As a freelancer, my work is rarely submitted for awards, much less wins one. However…
From the press release: The International Labor Communications Association (ILCA) today announced its … labor communications contest winners. Annually, the organization hosts what is now the largest competition exclusively for labor journalists and communicators. Thousands of entries that tell the story of the global labor movement are judged by experts in the field across the industry.
The awards are open to all ILCA members and organizations and are given in two different classes: national/international unions, federations, councils, and allied organizations; and local/regional/state federations, central/area labor councils, and allied organizations. ILCA award categories are in general excellence, visual communications, best multimedia campaign, writing, electronic media, best use of earned media, political action, and organizing.
In the writing category, I received second place under “news analysis” for an examination of how the explosive growth in union membership still lags behind in union density. Even as nearly 140,000 people joined unions in 2023, only about 10 percent of the U.S. workforce is represented by a union. In the 1950s, it was about one-third of the workforce.
It was quite a surprise and a great honor to be recognized for the work I’ve been doing with the St. Louis Labor Tribune. I am very grateful for the paper’s support and to the ILCA. Funny enough, tonight I have a union meeting…
Holy late newsletters, Batman! Remember when I told you folks that I was a tad overcommitted for the fall? I wasn’t kidding. I ended up with nine classes at three universities for the fall, and that’s at least three to four more classes than any sane person should try to teach and four to five more than a full-time professor would teach.
Thus I am now deeply embroiled in 12-14-hour days, seven days a week, spinning plates to keep up all my classes and do right by my students. I’m also still freelancing, running my volunteer programs and doing fiction in the wee hours, though they’ve kind of taken a back seat to this glut of work. I’m hopeful that next spring, I’ll be able to achieve a bit more equilibrium.
Also, buy stock in coffee.
Publicity/Appearances
The big event was Dragoncon, which was a blast and chronicled on the Patreon. The most popular cosplays were Beetlejuice and Deadpool/Wolverine, but there were still plenty of Barbies, a startling number of Indiana Jones and even Olympics cosplay, which I found hysterical. The nonchalant shooting Olympian was the most popular among those, and kudos to the guy who used a banana instead of a fake gun.
(The Jedi Musketeers)
My panels included “Igniting the Horror Muse,” where horror authors reveal how we get in the right mindset to scare you pantsless; an urban-fantasy panel on vampire fun; “The Adventure Begins,” a writing craft panel on developing ideas and getting started; “101 Fascinating Ways to Kill Off a Character” (no idea how I ended up on that one… *halo*); another horror panel, this time focused on craft; a panel on writing from myths and legends; and of course a reading and a signing. The reading was unintentionally hilarious as I had about five people and then in the last five minutes, this huge legion of people came in. No, they were not there to hear the end of “Azrael“; I was apparently the warmup act for John Scalzi. Dangit.
Coming up: We have still been unable to snag a hotel room for Archon. A dozen attempts and pleas to the management and the convention have been unsuccessful. (We know there is construction going on, there’s no blame, to be clear. According to the hotel management, the room block sold out in two hours.) We will be there and the Literary Underworld will have our usual booth, so drop by there if you’d like to see us. Alas, no room party with the Traveling Bar unless a miracle happens.
Also pending: The Society of Professional Journalists Boot Camp, where I’ll be presenting on the SPJ Code of Ethics. That’ll happen on Sept. 21, and it’s always a highlight of the year for St. Louis SPJ.
Added to the schedule: I’ll be speaking at The Bewitching Hours in Granite City, Ill. on Oct. 12, hosted by the Friends of Six-Mile Library. I’ll be doing a short reading and Q&A along with a handful of other spooooky authors, and we’ll all have our books for sale. Now I have to think of something to read that is safe for all ages… something about bunnies and unicorns…
(Now am I mystery, mayhem or mischief? Don’t answer that.)
Also note that Contra in Kansas City has changed weekends and hotels. This actually makes it slightly more convenient for me, as I have a lot going on in early November. Follow their Facebook page for further details.
As you can see, bookings for 2025 are starting to fill. I am open to speaking engagements and conventions, but I book well in advance, so if you want me to come speak, contact kyates@donaldmedia.com.
2024 calendar: • SPJ Boot Camp, Edwardsville, Ill. Sept. 21 • Archon, Collinsville, Ill. Oct. 4-6 • The Mill, Granite City, Ill. Oct. 12 • ContraKC, Kansas City, Mo. Oct. 25-27
2025 calendar: • Conflation, St. Louis, Mo. Feb. 21-23 • Midsouthcon, Memphis, Tenn. March 21-23 • AWP Los Angeles, March 26-30 (tent.) • ConCarolinas, Charlotte, N.C. May 30-June 1 (tent.) • Imaginarium, Louisville, Ky. July 18-20
Journalism
Note that after this month, this section may get thinner while I’m in the teaching marathon.
Dreadmire is live and roaming the earth! Click the image to buy the book, and if you’re interested in a free sample from my dark romp through the swamp, click here!
The ebook for Dreadmire was a freebie for paid Patreon subscribers, and I recently found that some folks didn’t get their ebook. All Patreon subscribers should have received a message from me, but just in case: if you are a Patreon subscriber and didn’t get your ebook, message me ASAP and I’ll get it to you.
I also have a limited supply of the 2024 St. Louis Writers Guild Member Anthology and the December edition of parABnormal Magazine, both of which have pieces by me, so snag them while you can!
