Quick Housekeeping Note

by Erika Dreifus on
3

Hello, all. Just a quick note: I’ve been receiving more than the usual number of requests to post submission calls lately from editors whose publications do not pay writers (or pay only in copies). As you may have noticed over time, I promote only paying opportunities on this blog (and in my monthly newsletter). Moreover, I include only those opportunities that do not charge reading, entry, or any other fees.

While I sometimes mention nonpaying publications (or fee-charging contests) here, it’s generally in the context of pointing you to my own work or other work that I admire. There are plenty of other sites/lists where you can find (and advertise) nonpaying opportunities. This one is different. Thank you all so much for your interest!

The Wednesday Web Browser: Ask Allison, Tablet Magazine, and Woolf Conference Recap

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Author Allison Winn Scotch’s popular “Ask Allison” blog–replete with posts on freelancing and fiction-writing–has a new home online.
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Speaking of changes online: Fans of Nextbook.org (moi included) are settling into a site redesign–and a new name, Tablet Magazine: A New Read on Jewish Life. One of the recently-launched features I’m most happy about: Josh Lambert‘s weekly column on new Jewish books. (Congrats, Josh. I look forward to all your updates!)
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Congrats also to my friend Anne, who recently ran a most successful conference focusing on Virginia Woolf. Do check out Sasha Graybosch’s account of the event on The Rumpus.

The Best Novel You Never Finished Reading

by Erika Dreifus on
4

I’ll admit that I am too embarrassed to reveal the title of the new, much-buzzed-about-novel that I’ve simply failed to keep reading after getting through the first 50 pages. Fortunately, The New Yorker’s Book Bench blog isn’t exactly depending on me for its new series, “Books, Interrupted,” which focuses on “failed” reading projects undertaken by the magazine’s contributors and editors. The debut post comes from author Yiyun Li, who confesses that she’s never made it through Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse (but when you read the post, you’ll have to admit she’s had some decent excuses).

(Anyone who wants to share his or her own biggest “book, interrupted” is welcome to do so here in comments.)

Friday Find: List of PhD in Creative Writing Programs

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Anyone contemplating a PhD in Creative Writing may wish to consult Seth Abramson’s latest research product: a list of nearly 100 programs leading to just such a degree, within and outside the United States. Note that the program sites aren’t linked within Seth’s post, so that part of the investigating remains the reader’s job. (Thank goodness for Google!)

Hope everyone has a great weekend. See you back here on Monday.

UPDATE (12/09): Seth Abramson has discontinued his blog, and this post is no longer available. The next-best resources may be the Poets & Writers program database and AWP’s online directory to creative writing programs (in each case, you can limit the search to PhD programs).

Yesterday’s News: Reflections on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

by Erika Dreifus on
4

I am preparing this post on Wednesday night for posting early on Thursday. I have to be honest with you: I’m having a hard time focusing on anything but the terrible events that unfolded today at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

As some of you know, much of my writing–in every genre–has been influenced by my identity as the elder granddaughter of German Jews who fled to the United States in the late 1930s. I visited the USHMM shortly after it opened. At the time, I was especially moved by “Remember the Children: Daniel’s Story,” an exhibit that was designed with children in mind. (The fact that in the exhibit, Daniel’s fictional sister is named “Erika” only added to the emotion of the visit.)

Although my sister’s two children are still too young to understand this part of our family history, someday we will need to explain to them why the great-grandparents for whom they are named left Germany. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’ve thought of bringing my niece and nephew to see the USHMM exhibit in Washington one day to help with that difficult task.

I am praying for the family of Stephen Tyrone Johns, the brave guard who stopped the shooter–and paid for that bravery with his life.

And I thank you all for indulging me with a post that I’d more typically leave on my “other” blog.