Erika Dreifus

Each week (typically Fridays), the Practicing Writing blog offers writing and publishing resources, news, and reflections to peruse over the weekend.

• Publishing for Minnesota is an initiative from “a group of industry insiders organizing a two-day online auction on January 29–30 to raise funds for Minnesotans and immigrants elsewhere.” (As reported by Claire Kirch for Publishers Weekly.)
• As noted on the NewPages blog, Kaleidoscope (“exploring the experience of disability through literature and the fine arts”) has published its final issue.
• “At a family party last weekend, an aunt who I had not seen in years leaned into my ear and said, ‘I read your book. There were quite a few things in it that didn’t need to be said.'” Read more from nonfiction writer Melissa Fraterrigo in “A Conversation (About Shame)—And What to Say to Someone Who Tries to Disgrace Your Work.” Exercise included.
• Catch up with any of the scams you may have missed as recapped in “Best of Writer Beware: 2025 in Review.”
• And over on My Machberet, there’s a new post spotlighting multiple calls for submissions and similar opportunities within the Jewish-writing space. Which reminds me to mention that the February issue of The Practicing Writer 2.0 will be going out to subscribers TODAY. As usual, it will be packed with dozens of fee-free and paying/funded opportunities for writers of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.

Wishing everyone a good weekend.