Erika Dreifus

Three quick updates from my desk.

1. Good news: The online kidlit (picture book) class that I mentioned last week kicked off yesterday. Less-good news: I’m already behind! I was just so swamped yesterday that I didn’t get to check in with the first lesson at all. Hoping to make up for that lost time a bit today.

2. Had a great time on Sunday taking part in the latest Jerusalism Virtual Open Mic event. This was my first event (to my knowledge) that was simultaneously livestreamed on Facebook. Which means that a recording exists of my featured reading from Birthright: Poems, the subsequent Q&A, and all of the other readers’ presentations.

3. I’ll admit that live, spoken Q&A sessions (where I’m the questionee instead of the questioner) always make me a bit nervous. What if I don’t have a “good” answer to a question? What if I mumble and bumble my way through? What if I forget to mention key, useful info?

Case in point: One question that came my way during the above-mentioned Q&A concerned mentorship. And I don’t think that I handled that question all that well.

But I hope that the questioner may somehow be reading this blog today. Thanks to a Talkwalker alert, I’ve discovered this wonderful piece by Brenda Joyce Patterson for the DIY MFA website. It’s all about literary mentorship. (And it references my newsletter, which is how the alert pinged me. And speaking of the newsletter: The latest issue went out to subscribers on Monday.)