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Word is spreading about our newest release in the Howdunit series, Police Procedure and Investigation, by Lee Lofland. Sue Ann Jaffarian, president of the Los Angeles chapter of Sisters in Crime, recently mentioned it on her blog.

Vist the author of Police Procedure over at www.leelofland.com.

Wizards of the Coast, a hobby gaming company, has book recommendations for writers on their site. We’re flattered to say that Writer’s Digest Books titles comprise nearly half the list, including:

Beginnings, Middles & Ends (Elements of Fiction Writing) by Nancy Kress

Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing) by Orson Scott Card

Dynamic Characters: How to Create Personalities That Keep Readers Captivated by Nancy Kress

The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes: (And How to Avoid Them) by Jack M. Bickham

How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy by Orson Scott Card

See the full list here. Thanks to Justin Combs for the tip!

Will Allison, whose debut novel is now available at a bookstore near you, recently divulged details of his days at Story magazine, once published by our parent company, F+W Publications.

I did have some trouble getting up to speed, though. Having only recently left the world of MFA creative-writing workshops, I was used to dutifully, painstakingly giving each and every manuscript its full due. Lois didn’t play that. If a story failed to hook her by the first page or two, she was on to the next. I was struck by her ability (and Laurie’s) to plow through a bin of manuscripts in a couple of hours, emerging with only a handful of stories requiring closer attention. It wasn’t just that she read with great confidence — in her taste, in her ability to recognize quality — but also with great impatience. How dare an unworthy story waste her time!

Read the full story over at Maud Newton.

This weekend, the Poetry Society of Oklahoma hosts the 2007 National Federation of State Poetry Societies National Convention at the Oklahoma City Marriott. Our very own Nancy Breen, editor of Poet’s Market, makes an appearance.

Read an article about the event over at The Oklahoman.

The BEA/WDB Conference, which took place on May 30, was covered by Reuters and picked up by the New York Times. Our very own Lauren Mosko was quoted in the article.

Here’s a little of what they reported:

Several dozen agents and editors were taking pitches at Wednesday’s “pitch-slam” at the end of a one-day seminar that also included workshops on writing the perfect book proposal.

“Don’t feel like you’re a failure if you don’t come out of here with a contract,” Lauren Mosko, editor of writers’ guide “Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market,” told her workshop.

Analyzing a pitch for a book of women’s letters about lessons learned in adversity, she said: “It sounds like a really ‘nice’ book but there’s nothing that really grabs me emotionally.”

Among the other pitches were a memoir of raising kids in the “hotbed of commercial sex” that is Bangkok, a novel about Internet geeks, a memoir of police corruption, an expose of the adoption system and a parody of Fox cable show “The O’Reilly Factor.”

Read the full Reuters piece.

Will Allison, a former editor here at Story magazine and a frequent contributor to Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market, is about to celebrate the publication of his first novel, What You Have Left (Free Press/Simon & Schuster), on June 5th.

What You Have Left—the story of three generations of connection and separation centered around a pioneering female NASCAR driver and the broken husband, father, and daughter she leaves behind—has already been selected for Barnes & Noble’s Discover Great New Writers program and Borders’ Original Voices program, and is a Book Sense Pick for June 2007. (Way to go, Will!)

Although Will remembers his time here at F+W fondly, writing is his full-time job now, and in order to help him treat it like a job, he “clocks in” each day and keeps track of his hours. “About a year ago, I started getting up at 4 a.m. to write for a few hours before my daughter wakes up,” Will says. “Ritual-wise, it’s the most fruitful thing I’ve done as a writer. At that hour, there are no interruptions, my mind is uncluttered, and, with unconsciousness looming so close at hand, I feel I’m better able to tap into my subconscious. Of course, it means I’m usually in bed by 9 p.m., which makes for a quiet nightlife.”

For more information on Will and his book, including a tour schedule, visit www.willallison.com. Will and What You Have Left will also be featured in the Premier Voices column in NSSWM 2008, available in August.

Last weekend, the nationally broadcast NPR show “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” decided to use Talk the Talk’s Carnival Workers section for their “Not My Job” feature with Julia Sweeney, and mentioned the book in the process. The show is archived here.

Don’t know what National Poetry Month is all about? The Academy of American Poets is only too happy to tell you all about it. Check out their website for NPM history and highlights, FAQ, a poem a day, favorite poetry quotes, April poetry celebrations nationwide, and so much more.  (Then come back to WD Editors and take a look at what Writer’s Digest Books has to offer to help you write and publish your poetry.)