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Thursday’s Work-in-Progress: Four Fun Facts About My Year in Jewish Books

by Erika Dreifus on
2

Earlier this week, I wrote about “My Year in Jewish Books” on my “other” blog (which is called “My Machberet” and features news and notes on matters of specifically Jewish literary and cultural interest). But as a practicing writer who knows how significant reading is to the vigor of her writing practice–not to mention as a practicing writer who frequently writes reviews of Jewish-themed books as part of that practice–I’m going to devote this “Work-in-Progress” post on Practicing Writing to some observations based on my analysis of that list of 18 titles.

1) I’m doing OK–could be better, but could also be much worse–when it comes to reading books in translation. We all know about that unpleasant “three percent” figure, right? Well, four of the 18 titles on my list–that makes about 22 percent–were books in translation. I don’t think that the relatively healthy connection between Jewish literature and literature in translation is incidental. I do think that when you belong to a diaspora culture, and you’re drawn to certain books accordingly, you’re going to be reading books that were written originally in different languages.

2) I purchased way more books than I thought I had. I live in a New York City apartment, and I receive a lot of free books as review copies. I’m also a regular visitor to the public library. I had begun to believe that I was not, in fact, as conscientious a book-buyer as I should be. I am frankly a bit surprised by the fact that I purchased so many of the titles on this list (basically half of them). Maybe the fact that several were Kindle purchases–and therefore not visible in my office or on my nightstand–has something to do with my surprise here. Keep in mind, again, that these are by no means all the books I bought this year. They’re only all the books on Jewish themes that I bought for myself. That leaves out all the books that I purchased as gifts, and all the books that I didn’t necessary consider to be “Jewish.”

3) Unsurprisingly, I am still reading quite a lot about the Holocaust. More than half of the books on this list deal with the Holocaust and/or its after-effects in some way. I should have more to say about this–especially given that I’m still thinking about Daphne Merkin’s recent reflections on Holocaust-related films. But for the moment, I’ll just let the fact sit there.

4) Without additional analysis, I can’t really know the extent to which all of my “Jewish” reading reflects my habits more generally. But here is how the genre distribution works out here: Novels on this list: 10 (56 percent); Memoirs/memoiristic essays: 2 (11 percent). Other nonfiction: 2 (11 percent). Poetry collections: 2 (11 percent). Graphic novels/books for young readers: 1 (5.5 percent). Short-story collections on this list: 1 (5.5 percent–appalling, but I suspect that here, at least, the stats would be better for the “non-Jewish” reading list. I read at least six other collections this year.)

Have I inspired any of you to review your own reading for the year? If you’re inclined to write up any similar post(s) for yourself, please be sure to share the link(s) in comments. I’d love to come by and read what you have to say.

Thursday’s Work-in-Progress

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

I’ll admit it: I’m tired. Today we will be meeting a big deadline at the “day job,” and honestly, that’s my main focus right now.

Which brings up a subject that I saw treated on the Fiction Writers Review blog earlier this week. What the question came down to was this: “Do you consider your day-job writing to be Real Writing? How does it affect your drive to tell your own stories in your fiction?”

Well, now that I’ve had a little more time to think about this, I have a few more (and hopefully clearer) thoughts.

First, for me, these are two discrete questions. At this point, I can divide my “day-job” writing and my “Real Writing” into two categories. But the “Real Writing” would include a lot of writing that isn’t fiction. I’ve written only two new short stories this year. But I have written poems, essays, book reviews, and magazine articles, too. None of that is for my “day job.” All of it is “real” writing.

And sure, the memos, e-mails, and minutes that I work on at the day job may not reflect as much “creativity” as the rest. But I’m a writer who researches whether I’m writing fiction, a freelance article, or a memo. I’m a proofreader all the time. And frankly, I’m often far more deadline-driven at the day job than I am anywhere else. And there’s one big plus to my day job writing: I’m told, repeatedly and frequently, that the work that I’m doing is good. I’m told that it matters. I’m told that my skills are appreciated. Yes, I get some of that feedback as a fiction writer, too. But not nearly so much, and not nearly so often.

