Roxana Robinson’s Writing Room

by Erika Dreifus on
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One of the things I’ve most missed about my Cambridge apartment (which I left when I moved to New York in early 2007) is the perfect home office I’d managed to create there. Now that I am on my way to securing a dedicated writing space in a new Manhattan abode, I have been thinking about how wonderful it will be to have all my books, binders, and papers within reach again. And a big desk. For starters.

So I was certainly intrigued to see the New York Times run an article this past weekend that focused on author Roxana Robinson’s home writing “hideout.” I was particularly interested in Robinson’s choice to work in a room the article describes as “as spare as a monk’s cell,” rather than in “a study that would seem the ideal lair for a novelist.”

Most of all, I was just happy to see the subject of a writer’s working space treated so front-and-center in the newspaper’s real estate section!

How to Find Books to Review

by Erika Dreifus on
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Keeping up with a theme from last week, I thought I’d provide some tips on how to locate books you might pitch to editors for reviews before the books have actually been published. Because if you want to publish reviews in magazines, newspapers, and quite a number of Web sites that look for fresh content, you generally need to be working ahead. (Literary journals, which tend to publish less frequently, aren’t necessarily always looking to time their reviews with a book’s release.)

Here are a few ways to find out about forthcoming books:

1) Publishers Weekly’s “announcement” editions. The Fall 2009 announcements issue (for books for adults) was printed last week. Here’s a guide to upcoming hardcovers featured in the magazine. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen the print version of this issue, but I recall lots of very informative publishers’ ads tipping me off to review possibilities, too.

2) Publishers’ catalogs. Since I’m partial to university presses, I’ve been looking at the fall/winter 2009 offerings from those publishers. I count on the Association of American University Press’s member directory to get me started each season. You might also want to investigate independent presses and/or the “big” houses.

3) This is a bit complicated, but bear with me. You can also find not-yet-published books by strategically searching a mega-site like amazon.com. By browsing within a “Books” category (say, “Literature & Fiction,” further narrowed to “Short Stories”), you reach a page that allows you to sort results by publication date. The first book to show up will be the one slated for the latest publication date in the system. By reading the listing, you’ll see who is publishing the book, and therefore you’ll know where to go to request a review copy. (Be careful, because paperback releases of books initially published in hardcover will show up as new books, and in my experience, editors tend not to be so interested in publishing reviews of paperbacks that aren’t initially released in that format.)

These are my three “favorite” strategies for finding books to review. What are yours?

The Wednesday Web Browser: Practice of Poetry Edition

by Erika Dreifus on
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National Public Radio profiles poet–and single mom/corporate communicator–Elizabeth Haukaas. (The piece is part of a series on how artists make a living. Which, NPR suggests, is not solely by writing poetry!)
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English instructor Art Scheck shares his students’ struggles reading (let alone writing) poetry.
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And a more biting take on poetry in the classroom from Billy Collins, courtesy of a recent installment of The Writer’s Almanac.

From My Bookshelf: Mothers In All But Name, Edited by Marguerite Guzman Bouvard

by Erika Dreifus on
2

You may remember that I have some strong feelings on the subject of writing about motherhood, and some very strong feelings on the specific topic of writing about motherhood as a writer who is not a mother.

So it may not surprise you that I was intrigued when I read Wordamour’s description of a new anthology “about all the different forms mothering can take.” Edited by Marguerite Guzman Bouvard, it’s called Mothers In All But Name, and, as its subtitle suggests, it features contributions from “grandmothers, aunts, sisters, friends, strangers, and nannies.” In fact, I was intrigued enough to order a copy, and to read it this past weekend.

There are a lot of personal/familial reasons this subject matter resonates with me (and I’d love to have an anthology assignment to prompt me to write an essay of my own about [one or more of] them). But as a writer, and as a writer who has already been pretty outspoken about the feasibility of non-mothers writing fiction “about” motherhood, I have to admit that these lines resonated with me instantly:

In the ten years between [a job as a nanny for a child with special needs] and bearing my own children, I carry my other motherhood like a phantom limb. In graduate school, I occasionally write stories that celebrate the bonds of parents and children, stories that are generally well received, some even published in literary magazines. One chain-smoking visiting writer, however, eying my twenty four year old countenance (undoubtedly undercut by a relentlessly baby face) insists that I write what I know.

‘What,’ she asks, waving my manuscript about a father who fears his daughter might be abducted ‘Do you know about being a parent?’

Mothers In All But Name is definitely not the showiest, most polished, or glossiest “mama” anthology you’re likely to find, but it’s certainly a worthwhile addition to the literature on motherhood.