Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

by Erika Dreifus on
6

Singing for My Supper (Technically, Lecturing for My Lunch)

I’ve written here about the New York Society Library before. It’s a lovely, lovely institution where yesterday I gave a brief “Writing Life” talk titled “Writing Contests 101.”

NYSocLib

The group was delightful, and I had a wonderful time. After the session, the librarian who had invited me to speak, Carolyn Waters, treated me to a delicious lunch at a nearby restaurant.

(I didn’t “advertise” this event ahead of time, because it was limited to Library members only. But I’m happy to share the resource handout that I distributed there.) (more…)

Sunday Sentence

by Erika Dreifus on
2

Unknown-1In 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.”

“Because obviously I am not eighteen and I work, so school is not an academic exercise for me, and not just me, as I’m sure you’d realize if you looked around the room one of these days and saw there are thirty- and forty-year-olds and some a lot older than you are in the class—the point is, when you’ve been through marriage, kids, jobs, welfare, and the whole gamut and you come back to school you’re ready for the real thing, and as far as I’m concerned Augustine’s Conception of the Soul or whatever is not it.”

–Allegra Goodman, “Onionskin,” in Total Immersion, which I’ve just reread thanks to Elizabeth Edelglass’s recent review.

Words of the Week

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

“There’s no reason to spoil The Narrative, the great story of a benighted Israel governed by hard and bad men and growing increasingly intransigent and soulless and mean—as evidenced by their opposition to Obama’s attempts to reach a mutually-beneficial nuclear deal with Iran. When it comes to Israel, it’s the only story the Times knows how to tell, even when the facts get in the way. For that, we’ll always have The Correction.”
–Liel Leibovitz, “The Correction” (Tablet)

But. Also.