DuEwaWorld News! by DuEwa Frazier

So during my Maryland/DC excursion this past weekend, I had to step inside of a few local bookstores.   The geek that I am wouldn't allow me to pass up a chance to browse through books, some new, some used, all valuable of course.  I first stopped into Busboys & Poets located at 14th and V. St. in DC. I wasn't in the mood to sit down and have a drink. I went straight for the poetry section. There I found books that I've never actually seen because my nose has been in my MFA books for the last 2 years. While in the poetry section, flipping through the glorious pages of several books of poetry I made a list of the books I planned to purchase and read : Femme du Monde: Poems by Patricia Spears Jones , Life on Mars: Poems by Tracy K. Smith, The new black by Evie Shockley, Totem by Gregory Pardlo, Blood Dazzler by Patricia Smith and many others. Some of the books I picked up were signed by the author, others weren't. I found myself feeling like a book groupie. I

Word count matters when it comes to having your writing published.   With the exception of poetry, if your preparing to submit to an agent or editor they'll want to know what your proposed or actual word count is.  As you're writing it's good to keep this in mind.  Knowing that you may have to revise your work many times over anyway, don't assume that because you've written a 500-page novel with a gazillion words that none of it will be cut.  This doesn't mean that some books aren't the exception to the rule (ie. Harry Potter ).  But if your novel or memoir doesn't call for all of those extra words, it's best to revise and save all of your various versions. Writing forever into infinity with no goal in mind can put you in a precarious position when it comes to submitting your work.  If you don't take the time to edit your work down to meet the acceptable word count range, it could be more work for an agent or editor who would rather consider

Book Expo America (BEA) opens today in New York City at the Javits Center.   Among the many featured authors, publishing professionals, panels and exhibits is the ABA's Day of Education, BEA YA Author Buzz, Speed Dating with Children's Authors, Tea with Children's Authors and Children's Book and Author Breafast.  Featured children's/YA authors include Walter Dean Myers and son Christopher Myers, Sarah Dessen, Jerry Pinkney, R.L. Stine, Brian Selznick and more. Check out the schedule of children's book programming here.

Audrey is a teen who writes YA book reviews for Write4Kids ! and for her own blog Audrey Reads and Reviews.  I've come across a few of Audrey's tips for YA writers over the last several months.  Check out Audrey's new tip for writers: No Perfect Characters, Please!  

Barnes & Noble will release the new Nook Simple Touch Reader, priced at $139 on June 10th.  The reasonably priced Nook competes with the Amazon.com Kindle Reader of the same price.  Read more about the Nook Simple Touch Reader.

New children's picture book Go the --- to Sleep by Adam Mansbach is titled with a phrase that parents may think but not say, when trying to put a child to bed.  The book has such a cute cover - sleeping boy cozy on top of sleeping tigers.  Check out review and New York Times article "Raising Children Is Heck." 

Here is an excerpt of an article I'm mentioned in via The Network Journal (TNJ.com).   Making It Online Kweli Joins the Ranks of Web Publications By: CLARENCE V. REYNOLDS Wednesday, April 20, 2011 Business For better or worse, the Internet in the 21st century has certainly changed the ways we access information, be it academic, journalistic or literary; challenging the merit of content and offering a place for creative prose to flourish at the same time. The closings of bookstores nationwide along with the decline of print publications — particularly those with an artistic focus and a specific audience in mind — continue to leave readers, writers and publishers wondering about the future of hardcover books and outlets for literary works in general. Although low circulation, loss of advertising dollars, and even concern for the environment have led to rethinking strategies within the publishing market, the Internet has been the impetus behind the emergence of

My journey as a full time graduate student in the MFA in Creative Writing degree program at The New School in NYC, has come to an end.    I'm a graduate!! So many people asked me, "DuEwa, why another Master's degree - you already have one?" and "Why an MFA, you're already a writer."  I felt the need to immerse myself in the writing life in a different way.  I wanted to study the craft and expand my knowledge in ways that I hadn't before.  I wanted to be linked to serious writers and learn from esteemed professors who have published or at least have taught writing for many years.  Did I expand my knowledge? Yes.  Did I study and link up with writers I did not previously know?  Yes.  Was the journey difficult at times?  Of course.  Am I glad I applied to the program, went through it and finished?  TOTALLY!!!   A mentor once said to me, "Anything worth having is worth struggling for."  And I did.  I was lucky to have already been publish