• “Run Rabbit Run,” a short story on Patreon • “Azrael,” a short story on Patreon
I will have something else to announce shortly, but until it’s confirmed, mum’s the word. #vaguenewslettering #isthataword #itisnow #hashtagsoutofcontrol
Patreon/Medium
Did you know that Patreon subscribers not only get at least one free ebook a year, but you get a 10 percent discount from me and The Literary Underworld? For the latter, that applies to all books, not just mine! For a dollar a month, you really can’t beat it. Just be sure to remind us at the booth as we do not have the subscriber list memorized. If you’re not a subscriber, the base level is $1 a month! You should totally join.
• Recovering Journalist (Medium) • Bookworm (Medium) • Labor Day (Patreon) • Review: You Like It Darker by Stephen King (Patreon) • Reading: Adults only, and only what we say (Patreon) • The second shift (Patreon) • Dragoncon Day 1 (Patreon) • Dragoncon Day 2 (Patreon) • Dragoncon Day 3 (Patreon) • Draggin-con Day 4 (Patreon)
Note: Patreon entries are indexed going back to its launch in 2018. I wanted new Patrons to be able to easily find the work that they’ve missed, and hopefully seeing how much work is on the Patreon might encourage some good folks to subscribe. (Hint, hint.) Seriously, subscriptions start at $1 a month, and I truly believe some of the best work I’ve ever done is on the Patreon. Check out the index here.
Photography
This month’s photography was mostly cosplay at Dragoncon! It was quite a challenge to catch people with a cell phone camera while driving a scooter, as chronicled on Patreon.
Almost all of the images in the galleries are available for purchase, so if you see something you like that isn’t in the store, email kyates@donaldmedia.com and we’ll get you a quote. A few might not be available for purchase due to copyright issues.
That’s it for this month! Tune in next time, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.
With the spring conferences done and the summer tour looming, it’s been kind of quiet here in the Tower. I’ve enjoyed this uncharacteristic spell of Not Traveling, being able to settle in and bake things and write things and… cough my lungs out?
Stupid bronchitis. This is why we can’t have nice things.
Fortunately that’s over with, though my singing voice is still a bit more Froggy the Gremlin than I care for. Summer has begun here in sunny Illinois, with the song of cicadas and the mugginess of a swamp. It could just be that I have swamps on the brain, as the anniversary release of Dreadmire will take place on June 18. Check the Fiction section below for more details, but if you planned to pre-order a signed copy, do so this week! I really love the cover and my book designer, Kody Boye, did such a fantastic job on this special edition. I hope you like it as much as I do! You’ll never look at mosquitoes the same way again…
Meanwhile, I am happy to report that my Relay for Life team has exceeded our goal of raising $3,000 for the American Cancer Society. Our local Relay celebration will take place this coming weekend, and we are looking forward to celebrating another year of birthdays for our cancer survivors. Click here if you would like to donate to my campaign. Together we can beat the Beast.
Publicity/Appearances Unfortunately I had to cancel my appearance on May 9 to discuss the evils of A.I. in news and publishing, thanks to the bronchitis. Rest assured that when I’m not sick, I will happily rant away about how A.I. is threatening democracy and the ability of writers to make a living.
Coming up this month is a return to the Collinsville Public Library, which is always one of my favorite locations. When I was a young reporter working for the Belleville News-Democrat, the Collinsville Library was just up the street a few blocks from my newsroom. There were many lunch breaks I spent in its quiet, cool lower level writing penny dreadfuls, and indeed some of my early novels were begun in that library. Thus it’s always a pleasant nostalgia to participate in their author and artist fairs. I’ll also be speaking to the National Federation of Professional Women this month, discussing opportunities and pitfalls in publishing.
I am hopeful to be able to set up an event or two in late June, as I will be traveling to Georgia and back and what is travel for if not to sell books? The details are still being worked out, so keep an eye on my Facebook and website. Meanwhile, I’m chagrined to find that the Edwardsville Book Festival, Archon, and AuthorCon St. Louis are all happening the same bloody weekend in October! I have not yet managed to perfect cloning myself, so we’ll see how that sorts itself out.
2024 calendar: • Collinsville Author and Artist Fair, Collinsville, Ill. June 15 • National Federation of Professional Women, St. Louis, Mo. June 20-22 • CAFE at Spine Books, St. Louis, Mo. July 7 • TechWrite STL, St. Louis, Mo. July 10 • St. Louis Writers Guild, St. Louis, Mo. July 13 • Imaginarium, Louisville, Ky. July 19-21 • Plethora of Pens, Glen Carbon Public Library, Aug. 5 • Dragoncon, Atlanta, Ga. Sept. 5-9 • Archon, Collinsville, Ill. Oct. 4-6
Journalism I was happy to add new client Hearst Corp. to my roster this month with my first byline in the Edwardsville Intelligencer, which is kind of funny since I’ve been living in and covering Edwardsville for nearly a quarter century. This means I officially do some level of work for all three major news chains in our area: Hearst, Lee, and McClatchy. One more and I get bingo!
Fiction A reminder that preorders are about to close for the re-release of Dreadmire in its 15th anniversary edition! Read here to find out more.And if you’re interested in a free sample from my dark romp through the swamp, click here!
I also have received a limited supply of the 2024 St. Louis Writers Guild Member Anthology and the December edition of parABnormal Magazine, both of which have pieces by me, so snag them while you can!
