Writing-related resources, news, and reflections to enjoy over the weekend.
“For the past year at least, Midwestern novels tend to be set at least two decades back; finding one set after the turn of this century has been surprisingly difficult.” So writes Mark Athitakis in an overview of recent “Midwest lit” for Belt magazine.
Having taught a fiction workshop devoted exclusively to historical fiction once upon a time, I was intrigued to see that John Vanderslice is leading precisely that kind of class this term. I hope he’ll continue to share notes from that workshop with the rest of us via his blog.
Ready for some chuckles? Check out Rebecca Makkai’s “An MFA for the Rest of Us” on the Ploughshares blog and Heather Havrilesky’s “How to Contact the Author” in this week’s New Yorker.
Speaking of humor: I’m glad that Harvey Freedenberg pointed me to Joseph Epstein’s “Notes on What’s So Damn Funny” on the Commentary site.
And one last ICYMI: The September issue of The Practicing Writer went out to subscribers on Monday morning. As per usual, it’s filled with info on no-fee contests and paying publication opportunities for poets, fictionists, and writers of creative nonfiction.
Have a great weekend, all.
Hi Erika, thanks for mentioning me. Yes indeed, I will pass along news from the class all semester long. It’s an experiment for me and a work in progress. I only hope I can do it as well as you could.
Oh, well, I don’t think you need to worry about that, John. I’m sure you’ll be superb, and I can’t wait for the updates!