Erika Dreifus

Each Friday, the Practicing Writing blog shares writing and publishing resources, news, and reflections to peruse over the weekend.

• ICYMI: Writer Beware, which “shines a bright light into the dark corners of the shadow-world of literary scams, schemes, and pitfalls,” presents its 2022 in review.
• ICYMI, II: Over on Nieman Storyboard they’ve compiled an editor’s-favorites list of “non-exclusive list of Storyboard posts” from the past year “that explore the mastery of craft behind the art of nonfiction story work.”
• Opportunity alert: “Get the Word Out is a publicity incubator for debut authors. Under the mentorship of an accomplished book publicist, authors will develop and execute a strategic publicity plan to maximize the exposure of their first book, reach readers, and create a platform to propel their literary careers.” This fee-free program, under the aegis of Poets & Writers, is currently taking (also fee-free!) applications from those “under contract with a U.S.-based publisher for the publication of a debut poetry collection written in English and scheduled for release between April 1, 2023 and April 30, 2024.” Check for additional eligibility criteria. Deadline: February 3.
• “Since the initial 1970 publication of her classic coming-of-age novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Judy Blume famously refused all offers for a film adaptation. Until screenwriter and director Kelly Fremon Craig wrote Blume an email that changed her mind.” Publishers Weekly‘s Ingrid Roper writes about this and about the movie tie-in edition of the novel that will be published next month ahead of the movie’s spring release. (And, as of this week, there’s a trailer!)
• And last, but by no means least: On this day 125 years ago, French author Émile Zola published his famous “J’accuse” letter; literary treatments of the entire Dreyfus Affair with which the letter is inextricably bound are just one thing you’ll find mentioned in the latest Jewish-lit links on the My Machberet blog.

Have a good weekend, and, for those in the United States, a meaningful Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday observance.