Patreon/Medium • Nevermore (Medium) • Words that lead us into mystery (Medium) • Review: The First Omen (Patreon) • Review: The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Adichie (Patreon) • Poem: Once I was a girl (Patreon) • Panic, caffeine and spite (Patreon)
Note: Patreon entries are indexed going back to its launch in 2018. I wanted new Patrons to be able to easily find the work that they’ve missed, and hopefully seeing how much work is on the Patreon might encourage some good folks to subscribe. (Hint, hint.) Seriously, subscriptions start at $1 a month, and I truly believe some of the best work I’ve ever done is on the Patreon. Check out the index here.
Photography As has been the last few months, most of my shoots have been on assignment for my freelance clients. But I do occasionally get to go see pretty things…
• Sculpture roll: Laumeier Sculpture Park (Patreon)
Almost all of the images in the galleries are available for purchase, so if you see something you like that isn’t in the store, email kyates@donaldmedia.com and we’ll get you a quote. A few might not be available for purchase due to copyright issues.
Photograph of the Month
This is Loretta Williams, a reenactor portraying labor leader Mother Jones at the annual Mother Jones Festival in Mt. Olive, Ill. The original Mother Jones insisted on celebrating her birthday on May Day (the original Labor Day) rather than August when she was actually born, and requested to be buried in Mt. Olive next to the miners who were killed in the Virden Massacre after the mine owners retaliated against their strike. Mother Jones was a fascinating person, and I was delighted to write a historical feature about her that will appear in the coming weeks.
In the late 2000s, I wrote a media tie-in novel titled Dreadmire. It was a dark fantasy adventure tied to a d20 RPG published by Spellbinder Games, sourcebook by Randy Richards. The medievalesque high fantasy Randy created was inspired by the ecology and culture of the Louisiana bayous, and I found it a fascinating setting. I was hired to write a novel set in the world, a mixture of Randy’s creatures and my own machinations. It was a delightful romp in the swamp, and I was very pleased with its release. When it went out of print, Inkstained Succubus Productions picked it up for a re-release and it had a good run until Inkstained sadly went out of business.
From time to time I’d get questions about Dreadmire, and I always had to tell them their only hope was the used bookstores. However, as Dreadmire approaches its 15th anniversary, Randy and I have figured out the contracts and Dreadmire will be released once again on an unsuspecting public.
More about this in the fiction section below, and there’s plenty more going on this month! I did some hard-news work on election coverage (and there will probably be more coming), got my first public-radio byline, did a deeper-dive in the growing epidemic of suicide among construction workers, and more! Read on…
Publicity/Appearances
This month was both AWP and Conflation, which thankfully had a week between them so I had a chance of catching my breath. AWP was an absolute delight, which I narrated daily in the Patreon, so check the links below for specifics. I didn’t do much in the way of photography in Kansas City, as I’ve hit that city several times to date, but mmm barbecue.
Conflation closed out the month, which is always like a big family reunion for me. I love the relaxacons, which allow me to sell books out of my room and close the door for a nap when I need it. I taught a writing workshop based on using images, which comes from some of my MFA work and the workshop I taught last year, and I’m continuing to refine it for con requests.
Coming up this month is Midsouthcon! It was the first convention I attended as a pro, if I remember correctly, and the one I haunted as an undergrad lo these many eons ago in Memphis. We are deep in our mischief-plotting for our return to the weird Escher hotel where MSC will be hosted; the last time we were in the Hotel of Many Ramps was 2009, which doesn’t seem like it was that long ago. If you’re going to be in the area, please come by!
2024 calendar: • Midsouthcon, Memphis, Tenn. March 22-24 (guest author) • Sigma Tau Delta conference, St. Louis, Mo. April 3-6 (attending) • SPJ regional conference, St. Louis, Mo. April 13 (speaker/coordinator) • National Federation of Professional Women, St. Louis,Mo. June 2022 (speaker) • TechWrite STL, St. Louis, Mo. July 10 (speaker) • Imaginarium, Louisville, Ky. July 19-21 (guest author) • Dragoncon, Atlanta, Ga. Sept. 5-9 (guest author) • Edwardsville Book Festival, Edwardsville, Ill. Oct. 12 (tent.) • Archon, Collinsville, Ill. Oct. 4-6 (guest author)
Note: Not all articles are available online, and some may be behind paywalls.
Blogs
With the new year, I started two new blog features. Each week (more or less) I have posted on DonaldMedia.com a roundup of Show Your Work: updates in the journalism world and a rundown on what was total garbage on the internet this week. Like you, I am tired of seeing rampant misinformation mindlessly reposted on social media without the simple Google search that would show it’s completely false. I also have begun posting BookNotes on ElizabethDonald.com that not only updates on the latest kerfuffle in the publishing and speculative fiction universes, but follows the ongoing issue of book banning and censorship in the U.S.
This proved to be more work than I could reasonably keep up with given the rate of freelance work I’m getting and also had to be canceled on weeks when I travel. I am considering shifting them to Substack on a biweekly schedule, but that requires more research. As always, whatever I write is offered to Patreon subscribers for free, because they’re already paying for my work. (Which is why you should totally subscribe.) I intend to keep this up, as I believe both of these topics need attention, but the format might shift as we go forward.
Dreadmire is leading the news this month! If you want a taste of my dark swamp (ew), you can read the prologue here for free. The image posted above is the preliminary cover; it may see some tweaking between now and the release, which I hope will be soon. Book publishing moves faster when it’s already been edited extensively by the staff of two (2) publishers, but it still takes some time.
