Need to Get Away from Everything? Residencies & Grants

Get away from everything except writing, of course! Most writers dream of getting out of their rut. Somewhere they can be free from the demands of their own household, leaving them open to inspiration in new places.

I came across a couple of residency programs lately that let you do just that:

The Jentel Artist Residency Program is open to four visual artists (this includes you, illustrators!) and two writers for each residency period (four months, in either winter/spring or summer/fall). Selected participants are awarded spacious accommodations on a Wyoming ranch, plus a stipend to cover expenses while there. Opportunities for quiet reflection in nature, or community interaction (both with the other residents and the wider community), abound.

And in an interesting twist, this program is NOT open to students. Quite a few residencies and grants are geared to students, so it's refreshing to find one where you're not competing for academic credit. You will, however, need to be living in the U.S. and be over 25. There is a $20 application fee, plus a requirement for submission of samples.


If you're not able to manage four months away from family and home, the Martha's Vineyard Writers Residency offers periods ranging from two to six weeks. The participants are responsible for more of the financial aspects of their stay ($200.00/WEEK, not including meals, plus a $10 application fee) but there aren't many other circumstances where a writer can stay in an historic inn on Martha's Vineyard for that price. Let alone, have other artists and writers join into a community of peers.

And I've mentioned it before, but the American Antiquarian Society offers a stipend to cover housing and other expenses while you make use of their extensive resources for your historical work. The focus is pre-twentieth century American history, and there is a wide range of works that qualify (plays, costume design, illustrations, documentary films, etc). There is no application fee, and the monthlong residency can be taken any time in 2013. But you must apply by October 5.

So if this is something you'd be interested in, get those application packets going!

RTW--Sweet Cadaver Lips

Monday was a blogging holiday, wasn't it? Yeah, I didn't post because we were out of town and didn't have time to set up an automatic post before we left. But today is Road Trip Wednesday!

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: What is the strangest/weirdest thing you've ever researched?

So this is where the title of my post comes into play. And, no,it's not a zombie reference! I once saw an item in the newspaper on organ and tissue donors,and it listed all the ways that your body and parts are used when you donate it.

In addition to the well-known organ donations and medical school donations, they mentioned that lip augmentation can use tissue from cadavers. They don't actually transplant the lips; they instead insert or inject skin cells harvested from cadavers to give lips that puffy look.

I found this to be just horrifying enough to be fascinating, and knew it required further research. Thank goodness for the relative anonymity of the internet, where I could search for "cadaver lips" and "cadaver cosmetic surgery" and "corpsey lips" (okay, that last one was a search for the lyrics of "Lady Margaret") without getting strange looks. Though I'm not altogether sure that I'm not on some sort of watch list.

Today, while typing this post, I tried to find the links I'd seen before, but instead came across this:



Sigh. Another book for my reading list.

What about you? What's the weirdest thing you've researched in the name of writing? Don't forget to go to YA Highway and check out everyone's answers (you'll find them in the comments).