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.”

- Among the goodies in Allison Pottern Hoch’s latest newsletter: “what to expect from your publicist.“
- For me, perhaps the most interesting aspect of T. Coraghessan Boyle’s short story in this week’s New Yorker is its use of alternating narrators, a topic that I can’t help wishing had received a more lengthy answer in this Q&A on the magazine’s site.
- I’m bookmarking this brief guide on the using the present tense when writing about literary works for future reference (and teaching).
- Speaking of teaching: I missed the Library of Congress’s recent webinar with Rita Dove on teaching poetry, but fortunately, I’ve found a recording, and I hope to watch it soon.
- And you’ll find the latest Jewish Literary Links posted over on the My Machberet blog.
Have a great weekend!
