Posts Tagged‘Conferences’

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Thursday’s Pre-Publication Post: Event Announcements!

by Erika Dreifus on
2

Some nice news this week. Let’s start with this: The first “official” event for my forthcoming story collection, Quiet Americans, has been confirmed! If you’re going to be in the Washington, D.C., area on Sunday, February 6, 2011, please consider yourself invited to come by the National Museum of American Jewish Military History (near Dupont Circle in the District) for a reading and discussion. The event will take place from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., and it will be free of charge. Bonus: Refreshments will be served (the event coordinator is a very kind and gracious person!).

I approached the NMAJMH for several reasons. First, it’s a museum I’ve been curious to visit myself. My paternal grandfather served in World War II, and (here’s reason #2) his military experience as a Jewish serviceman inspired one of the stories in Quiet Americans. In fact, I’d say it’s pretty likely that I’ll read from that story, “Lebensraum,” that afternoon. (I’d love to situate it alongside some other Jewish-American military-themed fiction, so please share any tips you may have in comments. Already on my list: Philip Roth’s “Defender of the Faith” and Rachel Kadish’s “The Argument”.)

I also wanted to maximize the event potential inherent in a trip to D.C. That’s where the next Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference will be held, from February 2-5. I haven’t been to an AWP conference in a couple of years, but D.C. is relatively nearby, and having two panel proposals accepted sealed the deal. (Here go some more of those vacation days I’ve banked up at the day job!)

Speaking of those AWP panels, this week I learned exactly when and where each one will be taking place. Please visit my updated “News & Events” page for details. Those of you who are planning to come to AWP, I hope that you’ll have time to stop by one or both!

Friday Find: Home Thoughts from Abroad

by Erika Dreifus on
3

No, I’m not about to point you to some resource about Robert Browning. But I am about to leave shortly on a long-planned trip out of the country. And I won’t be blogging while I’m gone.

So if you’re looking for something to help with your writing practice while I’m away, I hope that you’ll find enough right here on our home site, erikadreifus.com, to keep you busy. If you haven’t yet taken a look around, here are some of the resources you’ll discover:

That should keep you busy for awhile! I’ll look forward to catching up with all of you later in the month!

Thursday’s Pre-Publication Post: Vistaprint to the Rescue!

by Erika Dreifus on
2

New book. New website. New primary email address. Also, as it happens, new cell phone coordinates (finally parted with my original Massachusetts number). What was missing?

New business cards! And, while I was at it, new postcards for my blogs and the book.

Vistaprint to the rescue.

I spent quite a chunk of time last weekend on the Vistaprint site, selecting and editing designs for a new business card and postcards to promote both of my blogs: Practicing Writing and My Machberet (pictured). I’m still tweaking the postcard for Quiet Americans, but since I had already crossed the threshhold for free shipping, I went ahead and ordered the rest of the materials on Sunday. This way, they’ll arrive today (so the FedEx tracking system promises), and I can start putting them to use as soon as Sunday, when I’ll be attending the Jewish Authors’ Conference here in NYC.

I heart Vistaprint (even though they inundate me with emails and offers).

Quotation of the Week: Beth Garland

by Erika Dreifus on
3

This week I’m proud to present not only a quotation, but rather an entire brief essay by my friend Beth Garland, who has recently returned from a trip to the War, Literature, and the Arts Conference in Colorado Springs. The theme of the 2010 conference was “the representation and reporting of America’s wars from 1990 to present.” Beth was invited to appear and read from one of her most impressive works of short fiction to date (and I’ve read many of them), “Departure,” a piece that focuses on one Army wife’s journey home after sending her husband off on a deployment to Iraq.

Here’s a little bit about our guest blogger: Beth Garland, a former technical writer, earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte. She has been “married to the military” for 10 years and has written articles on military marriage for examiner.com. She lives in Surf City, N.C., with her husband and two daughters and is expecting a third child next spring.

In the week leading up to the War, Literature, and the Arts Conference in Colorado Springs, my emotions ran from one end of the spectrum to the other. Fear, pride, excitement, dread…wanting to go ahead with the trip as planned one day, ready to back out the next. I’d like to blame it all on the fact that I’m newly pregnant again and my hormones are going crazy, but in truth, I was just being me, a terribly anxious person who always expects the worst. I’m afraid to fly, so I could hardly believe that I needed to worry about how well the 15-minute reading of my story “Departure,” would go, since I wouldn’t survive the trip there, but if by some miracle I did, I would have to face my second biggest fear, public speaking. And then, if I were still breathing after all that, I’d have to get back on a plane and fly home. I began to refer to the ordeal as the Trifecta of Terror (more…)

News from the Jewish Book Council

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

I’ve been away for a bit, but now I’m back in NYC and catching up on all kinds of news to share. And there are two items from the Jewish Book Council that I wanted to be sure to bring to your attention:

First, you can find plenty of excellent titles to add to your personal reading list among the new books authored by participants in the 2010-11 Jewish Book NETWORK. Take a look!

Also, check out the upcoming Jewish Authors’ Conference, slated for Sunday, October 3, here in NYC. Subtitled “Writing for Adult Readers,” the conference is offering early-bird discounted registration until September 15. I’m going to be there–I hope that some of you will be, too.