Also out this month: the St. Louis Writers Guild 2024 anthology includes a short piece by me titled “Not.” I’m honored to be included in this anthology for the first time, and with a piece of literary fiction, which is a departure from my usual ghosties and beasties. You can preorder a dead-tree version here, or get it for Kindle here.
Patreon/Medium
• Pearl-clutching at the restroom door (Medium, Patreon) • Review: Life Signs by James Lovegrove (Patreon) • Your obituary, brought to you by robots (Patreon) • AWP: Onward (Patreon) • AWP: Success is making words (Patreon) • AWP: The poetical political (Patreon) • AWP: The long walk (Patreon) • Review: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Patreon)
Note: All Patreon entries are indexed going back to its launch in 2018. I wanted new Patrons to be able to easily find the work that they’ve missed, and hopefully seeing how much work is on the Patreon might encourage some good folks to subscribe. (Hint, hint.) Seriously, subscriptions start at $1 a month, and I truly believe some of the best work I’ve ever done is on the Patreon. Check out the index here.
Photography
My shoots this month were pretty much work-related: union protests, lots of food shoots, a few pieces of future blackmail evidence from Conflation, some spot news photography, and KITTIES. Yes, I got to shoot a cat cafe for Feast Magazine, and it should be published sometime soon. I got to hang around adorable kittycats and eat espresso cookies for my job. Sometimes this gig rocks.
Almost all of the images in the galleries are available for purchase, so if you see something you like that isn’t in the store, email kyates@donaldmedia.com and we’ll get you a quote. A few might not be available for purchase due to copyright issues.
Let me start with the big one: my screenplay for “Infinity” was finalist at the Imadjinn film festival, complete with a nifty little trophy for my office. This was the first screenplay I ever wrote, as part of a workshop at the university under Professor Valerie Vogrin, and I was so pleased at its warm reception.
It’s August, which means travel and fun is winding down in favor of preparing for the fall semester. I’m teaching at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville this fall. The semester starts in two weeks, so if your professor friends seem mopey and distracted (well, more distracted than usual), have sympathy on them. Bring them coffee and sugary treats. Soon, it will be the running of the bulls, and resuming our recitation of “it’s in the syllabus.”
July 27 was Freedom Day, the five-year anniversary of becoming a full-time freelance writer. Of course, those five years were also grad school, but I’ve always loved being my own boss and I’ve deeply enjoyed writing the projects I choose. Each year I’ve written a reflection on Freedom Day, and this year I didn’t, because so much of my career is in flux right now. But we still marked the occasion with ice cream, as my family chooses to celebrate. No regrets.
Publicity/Appearances
July was busy! First, I spoke to TechWrite STL on the thrilling subject of grammar. Look, you can make almost any subject interesting with enough snark and memes. By the audience response, they found it a fun exercise and we managed to cover the major pitfalls of the English language without resorting to diagramming sentences.
Next was Imaginarium, where I was honored to share a dinner table with Terry Brooks and had a terrific time catching up with my fellow authors. The Literary Underworld was there in force, and so was the Traveling Bar (always the highlight of the event for us).
I also joined my fellow members of Cuppa Words at the Alton Night Market on July 20, which saw the collapsing end of my poor traveling table. It was also the Mississippi Valley’s version of OMG are you kidding why do I live here hot. As I have frequently complained as the summers get hotter: If I wanted Tennessee weather, I would have stayed in Tennessee.
Next up is Dragoncon! It’s been a long time since I joined 75,000 of my closest friends in the Hotlanta marathon. I’m delighted to return and am looking forward to my panels and catching up with the Atlanta crew. My full schedule will be posted on ElizabethDonald.com as soon as I have everything confirmed. If you’re going to be at Dragoncon, please come by my reading! I’d love to see you.
Sadly, I have had to cancel my appearance at Archon this year. I haven’t missed an Archon since 2007, and that only because my father and stepmother were holding their wedding celebration that weekend. But this year, Archon conflicts with the Society of Professional Journalists’ annual conference. I am still president of the St. Louis Pro chapter, and thus am obligated to attend. I’ve offered to participate in any virtual panels at Archon, should any take place. I have also had to cancel the Edwardsville Book Fair, as I will be running the St. Andrew’s charity book sale during that weekend.
However, please note that the Literary Underworld WILL be present at Archon! The show can go on without me. My husband Jim Gillentine will be running our booth at our usual table, with the assistance of LitUnd Underlords Sela Carsen, Nikki Lanahan, Mary Koppenhofer and others. Please drop by and say hello! Sadly, we will not be able to offer the Traveling Bar, but we promise to come back in a big way next year!
Added to the fall schedule: the Spine Book Fair in September; a book signing in Las Vegas during the SPJ conference; the Melting Pot in Granite City, Ill. on Oct. 7 and Writers of the Riverbend on Oct. 14. And that’s in addition to the previously scheduled stuff! Whew.
