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Wednesday’s WIP: Tips for New Book Reviewers

by Erika Dreifus on
2

booksMore than once this week, I’ve had reason to revisit an old post, one that suggests ways to locate forthcoming books for review assignments. (Note the adjective “forthcoming”; many publications plan book coverage weeks if not months ahead of time.) I’m inspired to share the post anew while adding that if I were writing it for the first time, I’d mention Edelweiss, which has become a go-to resource for me to locate publishers’ catalogs and digital review copies. I can also point you today to other resources that have crossed my radar this week: articles filled with previews of books coming in 2014. Some stretch pretty far into 2014 and may give you some new review ideas.

  • “30 Books You Need to Read in 2014”
  • Most Anticipated: The Great 2014 Book Preview”
  • JBC Bookshelf: Spring 2014 Jewish Book Preview (and don’t forget my own, much less expansive “Five Jewish Books for 2014”)

    • Any other lists you’ve seen lately that you’d recommend? Other ideas for finding books to review?

    Wednesday’s WIP: Highs & Lows, Or My Writing Year in Review

    by Erika Dreifus on
    3

    calendar_2013Much as I love Lisa Romeo’s idea of an annual “I Did It” list to summarize my writing year, I’m going to kick it back old-school here and simply list a few professional highs–and not-so-highs–that I will remember about 2013. (more…)

    Friday Finds for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

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

  • Lots of good news from the (U.S.) National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) this week, especially for the recipients of the Creative Writing Fellowships. But even more of us are likely to benefit from the “Art Works” grants to presses and journals, whether simply by encountering writing that those grants will support or, in some cases, benefiting from the increased author/contributor payments promised by such publications as American Poetry Review, AGNI, and n+1.
  • Interesting issues raised in David Duhr’s “Hi! I Reviewed Your Book! A Twitter Guide.”
  • Great piece by Michelle Nijhuis for the NYT “Draft” column, on “The Science and Art of Science Writing.”
  • “Last October, after [Kaylie] Jones woke up one morning feeling particularly frustrated by the plight of many of her students and colleagues, who typically write artistic, literary novels not deemed commercially viable, she called one of her MFA students and her bosses, asking if they’d help her if she started an imprint. The answers were emphatic yeses.” Read more about Kaylie Jones Books.
  • “The 2013 Nobel Lecture in Literature was replaced by a pre-recorded video conversation with the Laureate: ‘Alice Munro: In her Own Words’, shown at the Swedish Academy on 7 December 2013.” I plan to watch the video this weekend; if you haven’t yet, you might want to do the same.

    • Have a great weekend, everyone.

    Wednesday’s WIP: My First WaPo Review

    by Erika Dreifus on
    11

    AftermathAmong the things I’m grateful for in the writing realm as Thanksgiving approaches is a brand-new, first-time byline in The Washington Post. I deeply appreciate the opportunity I had to review a new historical novel, Rhidian Brook’s The Aftermath, as well as the expert editing my work received from Ron Charles before publication last week.

    I was drawn to the book in part due to my abiding interest in fiction that involves aspects of World War II, and in part due to my ever-increasing interest in fiction written by grandchildren of those whose lives were dramatically influenced by those historical events. In this case, as mentioned in the review, Brook drew the novel’s storyline from his own grandfather’s British military service in postwar Germany.

    I hope that you’ll read and enjoy the review. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone all of this blog’s readers who celebrate it. And if you’d care to share a comment regarding something in your writing practice that you are thankful for, I’d love to read it.