Quotation of the Week: Scott Nadelson

by Erika Dreifus on
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Q: “What advice would you give your younger self?”

“I think it would be the same advice I give myself now, whenever I feel frustrated or lost, whenever I worry that I’ll never write another decent book or story or sentence: Don’t take yourself too seriously.

I once had a teacher who told me a story about a conversation he had with Grace Paley. He was working with her while at Stanford, complaining to her about how badly the writing was going, how tortured he was by the process. And she turned to him and said, ‘You don’t have to do it, you know. No one’s sitting around waiting for your next story.’

It may be devastating to realize that no one but you is going to care if you stop writing. But it’s also wonderfully freeing. All pressures and expectations drop away. You don’t have to worry about shaping the future of literature or saving the world. You can just put one word after another for the simple pleasure of making something out of nothing.”

Source: Interview with Scott Nadelson, Fiction Writers Review

Monday Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
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  • Based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “Southern Cultures covers all aspects of the region’s mainstream and marginalized cultures—through interviews, essays, articles, personal reminiscences, poetry, fiction, reviews, and surveys on contemporary trends. We are a peer-reviewed quarterly and welcome well-written submissions year-round from authors, scholars, and anyone else with insights into our region.” Upcoming deadlines include March 5, 2012 (for the annual Music issue), and June 1, 2012 (for a Remembering the Civil War issue). Pays: “We pay $250 for essay-length pieces and $100 for shorter works.”
  • An interesting project is going on with two Canadian literary journals (both journals routinely pay their contributors). “In the fall of 2012, The Malahat Review and The Fiddlehead will celebrate the writing of each other’s regions, with the former publishing an East Coast issue and the latter a West Coast issue. Writers with strong connections to either or both regions are invited to submit to the issue that will best provide their work the most apt and safe harbor.” Submission deadline is May 15, 2012.
  • The January issue of The Practicing Writer went out to subscribers late last week. If you’re not yet a subscriber, you can read the current issue–and check out all of the no-fee competitions and paying submission calls–right here.
  • I’ve sung the praises of Duotrope.com for poets and fiction writers before: I’m delighted to see that the site will soon expand to cover creative-nonfiction markets, too!
  • Ohio University seeks an Assistant Professor of English (Creative Writing-Fiction).
  • From Hamline University (Minn.): “The Creative Writing Programs (CWP) invites applications for a tenure-track position in fiction to begin in August 2012.”
  • From Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts: “The English/Communications Department seeks candidates for a full-time, temporary faculty position in Creative Writing and Literature, to begin January 17, 2012, with the possibility of renewal. The successful candidate will teach a wide range of creative writing and literature courses and offer courses in the general education program, including composition.”
  • “The English Department at Portland State University [Ore.] invites applications for a tenure-track 1.0 FTE position as an Assistant Professor in Nonfiction Writing to begin in September 2012.”
  • California State University, Northridge, plan to hire an Assistant Professor in Screenwriting.
  • The University of Maryland University College seeks a Web Communications Writer-Editor, the University of Chicago Medical Center Development team is looking for a Senior Writer, and the National Constitution Center (Philadelphia) invites applications for an Editor-in-Chief position with Constitution Daily, the center’s blog.

    • Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
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  • Some fascinating literary history involving Ralph Waldo Emerson and Emma Lazarus, courtesy of Benjamin Ivry on The Forward‘s Arty Semite blog.
  • Thanks to the Yiddishkayt site, I discovered a fabulous video profile of author Arnost Lustig (1926-2011) that was produced for Czech TV. Thankfully, there are English subtitles. And the profile perfectly captures Arnost, with whom I had the privilege of studying in the Prague Summer Program in 2004. Arnost would have turned 85 last week.
  • On her Jewish Muse blog, Linda K. Wertheimer reflects on writing about faith and related writings that she published this year.
  • It’s not common for me to publicly utter anything resembling a criticism of Israel. (See this poem on that subject.) On the contrary, one link I planned to share this week is The Jewish Week‘s editorial chiding The New York Times, which includes a number of sentiments that I share about the latter’s Israel coverage. But that same New York Times was also the source this week of an Israel-related op-ed that I find deeply disturbing—and this time my upset is not directed toward the newspaper. I hope that Yad Vashem will correct the injustice described in the piece (and confirmed by an easy online search).
  • After an inexcusable delay, I’m currently reading Joan Leegant’s Wherever You Go. I’m sorry that it took me this long to begin this excellent novel.

    • Shabbat shalom and Happy 2012, all!

    Friday Find: What to Do Before Your Book Debuts

    by Erika Dreifus on
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    Over on the information-packed, multi-author Beyond the Margins blog, Randy Susan Meyers has begun a series of “What do Do Before Your Book Debuts” posts. The first post outlines some beginning steps; the second focuses on author websites and blogging; and in due course we’ll be reading about “Publicists, Marketing, Launch Parties, MANNERS! and more.” I’ll be following along and trying to learn what I might have done more effectively before my story collection, Quiet Americans, was published.

    Meantime, here’s wishing you all an extra-wonderful New Year’s weekend. See you back here in 2012!

    Thursday’s Work-in-Progress

    by Erika Dreifus on
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    I was hoping to squeeze in some especially productive writing time this week between Christmas and New Year’s. After all, I was scheduled to go to my “day job” just two days. One of those days dropped away when a winter cold worsened and I decided to take yesterday off.

    For a brief morning moment, my mood brightened. Unanticipated “free” time! Somehow, I’ve never quite accepted the idea that on a “sick day” I’m not necessarily going get a lot of writing done. That, in other words, I’m staying home precisely because I lack the energy and clarity of thought to work. That I should just succumb to naps and cable news and maybe reading a magazine article or two and let the writing slide. But invariably, I relearn my lesson each time.

    Which means that I haven’t exactly maximized this week writing-wise. Before 2011 ends this weekend, though, I’ll have sent out the January 2012 Practicing Writer newsletter (thank goodness for my work-ahead ethic). Hopefully, I’ll have at least started the two review assignments that require my prompt attention. And maybe I’ll have made some progress on one more project.

    You see, earlier this month, I dove into Brian Klems’s “12-Day Plan of Simple Writing Exercises,” which concludes with these instructions: “Gather everything you’ve written over the previous 11 days. Pick your favorite. Edit it, polish it and either try to get it published or post it on the Web to share with the world. Be proud of yourself and your work.”

    Well, I’ve selected my favorite piece. I’ve begun editing and polishing it, but much more revision awaits me. In all likelihood, that work will continue well into 2012. (For one thing, the piece began as a poem, but seems to be edging into essay territory.)

    What about you? What are the works-in-progress that you will be carrying into 2012? I’d love to know, if you’re willing to tell me.