad, and some type of video-phone-with-keyboard gadget. In stark juxtaposition, he is speaking into a Times office old-fashioned phone with spiral cord.

Stelter is in the enviable spot of having grown up in the world of social media and he embodies his generation. “I don’t know why anyone who is a reporter isn’t on Twitter,” said Stelter. Here’s a guy born in 1985, who started a news blog in 2004 called Newser. Mediabistro.com took notice and quickly hired him to keep on writing it. The Times, realizing they needed a voice for the future, recruited him in 2007.

“I can’t get over the feeling that Brian Stelter was a robot created to destroy me.” Carr said.

Carr rants about how rude it is to text during a conversation. He doesn’t “get” how close-to-impossible it is to ignore incoming texts and refrain from texting back. That is the norm now. He is, however, smart enough to know that the world of technology waits for no one and those that don’t keep up will become obsolete. When Carr is asked if he’s scared of the Times going under, he sneered, “I’ve been a single parent on welfare, this is nothing.”

Andrew Rossi, director of PAGE ONE said Carr is, “the kind of character a documentary filmmaker dreams of finding.”

“At the tender age of 31,” Carr said, “I still had a year left of being the violent, drug-snorting thug, before I found my way to this guy—the one with the family and a job at The New York Times.” Carr is a former crack addict and author of the memoir, Night of the Gun. He is also known as a hard-working, fair-minded journalist on staff at the Times since 2002.

Andrew Rossi and Kate Novack gained access to film The New York Times newsroom for one year, providing an unprecedented keyhole view into this iconic American institution.

In our world of sound bites and 140-character attention spans, is there still a place for in-depth reporting? PAGE ONE attempts to answer that question.

This review by Dorri Olds appears in the June 2011 issue of the NY Resident magazine.

The post I Completely Disagree with the NY Times Review appeared first on Award-Winning Writer and Graphic Designer.