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.”
- First things first: Earlier this morning, the November issue of The Practicing Writer 2.0 went out to subscribers. This month’s edition features 36 fee-free, paying opportunities. Check it out, and share it with your writing networks.
- You’ll find in the above-mentioned newsletter mentions of lots of literary magazines. In the newsletter, the litmags appear mainly as potential destinations for your work. But there’s lots more to love about literary magazines. Just ask Nick Ripatrazaone.
- “Yes, marketing statistics show that people have to hear about your book seven times, in seven different places, before they decide to buy it. But tone-deaf self-promotion does not create a pleasant memory of Oh I should purchase this book. Repeated advertising in social settings creates resentment and irritation, and as I wrote here a while ago, irritation doesn’t sell anything.” A warning—and an alternative approach—from Allison K. Williams.
- Did you know that there’s an election happening next week? I’m guessing so. But here’s something that may be news: “a series of virtual conversations about the post-election moment,” organized by Writers Against Tr*mp.
- And there’s a fresh set of Jewish literary links posted over on the My Machberet blog, including a timely discussion of how journalists write about antisemitism—and how they don’t.