2023 calendar: • Dragoncon, Atlanta, Ga. Aug. 31-Sept. 4 • Edwardsville Book Fair, Sept. 9 (charity sale only) • Spine Book Fair, St. Louis, Mo. Sept. 23 • SPJ Conference, Las Vegas. Sept. 28-Oct. 1 (presenter/book signing) • Archon, Collinsville, Ill. Sept. 21-Oct. 1 (LitUnd only) • The Melting Pot, Granite City, Ill. Oct. 7 • Writers of the Riverbend, Alton, Ill. Oct. 14 • Leclaire Parkfest, Edwardsville, Ill. Oct. 15 (charity sale only) • ContraKC, Kansas City, Nov. 10-12 (solo and LitUnd)
2024 calendar: • Association of Writers and Writing Programs, Kansas City, Mo. Feb. 7-10 • Conflation, St. Louis, Mo. Feb. 23-25 • Midsouthcon, Memphis, Tenn. March 22-24 (tent.) • Sigma Tau Delta conference, St. Louis, Mo. April 3-6 (tent.) • ConCarolinas, Charlotte, N.C. May 31-June 2 (tent.)
• The original guilty pleasure (Medium) • Review: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Patreon) • The whispering woods (Patreon) • Everything wrong with The Flash and comics movies (Patreon) • Runner-up (Patreon) • Wearing the pants in my own damn life, or the IDGAF jeans (Medium)
Note: Recently I indexed all the entries I’ve posted on the Patreon going back to its launch in 2018. I wanted new Patrons to be able to easily find the work that they’ve missed, and hopefully seeing how much work is on the Patreon might encourage some good folks to subscribe. (Hint, hint.) Seriously, subscriptions start at $1 a month, and I truly believe some of the best work I’ve ever done is on the Patreon. Check out the index here.
Once again Medium is changing things, and I’m trying to parse out what it means for those of us earning a (paltry) living on Medium.
Some time ago, Medium declared that one could only be part of the Medium Partner Program (i.e. writers who get paid by the click as opposed to providing content for exposure!) if you had a minimum of 100 followers. I was definitely under that number and figured it would be impossible to get that total by the deadline. I was absolutely floored when the followers poured in and I went sailing past the limit within hours. I still get a little verklempt when I think of that response, coming as it did at a time when I really needed the affirmation more than the tiny check I get from Medium each month.
Now Medium is changing the program again, and one of the things getting kicked to the curb is the 100-follower minimum. Please don’t unfollow me! Instead, anyone who wants to be part of MPP has to be a paying member of Medium.
To be honest, I thought we already were required to pay the $50 minimum. For some that’s going to be tough, as Medium isn’t exactly cheap. But I don’t necessarily object, since I’m already doing it. Note that existing MPP writers will be grandfathered in, but I wouldn’t expect that to last forever.
They’re also expanding to 12 more countries with another 50 or so by the end of the year. People in those countries could always publish with Medium, but now they can get paid, and you all know how I feel about writers being paid for their work. I’ve never had enough readership on Medium to make serious money, but I appreciate the platform and its simplicity.
However, I’m leery of the next part: they’re once again changing the formula on which we get paid. It’s supposed to be how much time members spend reading our stuff, which I always felt unfairly stiffs poets and others who write very short works, and doesn’t take into account the incredibly short attention span of the average internet reader. (Here’s where that media studies MS comes out to play.) The average time a reader spends on a click is three seconds. Seriously, if you don’t catch them in the first three seconds, you’re out of luck.
Well, Medium’s going to keep tracking reader engagement when calculating our earnings, but now they’re also going to factor in other engagement: claps, highlights, replies, and follows. For now it’s only the first engagement that gets counted, but if you want to help out the writer of the awesome piece you’re reading, give ’em a clap (you know what I mean, cretins) or otherwise engage beyond simply taking your time reading, so they get paid more. “Bouncing from a story before reading it for 30 seconds will prevent earnings from accruing for that member,” the policy reads. Thanks?
Stories that get boosted will get a bonus. I don’t actually know how someone gets boosted, but obviously I need to pay more attention to the various options on Medium. And they’re discouraging clickbait by adjusting earnings based on read ratio, defining the latter as people who read the story for 30 seconds or more. Now go back up to that MS theory bit. Thirty seconds is a very long read for the internet. Medium claims they’ve tested this on the poems and comics and it hasn’t impacted them, which I find staggeringly unlikely.
Other aspects of the algorithm: we’ll get boosts for readers who comment (which means commenting on the story itself, not on the Facebook share!), readers who are existing followers of the writer or publication, and so on.
They’re also getting rid of the referral bonus, pretending this program “degraded the reading experience.” Look, Medium, we get you’re a business. You can just say it was costing you more than it was worth and we’ll respect that more than pretending this is about the “reading experience.” We’re in business together, as professionals, so be straight with us.
Whenever this sort of thing happens, I pretty much figure I’m going to get paid less. It’s also why I have not adjusted any of the settings on my Patreon, as I’d have to give up my grandfathered “founders” program and would undoubtedly lose money. The last Medium adjustment was right after I started writing for Medium, so I didn’t have a long history to gauge it, but I definitely saw a drop in my earnings. But I still find it a useful platform for my essays, which might range from musings on journalism and the writing life to interviews with smarter people to utter silliness like the piece I’ve got slated for next week on fast food. While I always prefer people to subscribe to the Patreon, Medium lets people read me without committing to the $1 a month Patreon fee.
So, in short (too late): Follow the writers you like, spend at least 30 seconds on their stories, and clap or otherwise engage with the piece.
The Summer of Job Hunting has definitely been a challenge to my patience and stress management, on a number of levels. But that isn’t to say I’ve been sitting around my living room breathing into a paper bag, either!
