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The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
2

Another midweek medley of writing-related finds culled from the Web.

  • Let’s begin with some application advice (mainly for academe, but with crossover appeal for writers-who-don’t-teach but are applying for grants/fellowships/awards/etc.). (via Wordamour)
  • Five Ways to Celebrate Short Stories is a post I wrote for Fiction Writers Review last year, but the beginning of Short Story Month 2012 seems to be a perfect time to “recycle” it.
  • Speaking of Fiction Writers Review: My “reviewlet” of Anne Korkeakivi’s The Unexpected Guest posted last week. One of the things I discuss in that piece is the author’s use of French words and phrases, so I was of course interested to discover Korkeakivi’s thoughts on handling languages other than English in fiction (thanks for the link, Writer Abroad!). (By the way, you can read some relevant thoughts of my own archived on the Brave New Words blog, too.)
  • May is apparently prime giveaway season. Don’t forget about this practicing writer’s participation in the Collection Giveaway Project. And over on Hippocampus Magazine, there will be one giveaway every day of this month to celebrate the publication’s anniversary. You need to delve into the current issue to participate–may I humbly suggest that you check out my own micro-essay in that issue, “Comprehension”?
  • For those who ask am I a writer, Cathy Day has some answers.

    • The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
    My great-grandparents, H. & K. Dreifus, the inspirations behind Karoline & Jacob Freiburg in "Matrilineal Descent." Photo © The Dreifus Family.
  • One of the reasons I love this week’s writing prompt from Midge Raymond (“Family History”) is that it essentially explains how I started writing “Matrilineal Descent,” a story that was published in TriQuarterly before it was gathered in my collection, Quiet Americans.
  • Embarrassing word-usage gaffes in The New York Times, courtesy of the newspaper itself.
  • It’s almost time for Short Story Month. Which means that there will be another Collection Giveaway Project coordinated by Fiction Writers Review.
  • Adam Mansbach’s sharp-and-funny take on book blurbs was making the rounds last week. But it’s not too late to laugh (or cringe).
  • And also for fun: Some “accidental photography” sited in New York’s beautiful Central Park, courtesy of my very own sister. (If only my purposeful photos turned out half as well as her accidental ones!) You can also find her photos on Etsy.

    • Quotation of the Week: Dinty W. Moore

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

    “You work with what is given to you. You arrange the puzzle pieces taken from the nonfiction box without reaching over into the fiction box, as tempting as it may be. You do your best to pull up honest memory. Though we know memory’s weakness, at least don’t lie about what you think you remember. When you are not sure, you tell the reader. When you want to change something, explore why you want to change it. Fiction approaches a certain sort of truth, and thank goodness we have fiction, but it is not the same truth that nonfiction attempts. Know the difference. As a nonfiction writer, you will surely make mistakes, get things wrong, remember poorly, but to do it knowingly, that’s crossing the line.”

    Source: Dinty W. Moore, “What is Given: Against Knowingly Changing the Truth,” part of a worthy exchange with Jill Talbot on the Brevity blog.

    The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

    Midweek means that it’s time for me to share with you a few of this week’s online discoveries (so far!).

  • Let’s begin with an issue that is – ahem – not unfamiliar to me: the question of whether writers should discuss politics online, as raised by Tracy Hahn-Burkett for Beyond the Margins. (Oh, so complicated!)
  • On a not-unrelated note: If you haven’t yet read it, I’ve shared some views (and posed some questions) concerning “Günter Grass, My Book & Me” over on my other blog.
  • Any of you taking part in Robert Lee Brewer’s April Platform Challenge? I’ve been following along. It’s thanks to that challenge that you can now subscribe to Practicing Writing (and to the aforementioned “other blog,” My Machberet) by email. Just look to the right side of the screen for the nifty subscription boxes.
  • A few choice writing lessons from Constance Hale, on The New York Times Opinionator blog.
  • In case you haven’t heard, Fiction lost out big time at the Pulitzers this week. For those of us who don’t know much about how winners are chosen, Laura Miller provides some information.