Finds for Writers

Description: closed trunk and text label announcing, "Finds for Writers."
Image of a wooden trunk, with text label that reads, “Finds for Writers” beside it

Most Fridays the Practicing Writing blog shares writing and publishing resources, news, and reflections to peruse over the weekend. But it’s been an excruciating week for so many of us. And frankly, I’ve paid next-to-no attention to garden-variety news from the writing and publishing spheres.

On Wednesday, however, I received an email from Facing History and Ourselves, a Boston-based global nonprofit organization that I’ve admired for many years. The email introduced a “mini-lesson” titled “Processing Attacks in Israel and the Outbreak of War in the Region.”

The resource isn’t perfect. (What resource is?) But one of its segments impressed me as something that, though intended for educators and students, could be clarifying for writers as well, in our work and in the rest of our lives. It’s a section titled “Avoiding Antisemitic and Islamophobic Tropes in Discussing Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”

Screenshot of text published beneath "Avoiding Antisemitic and Islamophobic Tropes in Discussing Israeli-Palestinian Conflict." Text taken from the website linked within the post.
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Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

Three quick updates from my desk.

1. Looking forward to speaking today with a private group of writers (who are participating in a fellowship program) about getting their work published.

2. And looking forward to talking more about writing and publishing (in a specifically Jewish context) for Drisha Institute tomorrow (this one is open to the public, if you’re interested in joining).

3. I really don’t have any words I can share (other than #EnoughIsEnough) concerning yesterday’s horrific news from Uvalde, Texas. But as I texted my friend Rachel Hall, I found myself thinking of some of her recent short fiction, much of which deals with guns and gun violence. And last night, I reread one of her stories, “After,” which was published in Blackbird in 2020.

Finds for Writers

Description: closed trunk and text label announcing, "Finds for Writers."
Image of a wooden trunk, with text label that reads, “Finds for Writers” beside it

Most Fridays the Practicing Writing blog shares writing and publishing resources, news, and reflections to peruse over the weekend. But it’s been an excruciating week for so many of us. And frankly, I’ve paid next-to-no attention to garden-variety news from the writing and publishing spheres.

On Wednesday, however, I received an email from Facing History and Ourselves, a Boston-based global nonprofit organization that I’ve admired for many years. The email introduced a “mini-lesson” titled “Processing Attacks in Israel and the Outbreak of War in the Region.”

The resource isn’t perfect. (What resource is?) But one of its segments impressed me as something that, though intended for educators and students, could be clarifying for writers as well, in our work and in the rest of our lives. It’s a section titled “Avoiding Antisemitic and Islamophobic Tropes in Discussing Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”

Screenshot of text published beneath "Avoiding Antisemitic and Islamophobic Tropes in Discussing Israeli-Palestinian Conflict." Text taken from the website linked within the post.
(more…)