If You're a Writer, Write Your Way to a New House in Detroit

Sure, there are lots of fancy schmancy residency programs out there for writers, and you can find them in directories and google searches.  But in what other residency are they giving away a whole house?  Why, in Detroit, and you have less than a week to write your way to a new house. 

The program is Write a House, in which aspiring writers of low or moderate income (and some writing history) can win a refurbished house that was rescued from foreclosure and restored.  Not for a year or six months--for keeps, to someone talented enough to win it and who wants to be an active part of the literary community of Detroit.  To be eligible, you must be a U.S. citizen, fall into the income limits, and submit your strongest writing before a panel of judges.  The full qualifications are here. The house is situated on the east side, north of Hamtramck. 

The point of all this is twofold:  to teach young people construction and restoration work while they work on their GEDs, and to make it financially attractive for writers to settle down in the D.  If you miss this run of the contest, they have a couple more houses that Write a House is planning to rehab and give away in the future.  To the right writer.

Financial Help for Journalists

Writing from the imagination takes time and effort, but writing to find out and expose real-life conditions takes a lot more--like travel and other expenses.  The Fund for Investigative Journalism provides money towards some expenses--up to $5000 for things like travel, but NOT salary or equipment, for exposing wrongdoing in the public or private sectors.  But the FIJ also has a page with a few other possible resources for journalists.

One of these is the Solutions Journalism Network, which revolves around journalism pieces that stress solutions to social problems, rather than simply pointing them out.  Another source, albeit from the left of the political spectrum, is the Investigative Fund from the Nation.  In all cases, these funds cover the expenses of getting the story, as opposed to living expenses.

Emergency Financial Assistance for Writers

Writers often live an economically insecure life, without a financial security net in case of illness or accident.  There are a few organizations that offer help in cases that involve fairly long-term professionals who cannot work due to emergency circumstances.

The American Society of Journalists and Authors has a fund to help writers who, "because of advanced age, illness, disability, a natural disaster, or an extraordinary professional crisis are unable to work."  They don't have to be members of this organization, but they must offer proof of a sustained writing career.

The Carnegie Fund for Authors also offers help for writers who have sustained injury or disaster to themselves, a spouse, or a dependent child that has put them in severe economic distress.  The applicant must have written at least one book.  For more information contact them at 516 877 2141.

The Haven Foundation, founded by author Stephen King after his own serious accident several years ago, aids authors, those in the publishing industry as writers or readers and other artists (which is defined as people who have made at least 1/3 of their financial support over the last three years) who are grappling with the financial fallout of injury or illness. 

The Pen American Center also provides emergency financial aid for long-term professional writers.  Contact Linda Morgan or Megan Kyle-Miller at 212-334-1660.  They have also set up a special fund for writers dealing with Hurricane Sandy.  They also list a roundup of emergency help for writers.

More Places for Artists to Find Aid and Work Opportunities, Financial Aid

I've written some previous posts with online resources for artists, but now there are some more to add.  The Pew Charitable Trust has a website with resources for artists.  Since Pew is Philadelphia-based, there is a slant towards Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in some of the entries, but some of them are nationwide.  It includes grants and work opportunities, but also legal, medical and insurance resources, promotional services,emergency help and more.  However, if you click a link to the name of a resource, it will take you to a description of the resource, not the website.  You then need to click the website link on the description page.  My favorite resource listed is Duotrope's Digest,  an interactive list of over 4,000 publishers of novels, short stories, poems, nonfiction articles etc.  You can search for your next publisher by genre, subgenre, pay scale, royalty rate, and more, and sortable by rate of submission acceptance, pay, and response time. 

Another source of help aimed for people new to the arts is Art Emerging.  It has a short section on grants, art shows, how to look out for art show scams, residences, and more. It seems terribly unformed--it's supposed to be created by artists, but there are dead links.  I wouldn't consider it a first place to go, but you might find some little nuggets to help you out.

Grants and Work Opportunities for Writers

Writers, like most other workers, only get cash when they earn (work for) it. There are some awards and grants, but many grants are pretty small, and only meant to supplement a living, not constitute a whole living by themselves. If you want to be a writer, you will still have to create around the edges of your 9 to 5 job, or a couple of jobs you have stitched together. That having been said, there may still be grant money for you.


If you are willing to subscribe to the PEN grants and awards listings ($12 per year), you can get their constantly updated list of awards and grants. For $15 a year, you can subscribe to Funds for Writers paid, full list of grants, awards, and opportunities to earn money as a writer.

On the freebie side, you can peruse the Michigan State University’s website of grants for writers, or subscribe to two free newsletters also run by Funds for Writers—The Small Market Newsletter, which has opportunities for earning money in small writing markets, and the free money-earning listings. You can also check out the free listing of grants offered by the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poets and Writers Awards.