Friday Finds for Writers

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.”

- A memorable message from Cinco Puntos Press in El Paso, via Shelf Awareness.
- So much response to the passing of Nobel laureate Toni Morrison (1931-2019).
- “Before You Market Your Book, Set Your Objectives”—a wise guest post by Boni Wagner-Stafford on JaneFriedman.com
- David Leonhardt’s tips on how to describe a character (character-development crib sheet provided).
- And over on the My Machberet blog, there’s a fresh batch of Jewish-lit links.
May we all have a peaceful weekend.