Thursday’s Post-Publication Post: New Project, Old Questions

Last week, by sheer force of discipline, I managed to start my day earlier and NOT fritter away the extra time working on this blog, catching up on Facebook or Twitter, or indulging in any one of a number of other distractions. What did I do with this “extra” time?

Reader, I wrote. Even more wonderful, I wrote fiction.

Over the course of a few days, I wrote what could be a short story. Or it could be an opening chapter in a novel. Or perhaps it will end up as one of several “linked” stories in another collection (the characters and their histories are very closely related, if not identical to a few characters in some published stories that I did not include in my first collection, Quiet Americans).

These uncertainties–Am I beginning a novel? Am I writing a discrete story?–are familiar. At least, they’re familiar to me.

True, sometimes the work’s form seems utterly clear right from the start. The day in July 1996 when I discovered the archival documents that inspired my (agented-though-unpublished) novel, The Haguenauer Line, I recognized at once that I’d found the seeds of a novel. Several of the stories in Quiet Americans–“Floating” and “The Quiet American, Or How to Be a Good Guest,” for example–always seemed destined to grow into and be published in story form.

But for a long time, I thought–yes, I hoped–that the book’s closing story, “Mishpocha,” would turn into a novel. And given that a few of the other stories feature some of the same characters, I’ve been asked if I considered novelizing their storylines and/or writing a full-fledged book of linked stories in which those characters would provide the connective tissue.

For me, finding the “right” fictional form sometimes presents real challenges and can take a long time. I’ve long wondered how other writers make these decisions (or if they find there are even decisions to be made).  I’m still wondering, and I’d love to hear what other practicing fictionists have to say.

The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

  • “Poet Mom” January O’Neil just returned from a weekend writing retreat. Here are her 10 tips for making such a retreat successful.
  • I like these “emergency writing motivation techniques” quite a lot! (Hat tip to Fiction Writers Review)
  • If you read yesterday’s “Quotation of the Week,” you already know that I’ve had Eudora Welty on my mind lately. So the time was right for me to discover Peter Orner’s Rumpus.net appreciation for “Eudora Welty, Total Bad Ass.”
  • As always, Midge Raymond has come up with an alluring writing prompt.
  • A few days ago I received the debut issue of Adanna, a new literary journal “for women, about women,” edited by Christine Redman-Waldeyer. Diane Lockward guest-edited this issue, and I’m delighted that she chose my poem, “Umbilicus,” to appear alongside the work of so many talented writers (I’m also grateful for Diane’s wise and gentle editorial suggestions.) The issue’s contents aren’t available online, but you can learn more about the journal here.
  • “None”: singular or plural?
  • If all goes well, I’ll have a sandwich at my desk today at work so I can chime in when the Jewish Book Council’s Twitter Book Club meets over my lunch hour. Today’s book: The Free World, by David Bezmozgis. Why don’t you join us?
  • Jewish Book Carnival: June Edition

    My Machberet is proud to serve as June host for the Jewish Book Carnival, “a monthly event where bloggers who blog about Jewish books can meet, read, and comment on each others’ posts. The posts are hosted on one of the participant’s sites on the 15th of each month.”

    Herewith, this month’s Carnival posts:

    (more…)

    Quotation of the Week: William Maxwell (to Eudora Welty)

    “If what I heard in your voice persists, will you drop everything and come to New York and settle down in the back room and let us hang garlands of love around your neck, day after day, until you are feeling yourself again?”

    William Maxwell to Eudora Welty, in a letter dated January 24, 1967

    If you subscribe to The Writer magazine you can read my review of What There Is to Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell (edited by Suzanne Marrs) in the July issue, which is out now. (If you’re not a subscriber, I’ll eventually share the review online.)

    In the meantime, this week’s quotation is one of my favorite snippets, and it’s cited in the review. I love how it reveals the deep friendship between Maxwell and Welty and reminds us that, no matter how many examples of “bad behavior” we may hear about (or witness) in the lives of writers we admire, some authors really are as admirable off the page as on it.

    Seattle-based Summer Class: Jewish Identity in Short Prose

    I’m always pleased – and intrigued – when I see writing conferences and centers offer classes like this one, scheduled for four weeks this summer at the Richard Hugo House in Seattle:

    Jewish Identity in Short Prose: This class is for aspiring writers interested in examining some themes of Jewish identity in short prose. We will begin by exploring short works including Yiddish tales and works by writers such as Issac Singer, Franz Kafka, Grace Paley and others. We will form our own classroom-driven definitions of identity and other terms of discussion. The instructor will offer various writing prompts to help students generate fiction or nonfiction.

    For details on the class, visit the Hugo House’s summer catalog (and scroll down). (But be forewarned: If you adhere to what I’ll call “full” Shabbat observance, you will be disappointed to see that the class meets on Saturday mornings.)