June kicked off with the long-awaited Paris trip, which was an amazing experience happily shared with my mom, stepdad, and sister. Patreon readers got a daily travelogue of my adventures in Paris, and a full travel essay on Notre Dame is pending. Check out the links below for more details! (What, you’re not a Patreon subscriber? My dudes, it starts at $1 a month and I really feel it’s some of my best work. Make with the clicky and join today!)
In the meantime, I received the incredible news that I’m one of five finalists for the Knost Award. The Michael Knost Wings Award is granted to a writer who is either a new, up-and-coming voice or someone who’s been around for a while and hasn’t gotten the recognition they deserve. I can only assume I’m in the latter category, because 20 years is a long time to be up-and-coming. (What’s the old saying? It takes 20 years to become an overnight sensation?) I was uncharacteristically speechless at the nomination, and very grateful to the committee for considering me – and I’m in fine company, as well.
To add to the fun, my first screenplay made the finalist list for the Imaginarium Film Festival’s screenplay competition. This screenplay, titled “Infinity,” is based on a novella I wrote several years ago and was developed in workshop during my final semester of grad school under the guidance of Prof. Valerie Vogrin. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to the ceremonies next weekend in Louisville!
At the moment, I’m working on the next couple of books for Falstaff, doing as much freelancing work as I can scrounge, and continuing the Great Job Hunt as the fall semester looms. Wish me luck!
P.S. I am still on Twitter as both author and journalist, as well as Facebook and Instagram with very rare postings on YouTube. I’ve now added TikTok with guidance from my son, who is much hipper than I am, because apparently it’s required. I think that’s enough social media for the moment…
Publicity/Appearances
June kicked off with ConCarolinas, which was a delight as usual. It was great to see old friends like Rachel Brune and Nancy Knight and my awesome publisher, John Hartness. I always enjoy the show, though I keep meaning to schedule an extra day sometime so I can actually see something of Charlotte, N.C. besides the airport and the hotel.
Paris came only 24 hours after returning to St. Louis, and it wasn’t technically a work trip except I wrote travelogues the entire time, so it counts! Highlights of the trip included Shakespeare & Co., the Opera Garnier (also known as the hangout for the Phantom of the Opera), the Musee d’Orsay, Eiffel Tower and much more. Again, check out Patreon for the details!
Coming up this month is a presentation for TechWrite STL, followed by Imaginarium in Louisville on July 14-16! Terry Brooks is the guest of honor and the film festival is rocking, so if you’re in the vicinity, come see us! We will be bringing the whole Literary Underworld and the Traveling Bar, so you know it’ll be a blast.
2023 calendar: • TechWrite STL, St. Louis. July, 11. (presenter) • Imaginarium, Louisville, Ky. July 14-16 (guest author) • Dragoncon, Atlanta, Ga. Aug. 31-Sept. 4 (guest author) • SPJ Conference, Las Vegas. Sept. 28-Oct. 1 (presenter) • Archon, Collinsville, Ill. Sept. 21-Oct. 1 (LitUnd only) • ContraKC, Kansas City, Date TBA. (guest author)
Note: Not all articles are available online, and some may be behind paywalls.
Fiction
I’m happy to report that the much-delayed annual bonus is finally on its way to my Patreon subscribers! Watch your emails for your survey, Patrons.
Patreon/Medium
• Wearing the pants in my own damn life, or the IDGAF Jeans (Medium and Patreon) • Con Report: ConCarolinas 2023 (Patreon) • Paris Je T’aime: Day 1.0 (Patreon) • Paris Je T’aime: Day 1.5, sipping champagne at Notre Dame (Patreon) • Paris Je T’aime: Day 2, or adventures in ordering (Patreon) • Paris Je T’aime: Day 3, the farmer’s market (Patreon) • Paris Je T’aime: Day 4, of bravery and beauty and books (Patreon) • Paris Je T’aime: Day 5, “I specifically said Box 5 was to be kept open” (Patreon) • Paris Je T’aime: Day 6, or dreaming beauty in pictures (Patreon) • Paris Je T’aime: Day 7, always moving forward (Patreon) • The MFA Reading List (Medium)
Note: Recently I indexed all the entries I’ve posted on the Patreon going back to its launch in 2018. I wanted new Patrons to be able to easily find the work that they’ve missed, and hopefully seeing how much work is on the Patreon might encourage some good folks to subscribe. (Hint, hint.) Seriously, subscriptions start at $1 a month, and I truly believe some of the best work I’ve ever done is on the Patreon. Check out the index here.
Photography
Just about all of the important photography this month happened in Paris, with the best shots on the Patreon. Some of them will appear on the photography site soon and will be available for purchase! Stay tuned.
We were prepared for some time that there would be what the bigwigs call a “gap in employment” once I graduated. May was the first month of my hiatus. Yet somehow I ended up almost as busy as I was in grad school!
Of course, the month kicked off with the graduation and celebrations, all of which was detailed in last month’s newsletter. We had more than 50 people at the big graduation barbecue, and I didn’t think I knew that many people, much less could fit them in my house!
Then came figuring out this whole don’t-have-a-job thing. Which isn’t really true: I have my freelancing work, and as I’ve always found, you get out of freelancing what you put into it. To be honest, I didn’t put in as much as I anticipated, because I’ve been kind of in recovery mode. I’ve been sorting out my house, doing my physical therapy, cleaning out my inboxes, covering my meetings and so on. I’ve been reading books – for fun! I remember what that was like – and crunching on some long-delayed deadlines for fiction work. I caught up on the nonprofit/volunteer work – sorta – so that Eville Writers, St. Louis Society of Professional Journalists, Relay for Life, AWP adjunct caucus (proposed), and the St. Andrew’s Book Sale all got some attention.
