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.”

- By Josie Glausiusz (for The Washington Post; gift link provided): “Poems Offered Me an Anchor as I Lost My Son, so I Shared Them.”
- Over on The Millions: “‘Poetry’ Editor-in-Chief Adrian Matejka Looks to the Future” (in conversation with Alex Dueben).
- Yes, this is a promotional post from The Sub Club Newsletter‘s Benjamin Davis (and he’s up front about that), but the post itself is free and offers a glimpse into considerations that can apply when one tries to find a home for a 5,000-word short story.
- Over on Writer Unboxed, Heather Webb’s take on “The Secret to Winning in Publishing” happens to resonate strongly with me right now.
- A terrific Horn Book article about diversity in Muslim and Jewish children’s books is just one of the items you’ll find in the latest Jewish Literary Links on My Machberet.
Wishing everyone a good weekend (and for those of us in the U.S., a meaningful Memorial Day holiday). And a quick reminder: By this time next week, the June issue of The Practicing Writer 2.0 will have landed in subscribers’ e-mailboxes. The newsletter is free (so subscribe!); many opportunities listed in the May issue are still open for submissions.

Erika,
A particularly good issue, thanks! I miss your Wednesday musings about your own writing practice, so when you write above, “happens to resonate strongly with me right now,” I’m curious to know what that means.
Very perceptive, Barb–yes, that item made me think about some things that are bubbling here. Maybe I’ll do another “occasional” update soon. Thanks for caring!