Blogs
I maintain two blogs: Practicing Writing and My Machberet. Posts for both blogs show up on this page, but you can visit each blog by clicking on the appropriate link. It's also possible to subscribe to each feed.
Practicing Writing: Here you'll find updates on writing and publishing opportunities (especially handy between issues of our popular monthly newsletter). You'll discover ONLY opportunities that charge no fees, and ONLY publications/contests that will pay for your writing. The blog also shares writing-related news, resources, and quotations; book reviews; and occasional updates regarding this practicing writer's own work.
My Machberet: "Machberet" is the Hebrew word for notebook. Since it's also (appropriately) one of the very first words I learned in my first Hebrew school in Brooklyn (and, I confess, one of the few conversational Hebrew words I still remember), I've chosen it to title this blog, where I offer write-ups on Jewish news (especially of the literary sort) and occasional commentary.
by Erika Dreifus on Sunday, June 23, 2019
In which I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, sharing the best sentence I’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.”
If you were from a striving, suburban family — one many degrees of separation removed from anyone like Gloria Vanderbilt — then you could not easily shake the belief that popularity, or even just acceptance, was a dream to be forfeited unless you wore tightfitting denim with someone else’s name on the back.
Source: Ginia Bellafante, “Before Trump and the Kardashians, Gloria Vanderbilt Invented the Personal Brand” (The New York Times)
Reminder: I’ll be away for a bit this week—please anticipate the return of blog posts on FRIDAY. Have a good week!
Labels: Sunday Sentence
by Erika Dreifus on Friday, June 21, 2019
Writing-related resources, news, and reflections to peruse over the weekend. Continue reading ›
Labels: Book Publishers, Fiction, Interviews, Poetry, Writing on Writing
by Erika Dreifus on Friday, June 21, 2019
In which the My Machberet blog presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety. Continue reading ›
Labels: For Kids, Israeli Literature, Jewish Writing Opportunities, Jewish-American literature, Literary Events
by Erika Dreifus on Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Three quick things.
Photo by Jody Christopherson.
1. The finish line (or perhaps I should say, a finish line) is in view! I’m wrapping up everything that’s due (soon!) to my publisher to move the Birthright collection into production.
One thing that I think is settled: the author photo for the back cover! (Gratitude to photographer Jody Christopherson and makeup artist Jody Formica. FYI: I connected with this dynamic duo through my friend Julia Knobloch, who worked with them a few months earlier; Do Not Return, Julia’s debut poetry collection, will be out from Broadstone Books on July 1, and I can’t wait for my pre-ordered copy to arrive. Continue reading ›
Labels: Birthright, Book Promotion, Midweek Notes, Poetry, Resources, Work-in-Progress
by Erika Dreifus on Monday, June 17, 2019
The weekly batch of no-fee, paying competitions, contests, and calls for submissions—plus jobs for those of us who write (especially those of us who write fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction). These posts are intended to complement/supplement monthly issues of The Practicing Writer newsletter, where you’ll always find more listings, none of them limiting eligibility to residents of a single municipality, state, or province (this blog, on the other hand, does sometimes include those more restricted opportunities). 
Continue reading ›
Labels: Book Publishers, Contests, Creative Nonfiction, Grants, Jobs for Writers (Non-Teaching), Literary Journals, Monday Markets, Poetry, The Teaching of Writing
by Erika Dreifus on Friday, June 14, 2019
Writing-related resources, news, and reflections to peruse over the weekend. Continue reading ›
Labels: Agents, Craft of Writing, Poetry, Social Media, Writing on Writing, Writing Workshops
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