Erika Dreifus

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.”

• Useful reminder about not saying “no” to yourself in Ruben Quesada’s latest “Promotion for Poets” Substack newsletter (the remarks definitely apply to writers other than poets, too!).
• ICYMI in my midweek post: Looking for still another alternative to NaNoWriMo? (I’ve already pointed you to the idea of making November your personal “National Novella Month”) Consider Nancy Stohlman’s next FlashNano, also taking place in November.
• “An agent is one way to navigate traditional publishing. It’s not the only one, or necessarily the best, and getting one is a prohibitive process for many writers whose voices we want—and need—to hear.” From Anne Trubek’s latest “Notes from a Small Press.”
• “The First Person in Journalism Must Be Earned”—a 2018 conference address by Ted Conover, published this week via The Postscript.
• And of course, you’ll find a new set of Jewish literary links posted over on the My Machberet blog.

Have a great weekend.