Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

I suppose this post could also be called “End-of-Year Notes from a Practicing Writer.”

I’m going to keep this short. Hope that bullet points are okay with all of you today!

  • I’m thinking of last year’s spotlight on Lisa Romeo’s wonderful “I Did It!” list idea. I’m thinking that I should work on my own “I Did It!” list for 2014.
  • I’m thinking of the seminar application that is my current “work-in-progress.” (3 essays required!)
  • I’m thinking of the post on “My Year in Jewish Books” that I’ve just published over on my other blog—and applauding myself for actually managing to meet my Goodreads challenge for the year.
  • How about you? What’s on your writerly mind as 2014 ends and 2015 begins?

    Happy New Year!

    Friday Finds for Writers

    Treasure Chest
    Writing-related resources, news, and reflections to enjoy over the weekend.

  • As I’ve mentioned elsewhere this week, Wil S. Hylton’s profile of Laura Hillenbrand for The New York Times magazine provides an excellent craft seminar in narrative nonfiction.
  • “In fact, it feels strangely simple: I have used up my material, the stuff from which I craft stories. I don’t have anything now. Maybe I will have more soon. Or not soon. Or not.” From Robin Black’s resonant (and much-cited among my Twitter connections) essay “On Being Empty: When a Writer Isn’t Writing.”
  • Terrific spotlight on poet Joan Naviyuk Kane in the latest Harvard Magazine.
  • To a considerable extent, librarian and book reviewer Deb Baker’s post “On Being ‘Discontinued'” is another installment in the ongoing “writing for free” discussion.
  • “Jill Lepore had written my book.” That’s what Noah Berlatsky discovered some months ago. Here’s what happened next.
  • Enjoy the weekend, all!

    Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

    Yer Out!

    The email arrived a few days ago. “Dear Erika Dreifus: Thank you for your application to NYFA’s Fellowship program.  We are sorry that we will not be able to award you a Fellowship this year. We received a record number of applications this year….” You know the rest.

    So now it is official: I have applied for fellowships unsuccessfully from the New York Foundation for the Arts in THREE genres: fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Now how many of you can say that?!

    three-strikes (more…)