As you celebrate Memorial Day this weekend, take some time to remember all our soldiers stationed overseas.

If you want to help these men and women far away from home, we’ve collected five different ways you can share books with our troops. For instance, E-Books for Troops will help you send an eReader to our troops overseas. Army Sgt. Andre Corbin explained at the site:

When soldiers deploy, they have a mandatory packing list of equipment/clothing which must be fitted into a rucksack and a duffel bag – and it takes good packing to get everything required stowed. Any personal items must fit into a backpack, that is basically a carry-on bag – not a lot of room. When you only have about 1.5 cubic feet of space to pack personal items to last a year (or at least until care packages start arriving), you have to be very judicious in what you decide to bring … For me, a voracious reader who is addicted to the written word and regularly devours several novels/books a week, having the room for only a few books – even paperbacks tightly packed – could be a very frustrating dilemma.

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You can apply for the second annual John E. Nance Writer-in-Residence program at the Thurber House from now through June 3, 2013.

The four-week program includes a $4,000 stipend, “community outreach opportunities” and a stay in the two-bedroom apartment where writer and New Yorker cartoonist James Thurber once lived. Here’s more about the fall 2013 program:

Applications are now being accepted, and the genre for applicants is fiction. Residents will be chosen by July 15, 2013 and the residency will take place in September and October 2013. The application guidelines are as follows: Candidates must have had a book published by a traditional publisher within the last three years or have a current piece of their work under contract … Follow this link to learn more details and download the application.

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Crime journalist Steve Lillebuen painted a complex and spooky picture of a killer in The Devil’s Cinema: The Untold Story Behind Mark Twitchell’s Kill Room.

We caught up with the journalist to find out what digital tools he used to build his book. Lillebuen explained how he used valuable tools like OCR software and the Wayback Machine to explore the killer’s life. We’ve embedded the complete interview below, but here’s an excerpt:

My advice, however, is to treat the Internet as just another tool and not abandon old research and journalism skills. You still have to get out there and have good contacts, speak to a lot of sources, ask them questions, door knock, be very patient, and be prepared to be yelled at. Nobody loves a police reporter, as Edna Buchanan liked to say. You’re prying into people’s lives during their most traumatic moment. You’re bound to face a lot of abuse. My book research ended up straddling both the digital and the real world. I spent a year interviewing the killer in prison. He didn’t have access to a computer and could rarely make phone calls, so he ended up sending me more than 350 pages of hand-written letters.

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The Gracie Awards were held last night in Los Angeles, celebrating “outstanding programming for, by and about women.”

I battled my way through the crowded red carpet, getting some writing advice from two authors at the show. Shaun Robinson took the “Outstanding Host” award last night for her work on Access Hollywood, but she shared some simple advice for writers:

I wrote a book on girls and self-esteem called Exactly as I Am. It’s about giving girls advice about believing in yourself and dreaming big. It’s all about this: Every no brings you closer to a yes. Every no puts you closer to a yes. If one person tells you no, that’s one door. There’s another door that’s going to open.

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Author and Rock Plaza Central musician Chris Eaton traveled far beyond writers to find blurbs for his new book, Chris Eaton, a Biography.

In today’s edition of the Morning Media Menu, Eaton shared advice for making a genuine appeal to a writer, artist or musician when searching for blurbs.

Press play below to listen on SoundCloud. We’ve collected a few excerpts from the interview…

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If you have an iPad or an iPhone, you can now host a video Google Hangout on your mobile device–connecting with your writing group, book club or editor in a face-to-face chat.

Simply download the free Hangouts app and sync with your Google+ contacts. Once your circles are loaded, you can quickly launch a hangout. AppNewser has more:

Users on iOS devices can finally start using Google’s new chat app, appropriately call Hangouts, allows you to do what you’ve always done with Gmail’s desktop experience: text friends, start videos, and share photos in seamless conversations across multiple devices. The best part about the new Hangout app is how easy it is to continue a video chat from a text chat in seconds. If that feature doesn’t impress you, Google’s also putting in 850 emojis for all of those emotions you can’t express.

Are you looking for a writers group? Writers groups can motivate you to write more, critique your work or even help you publicize your work.

We have created an experimental project to connect writers around the globe, helping hundreds of GalleyCat readers create writers groups both online and in the real world.

Sign up to join our free directory here. Once you fill out the simple form, you will be able to access our complete directory of GalleyCat readers who are looking for a writers group–contact them directly to build a new group.

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Assignmint is a new platform aimed at streamlining the process of pitching, writing and billing outlets for your writing.

Follow this link to sign up for a free author account. If you are a working freelance writer, you should explore the free service–they already have resources for keeping track of stories, creating invoices or adding up expenses. Check it out:

First, hit your Contacts dashboard to add your favorite outlets and editors. Be sure to search our directory outlet before you start typing addresses: We have more than 15,000 U.S. newspapers, magazines, websites and other publications already in the system. (Don’t see yours? Tip us off; we’ll add it.) Soon, you’ll be able to search this directory for new outlets that might want whatever it is you’re peddling. Then, put together some new ideas and send them via your Pitch dashboard. For your convenience, we’ve pre-installed dummy “pending” and “draft” pitches in your account to help you get started. Your editors can reply via email (as they normally would) or directly to your Assignmint account using our secure pitch lander pages. Once you get the job, it’s a snap to record assignment details, file copy, track expenses and send that all-important invoice. Soon, using our proprietary banking gateway, you’ll have the option to accept secure electronic payments directly from your employers.

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Are you looking for an alternative to the well-known crowdfunding sites?

Financial journalist Blaire Briody, photojournalist Brad DeCecco, and documentary filmmaker Ashley Panzera are raising funds for a reporting trip (and eventual book) exploring the oil boom Williston, North Dakota. They used a new community funding site called Fairstreet to raise the funds, so we caught up with Briody to find out more about the new platform:

I chose FairStreet because they’re a small startup with a hands-on approach. They’re different because they vet each project carefully and give you a support system – which includes consultation on how to build a successful campaign, sending the project out to their own contacts, and paying for the campaign video. The fact that they believed in my project gave me the confidence I needed to move forward with the funding effort. The video is professionally done and I think that helped add legitimacy to the project, and would’ve been hard to do on my own. Their encouragement and support has been phenomenal so far, and I don’t think I would get that with any other crowdfunding platform.

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Could working in an advertising agency teach you about creative writing?

You day-job might be more useful than you think. In a thought-provoking video interview at Open Road, author Fay Weldon explained how her time at an ad agency gave her invaluable lessons about the writing life. Here is a key excerpt:

I used to think creative writing couldn’t be taught and that you just kind of did it—until I realized that I had actually learned in an advertising agency all these skills of knowing what to say and what not to say. Of being rejected all time and having things discarded for reasons you couldn’t understand but had to come to understand. You can never teach what people are or what they have to say. Because they have to do that. But you can teach them how to have their words appreciated or to get the value of words. Nobody can say quite what they want to say or would say if left to their own devices. Because they want to be liked. It seems important that you should risk not being liked.

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