We also had a long-awaited visit from the Awesome Stepkids, and so I was wrangling the most energetic twentysomethings in the Central Time Zone last week.
Publicity/Appearances
No public appearances in May – like I said, recovery mode – but June is kicking off with ConCarolinas! As I write this, my plane is delayed, but I’ll be in Charlotte sooner or later to run my mouth about various topics and hobnob with my fellow wizards.
Unfortunately this means I’ll miss Relay for Life this Saturday, which was rescheduled from April due to an unplanned tornado. The Awesome Husband will be running the show in my absence, and my team has already raised more than $3,000 for the American Cancer Society (some of which is not showing, but it exists). If you’d like to kick in a last-minute donation, you can find us here.
Then it’s off to Paris! This is a family trip, a very kind gift from my mom and stepdad, who will be meeting me in the City of Lights next week. I’ll be tweeting as possible @edonald and @edonaldmedia, and full travelogues and photo essays will be on the Patreon. Subscribe now for the whole thing and all my backlist, starting at $1 a month!
In other news, the TechWrite STL grammar chat has been set for July 11, and there’s a possible trip back to the old homestead in Tennessee in September. Stay tuned…
2023 calendar: • ConCarolinas, Charlotte, N.C. June 2-4 (guest author) • TechWrite STL, St. Louis. July, 11. (presenter) • Imaginarium, Louisville, Ky. July 14-16 (guest author) • Dragoncon, Atlanta, Ga. Aug. 31-Sept. 4 (guest author) • SPJ Conference, Las Vegas. Sept. 28-Oct. 1 (presenter) • Archon, Collinsville, Ill. Sept. 21-Oct. 1 (LitUnd only) • ContraKC, Kansas City, Date TBA. (guest author)
Coming soon: this is the Summer of Bond, as I received a boxed set of all the Bond movies for Mother’s Day and I’ll be unpacking the action, awesomeness, misogny and racism with bonus snark all summer long. Watch for that on Patreon!
• Be water: Neil Gaiman on comics, craft and a cup of tea (Medium and Patreon) • Traveling Woman (Patreon) • Review: A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline (Patreon)
Note: Recently I indexed all the entries I’ve posted on the Patreon going back to launch in 2018. I wanted new Patrons to be able to easily find the work that they’ve missed, and hopefully seeing how much work is on the Patreon might encourage some good folks to subscribe. (Hint, hint.) Seriously, subscriptions start at $1 a month, and I truly believe some of the best work I’ve ever done is on the Patreon. Check out the index here.
Photography
Not much to report, but I expect that will be significantly different when I get back from the June travels! There is a pair of cardinals nesting right outside our dining room window, and it is the great frustration of my life as a photographer that I simply cannot get a good angle to see into the nest without going outside and therefore disturbing them. Other than that – and a whole bunch of silly candids from the Awesome Stepkids Weekend – it’s been mostly taking pictures of food for my culinary writing exploits and some spot news photography.
A funny thing happens to college instructors when July turns into August: we start to panic.
With so many college instructors and professors on my social media, it’s funny watching us all begin the scramble to get ready for the new semester. I’ve spent much of this week planning my schedule for my English composition classes, figuring out my physical schedule, picking up textbooks, looking up the new Required Syllabus Language at both universities, and so on.
I moved into my new office at The Jesuit School last month, but my computer wasn’t installed until this week. It’s a shiny shiny Mac Pro, so I’m looking forward to playing with it as soon as I can get over there. At Ye Olde University, I’m still in my cubicle in the Hall o’ TAs, hopefully with actual company this year, though most of the fellow grad students I’ve worked with have graduated by now. Because how many idiots deliberately choose to be in grad school for five years doing two degrees?
*crickets*
For those playing the home game, that’s three (3) offices for me including the home office, which is where I’ll be working three days a week when I’m not bouncing all over the world two days a week this fall. When I say “physical schedule,” I mean days I’m driving across the river or I’m on the local campus or I’m driving all over the universe to union meetings or I’m ensconced in my home Tower. There’s a spreadsheet and two color-coordinated calendars.
With regret, I have dropped the class in Black speculative fiction I intended to take this semester. It’s absolutely killing me, because come on – to spend a semester reading Octavia Butler and N.K. Jemison and exploring Afrofuturism and horror and get credit for it?
Indeed, my one regret as I approach my final year of MFA Land is the number of classes I won’t get to take. Just this semester alone, my department is offering the above class in Black speculative fiction, young adult literature, African-American rhetoric and oratory, quest fiction, Black music as literature, Black women’s writing, as well as the usual lit classes.
In previous semesters I’ve seen classes on heroes and villains in fiction, an entire semester on Toni Morrison, “inventing America through writing,” American literature and social change, dystopian/apocalyptic fiction, semester-long comparisons of Poe and Hawthorne or Whitman and Dickinson, the American dream as represented in literature, “nasty women” in fiction, and so on.
