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.

Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

by Erika Dreifus on
9

On Saying No

I receive a lot of writing-related requests. Within the past week, for example, two authors have asked me to blurb their novels. Someone else asked me to recommend a Yiddish translator in a certain part of the country. Another person wrote to request that I check out his website and maybe recommend it to all of you. And an author asked me to recommend where to submit his just-published book for reviews (and also, for post-publication prizes).

Here’s how I responded to those requests. (more…)