Posts Tagged‘Fiction’

Home » Fiction » Page 131

Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

by Erika Dreifus on
4

11021279_390770854436778_3588398827398842663_nReading The Writer’s Chronicle

The latest issue of The Writer’s Chronicle arrived a few days ago. (It’s the March/April issue, and I don’t see it online yet; even when it goes online, I think you need to be a subscriber to access it in full.) Although I haven’t read through it in its entirety, I was intrigued to see the interview with Rebecca McClanahan and read that feature right away.

McClanahan teaches in the MFA program I attended, and while I never worked with her, the reading of hers that I attended was memorable and set me on a path to reading more of her poems and essays (I also purchased her writing-instruction book, Word Painting). I’ve always been drawn to the influence of extended family in McClanahan’s work, and The Writer’s Chronicle interview, which focuses on her recent family memoir, gave me much to think about in terms of my own family-infused writing.

I confess that even before reading the interview, however, I thumbed ahead to page 127, where the Fig Tree Books call for submissions appears. (Yes, I encouraged my employer and our marketing manager to place this ad!) (more…)

Sunday Sentence

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Unknown-1
In which I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, sharing the best sentence I’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.”

Divorced, somewhat recently spurned, and therefore doomed to spend the holiday with two vegetarians from the Classics Department, I was apparently the only living member of the faculty the unfortunate Ms. Handel was able to find.

Source: Julie Schumacher’s Dear Committee Members: A Novel, which had me laughing throughout my single-sitting read.

Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

by Erika Dreifus on
1

A Fab Week for Fig Tree

One of this week’s projects for me in my job at Fig Tree Books is preparing the February newsletter. (If you’re not yet subscribing to the Fig Tree newsletter, you can remedy that right over here!) A couple of issues, back, I established a new “column” for the newsletter that I’ve dubbed the “Kvell Korner.” It’s a spot where we can share especially good news/press/honors about our authors, books, and company.
Unknown

This past week provided some excellent material to be “kornered.” First, from the Jewish press came Sandee Brawarsky’s spring books preview article for The Jewish Week, which opens as follows: “While there’s frequent news these days of bookstores closing and publishers downsizing, the really good news is that two new publishers interested in Jewish literature are introducing their first titles this season.” Yes, Fig Tree Books is one of them! You can find the full article, which also touts two of our forthcoming novels, The Book of Stone and Safekeeping, online. (more…)

Sunday Sentence

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

ef5381d9f70649f0c426da809be6e381

 

In which I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, sharing the best sentence I’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.”

Afterward, a mute shower, his second of the day, while the chatter that had clung to him drained into the hospital’s sewer.

Source: Edith Pearlman, “Castle 4,” in Honeydew: Stories