I think I could happily sit back and take these classes till doomsday. I’ve been so delighted that the reputation of MFA programs as a) relentlessly white/male, b) abusively cruel to their students, and c) stultifyingly resistant to genre and popular fiction have been absolutely untrue. I’m sure some programs deserve the reputation, but if anything, my experience and my observations at AWP indicate that the current-day programs are well ahead of the industry itself in diversification and openness for writers and writing styles.
But I digress, unhappily, back to abandoning a class I really wanted to take. At least I still get to take slipstream fiction, which should be a lot of fun, and I will begin my planning and research for my community project – Writer in the World, required of all MFAs, and buckle in because it’s going to be my whole year.
Meanwhile, I am teaching two completely full sections of English composition at Ye Olde University and commuting into the city two mornings a week to teach newswriting at the Jesuit College. That’s approximately 75 students to wrangle. In addition to the Writer in the World practicum, I’ll be working on my MFA thesis novel, and my non-MFA fiction writing (more on that soooooon).
Then there’s Donald Media, which includes my freelance work for various news publications including McClatchy, the Labor Tribune, Feast Magazine, etc. There’s keeping up with the four (4) blogs I manage, this Patreon, the Literary Underworld, attending two cons and a journalism conference, the ethics committee, St. Louis SPJ and its fall boot camp, not to mention being president of the Sigma Tau Delta honors society and gearing up to take over the quarterly charity book sale in my town that I’ll start running in 2023.
Something had to give. I mean, I have a family. I hear they’re nice.
At least one thing will be off my plate, one way or the other: this Friday is the final defense for my media studies masters thesis. So far none of my committee have emailed me to yell that it’s a worthless piece of garbage and I have to go back to the drawing board because I’m a looooooooser. Who’s nervous? Hopefully their suggestions will be quickly feasible, as next week is my last of the summer “vacation” and my ability to give the bloody thing my undivided attention before the fall chaos descends.
Assuming nothing goes sideways, technically I am done with that degree, and would have the right to walk in the December graduation except that feels silly when I’m allegedly graduating for good in May!
Gee, Elizabeth, this newsletter sorta skipped a month. What happened to July?
Well, folks, there was this thesis… Only two years late! Technically not “late,” as one has six years from the point where one finishes the coursework to complete a thesis in order to get their masters degree. There was this pandemic, you see, and pivoting to teaching online, and then I launched a completely different masters program, and and and…
But this summer, I dug in and finished the thesis. It is currently awaiting defense and final approval by the Graduate School. It is my sincere hope that by the next newsletter, I will be the recipient of a masters of science in media studies, and embarking on my final year of the MFA.
In the meantime, freelance nonfiction work is really picking up, and I’ll be returning as an adjunct professor and graduate instructor at two universities in the fall. I also had the pleasure of working with high-school students for two sessions at the SIUE Youth Writing Camp this summer, and continuing my usual appearances at book fairs, libraries, festivals and conventions. I also took another class toward the MFA, on teaching creative writing via memoir. What, me busy?
And there’s this other thing. Which I can’t share. Not yet. Once the contracts are signed, I can *mmmmmf*
Publicity/Appearances
Reviewing June and July: I launched the summer tour at ConCarolinas in Charlotte, N.C., which was a terrific time and a great chance to see folks I haven’t seen since before the world ended. In July, I got to see practically everyone else on that list at Imaginarium in Louisville, Ky. I held two workshops there: the first on “So You Wanna Be a Writer” going through the creative process with an eye to publication, and “Don’t Quit Your Day Job,” on the business side of being a writer. These workshops went really well, and I may develop them further as I go into my “Writer in the World” project this fall in MFA-land.
I also spoke to the Plethora of Pens writers’ group in Glen Carbon, Ill. on July 11, and added the Collinsville Library Book Fair at the very last minute on July 30.
Coming up in August: It’s actually pretty light! Much of my schedule was cleared to deal with the thesis defense and whatever revisions will be necessary, and then the semester begins in about three weeks. So we’ll call that “free time.”
Also: the latest issue of Quill Magazine referenced the controversy a few months ago when my chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists challenged the governor of Missouri to stop threatening prosecution of journalists for *checks notes* doing journalism. Here’s the report if you’re interested.
I was part of an author roundtable on Sean Taylor’s excellent writing blog in June, discussing how we balance ideas and projects. “I’ve been told that perhaps I focus too much on the salability of a project, perhaps to the detriment of the art. That’s possibly true, but there’s also a lot of privilege to the idea that we should do art first and market second. When you have the rent paid by other means, maybe you can do art first. But when you feed your family by the written word, you need to prioritize what you can sell and keep your work out where the eyeballs can find it.” Full column here.
Coming up: • Edwardsville (Ill.) Book Festival, Sept. 17 • St. Louis SPJ Journalist Boot Camp, Sept. 24 • Archon, Collinsville, Ill. Sept. 30-Oct. 2 • SPJ National Conference, Washington, D.C. Oct. 26-29 • ContraCon, Kansas City. Nov. 11-13
Note: Not all articles are available online, and some may be behind paywalls.
Fiction
*mmmmmmf* I can’t tell you. Shh. Shenanigans afoot.
Patreon/Blogs
• A second life (Medium) • The coffeehouse chairs (Medium) • Freedom Day 2022 (Patreon) • Hey new people! (Patreon) • Kitty! (Patreon) • Imaginarium is a wrap! (Patreon) • The beauty halo (Patreon) • Follow me, scribes (Patreon) • So where do you get your ideas? (Patreon) • Where are you from? (Patreon)
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