Writing-related resources, news, and reflections to enjoy over the weekend.
“Fictionalizing my family’s stories—and adding magical realism—set me free. And set my imagination on fire.” So explains Helen Maryles Shankman in a reflective, craft-centered post on using family stories to write historical fiction (a topic near and dear to my own heart and writing practice) for Writer Unboxed.
“I was putting pressure on myself to read more and more, and only read new books. Or at least books new to me. Somehow, though, with all of the books at my disposal, I was actually reading less.” Intriguing Book Riot post by Brandi Bailey on “How the Book World Almost Killed My Love of Books, and How I Bounced Back.”
Pedagogical/classroom resource: “From ‘Lives’ to ‘Modern Love’: Writing Personal Essays With Help From The New York Times.” (via @JBoltonFasman)
ICYMI: The latest batch of updates from the Poetry Has Value bloggers have gone live. As always, I encourage you to read them all; if you’re just desperate to read my contribution in particular, you’ll find it here.
And last, but not least: the latest Fig Tree Books newsletter, edited by yours truly and featuring some superb pre-publication praise for Abigail Pogrebin’s My Jewish Year (coming in March 2017) and other choice information.
Have a great weekend, everyone. I’m about to embark on some travels, so expect the blog to be quiet for a bit. Thanks for your patience, and see you again soon.