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Weekend Web Wanderings

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Usually, I limit writing-link roundups to the “Friday Finds” posts. But I’ve run across so many interesting items over the past couple of days that I’m going sharing an exceptional set of “Weekend Web Wanderings” today as well. Hope that you enjoy!

  • Over on the Ploughshares blog, Rebecca Makkai advocates “writing as if…”. (h/t @occasionallyzen)
  • There’s something kind of whiny about this piece by Lionel Shriver on how much non-writing is involved in a writer’s work life. But there’s also something true about it.
  • Fascinating interview with poet Nikki Finney. Among the thought-provoking morsels: “Nobody wants to hear your rant. If you want to rant and if you want to be full of rage, you can put that in your journal book. Art is about the provocative, but it is also about the beautiful. I never forget that. They go hand in hand for me.”
  • Carol Tice takes on the subject of early-reader reviews–and how to make them better.
  • And I’m cheating a bit with this one. Let’s just say that I’ve recently been “inspired” to revisit my own “7 Reasons This Writer May Unfollow You on Twitter.”

    • Sunday Sentence

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    BetweenFriends
    Another Sunday in which I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, which asks others to share the best sentence(s) we’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.”

    When Lilah remarked that in order to have progress, there have to be victims, David Dagan agreed with her and added that history is by no means a garden party.

    Source: “Father,” by Amos Oz, in Oz’s collection Between Friends, trans. Sondra Silverston

    10 Ways to Celebrate Jewish Book Month

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    book.month.poster.2013The Holy Days are barely behind us, and we’re already preparing for Hanukkah (the first day of which, as some have realized, coincides with American Thanksgiving this year). But between these events comes something else that should be on your calendar: Jewish Book Month.

    Running this year from October 26 to November 26, Jewish Book Month is associated most visibly with the New York-based Jewish Book Council. Many of the author visits to North American synagogues and Jewish community centers that are highlights of local Jewish book festivals occur during this time period. Check this list of sites associated with the Jewish Book Council to see what may be planned during Jewish Book Month in your area.

    But whether you’re in New York or New Zealand, you can find ways to appreciate the richness and diversity of Jewish books and writing over the next month. Here are 10 suggestions:

    Read the rest of my article for The Forward‘s Arty Semite blog right here.

    Friday Finds for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    3

    Treasure ChestWriting-related resources, news, and reflections to enjoy over the weekend.

  • Beautiful essay by Daniel Nester on the influence of poet Philip Levine.
  • “Scratch Magazine publishes smart, useful stories about the intersection of writing and money. Scratch is for writers of all genres and trades—and for anyone who wants to know where the publishing and journalism industries go from here. Each quarterly issue features in-depth interviews, reportage, resources, and personal stories about the work of being a writer.” Check out the free preview issue. Perhaps, like me, you’ll decide to subscribe.
  • Ethan Gilsdorf: “Schmoozing: It’s the dirty secret that makes the writing world go ’round. This skill is especially key to freelance writing, but really it’s what connects the movers and shakers and wannabes that make up writing’s major genres — fiction, nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting, playwriting.”
  • Michael Nye on the waiting-game part of litmag submissions/publication. Related topic: Jessica Bell takes us behind-the-scenes at a literary journal (hers).
  • On the Ruminate magazine blog: reflections on perseverance, from one of the magazine’s contest winners. (via Jessica Wilbanks)

    • Have a great weekend, everyone!

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • There’s still time to enter this year’s Jewish Playwriting Contest. Read this update from the Jewish Plays Project.
  • New opportunity from the Schusterman Foundation: “#MakeItHappen invites YOU to show how small change can lead to big impact. Submit your inspired ideas for creating a Jewish experience that will make a meaningful difference in your community. Between October and December 2013, up to 50 ideas from around the world will be selected to receive a micro grant of up to $1,000. Five ideas could receive up to $5,000.” I’d love to see more literary-oriented ideas proposed!
  • “A 90-year-old Holocaust survivor made his orchestral debut with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma on Tuesday to benefit a foundation dedicated to preserving the work of artists and musicians killed by the Nazis.”
  • Grace Schulman has a new poetry collection out.
  • Via the daily Publishers Lunch newsletter, I learned this week that we can anticipate two new books from Etgar Keret: “THE SEVEN GOOD YEARS, a memoir in essays following the years between the birth of his son and the death of his father, and his next story collection.” Investigating further, here’s what I discovered about the former title. (If any of you have access to the full Publishers Lunch/Publishers Marketplace info, and can fill us in on exactly when we can expect those books to be published, I’d be grateful.)

    • Shabbat shalom.