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.”
- “Residencies & Retreats: Getting the Most Out of the Experience”: free Authors Guild webinar happening Monday (April 3).
- “The Big Event – Using Social Occasions to Elevate Your Story”: intriguing ideas from John J. Kelley over on Writer Unboxed.
- At the Library of Congress, the From the Catbird Seat blog is winding down. “We will be reborn as ‘Bookmarked: Celebrating Contemporary Books and Writers at the Library,’ a new blog….‘Bookmarked’ will deliver news about poetry, literature and other literary content related to the Library, including upcoming book talks, news of the Poet Laureate, and more. The new blog merges ‘Catbird’ with our National Book Festival blog, so will provide news and information about our big annual festival in the runup to that event each year, as well.”
- In the aftermath of still more tragedy, Paul Crenshaw’s Twitter post caught my attention: “If you’ve published writing about school shootings–poems, essays, short stories, investigative journalism–please drop a link. Seems like I’ve been writing about this forever, and I want to see what else has been written. I don’t care how painful it is to read.”
- And you’ll find a fresh set of Jewish literary links posted over on My Machberet.
Have a wonderful weekend. (And remember: The April issue of The Practicing Writer 2.0 will be available SOON!)
