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Friday Finds for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
12

Treasure ChestWriting-related resources, news, and reflections to enjoy over the weekend.

  • One year later: Remember Richard Blanco’s poem for President Obama’s second inauguration? Did you know that Blanco would have preferred reading another poem he wrote for the occasion?
  • I love this essay by A. Papatya Bucak: “An Address to My Fellow Faculty Who Have Asked Me to Speak About My Work.” (It’s part of the new issue of Brevity.)
  • Sandra Beckwith suggests “7 Things You Can Do to Promote Your Book As Soon As You Finish the First Draft.”
  • There’s much in Lisa Romeo’s post “Poetry for Prose Writers” that resonates with me–especially concerning the influence of my MFA experience on expanding my comfort level with contemporary poetry.
  • And for your weekend viewing/listening pleasure: video from the “hangout” featuring Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro (some rough techno-patches, but of course delightful overall). (h/t @JewishFictioNet)

    • Have a wonderful weekend.

    Wednesday’s WIP: Memories, My German Passport & Me

    by Erika Dreifus on
    8

    Grandma & Me at My Sister's College Graduation, 1994
    Grandma & Me at My Sister’s College Graduation, 1994
    So long as the anticipated snowstorm doesn’t shut down the city, before I head to the day job today, I’m stopping off at the German consulate, where I’m renewing my German passport. When I went online to book my appointment back in November–you need to make one, you can’t handle this by mail–I thought it was really something that the first available appointment was January 22: my German grandmother’s birthday.

    As many of you already know, my grandmother–who would be 99 today–was a huge influence on the stories in my collection, Quiet Americans. Which celebrated the third anniversary of its publication a few days ago, too.

    And as for my passport, it was the focus of one of my first published essays. The scan quality isn’t great, but I’ve uploaded a copy of “Passport from the Past,” which was published in the Boston Sunday Globe in 1997.

    [UPDATE: The city schools (and my office) are open–but transit is dicey and non-essential travels around the city aren’t in the cards this morning. I’m going straight to work and rescheduling the consular appointment. I think that Grandma would approve!]

    Wednesday’s WIP: Highs & Lows, Or My Writing Year in Review

    by Erika Dreifus on
    3

    calendar_2013Much as I love Lisa Romeo’s idea of an annual “I Did It” list to summarize my writing year, I’m going to kick it back old-school here and simply list a few professional highs–and not-so-highs–that I will remember about 2013. (more…)