Today has been quiet, sort of, so far. Take a moment and make some notes about what's happening. Call it your Coronavirus diary, your plague journal, whatever. It's important. Later, you will want a record.
— Ruth Franklin 🍵 (@ruth_franklin) March 16, 2020
Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer
Three quick updates.
1. Something I should be doing (but haven’t started, yet).
A diary may be too ambitious, but at the very least, I should be writing an essay, or vignettes. I have thoughts! They seem worth setting down and exploring. But as counter-intuitive as it may seem, despite all the cancellations and restrictions, I seem to be less productive than usual. (Yesterday was an improvement, and I managed to check off a bunch of things that were on my list. But the preceding days are another story.)
2. All of my remaining March events have been canceled/postponed (with the notable exception of this webinar, which, because it’s a webinar, I’ll teach from home). One April reading here in New York is still scheduled, but I won’t be surprised if it’s ultimately canceled, too.
3. Latest byline. I was cheered yesterday when I received my copy of the March-April issue of Hadassah magazine, which contains my review of Vanessa L. Ochs’s The Passover Haggadah: A Biography. I expect that the review will be available online at some point, and I’ll share the link when it is. For now, though, enjoy this sneak peek!
Stay safe and healthy, everyone. And ICYMI: Take note of this list of emergency resources for writers: bit.ly/EmergencyResourcesWriters.