The second question–about how my day job may affect my drive “to tell [my] own stories in [m]y fiction”–is more complicated, and it forces me to consider something I don’t especially enjoy thinking about very much. And that’s the fact that since I returned to a full-time, 9-5 office job, my fiction production has declined precipitously. I’m not sure I’ll ever be back where I was in my MFA program, when I was writing literally a dozen stories a year. I’m not sure why that is. I don’t think that it is due entirely to the changes in my schedule and the intense daily demands on my brainpower. But it’s true that most of the time I feel as though I’m thinking in poem or essay form. I’m thinking about something intense, something that can be encapsulated in a few lines, or a few pages. I’m thinking in ideas or emotions, not in images or characters. That’s been excellent for a lot of my outside-the-day-job writing. But it isn’t great for fiction.

So much for clarity, I fear! What do you all think? Please chime in here or on the FWR blog, as you prefer.

The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
  • Attention, MFA applicants: Wise words on the SOP (otherwise known as “statement of purpose”) from Cathy Day.
  • Advice from Betsy Lerner on how not to begin your query letter.
  • Kelly James-Enger shares “10 Ways to Treat Your Writing Business Like a Business.”
  • Sticking with that general theme: On Carol Tice’s “Make a Living Writing” blog, Syed Ali Abbas suggests “6 Elegant Ways Freelance Writers Can Raise Their Hourly Rates.”
  • Win a seat in Marla Beck’s virtual intensive course, “Two Days to Write.” Deadline to enter is Friday, December 2 (that’s the day after tomorrow!).
  • Excellent tips from Midge Raymond: “On getting (or not getting) reviews.”
  • Fascinating sneak peek into the new Norton nonfiction anthology. (via @fernham)
  • Special insights into litmag submissions, courtesy of Diane Lockward.
  • Over the Thanksgiving break, I had some time to catch up with my New Yorker issues. One of the pieces I most enjoyed is Thomas Mallon’s recent article on “alternate history” in fiction. That article is accessible to subscribers only, but you can listen to Mallon talk about the subject in this podcast.
  • I won’t be there this year, but you can check out the schedule for the 2012 Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) online now.

    • Monday Morning Markets/Jobs/Opportunities

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • “As a part of the Women of Color Travel Project (WOCTP), we invite you to submit your work for potential publication in our new book. This anthology aims to capture stories of women of color who see the world as their playground to explore and enjoy….This anthology will focus solely on the travel experiences of women of color: their experiences with different cultures, the ways in which their trips shaped their view of the world, themselves, their community and how, upon their return home, their lives were transformed. We are not looking for advice on what hotels and cafes to frequent. Rather, we want to hear how, through travel, you, as a woman of color, were able to connect with yourself.” Submission deadline: January 15, 2012. Pays: $20/piece on publication, plus percentage of royalties.
  • It’s almost time for the December issue of The Practicing Writer to go out to subscribers. More no-fee competitions and paying calls for poets, fictionists, and writers of creative nonfiction to consider. As always, it’s free to subscribe, and as always, we don’t share your email address.
  • From the Poetry Translation Centre (U.K.): “The Poetry Translation Centre is looking for a freelance Project Manager to work on its programme between January and March 2012. Home based, you will be working closely with PTC Director, Sarah Maguire. Your key responsibilities will be to co-ordinate production of four dual-language chapbooks and manage a series of about five readings by the Somali poet, Caasha Luul Mohamud Yusuf, and her translator, Clare Pollard. Previous experience of producing publications and events is essential, as are excellent communication and organisation skills, and the ability to work independently. Experience of working in the poetry sector would be an advantage. Fee for services: £200 per day for a maximum of 15 days between January and March 2012.” Apply by December 5.
  • Another opportunity for a U.K.-based writer: “Are you an established writer with extensive experience of undertaking writing residencies in England and across the UK? NAWE, in partnership with Literature Wales, Poetry Ireland and Scottish Book Trust, wishes to commission a briefing sheet on writing residencies aimed at writers who are interested in undertaking residency work and want to know more about what is involved and how to get started….This will be the latest title in the NAWE series of Briefings – other topics in this series of ‘how to’ factsheets to support the creative and business aspects of being a writer include writing and regeneration, fundraising for projects, time management, creative co-mentoring and marketing for authors. These are available as downloads from http://www.nawe.co.uk/the-writers-compass/resources.html The briefing will be available as a download from the NAWE website and from the websites of partner organizations Literature Wales, Poetry Ireland and Scottish Book Trust. A fee of £500 is available.” Apply by December 14.
  • The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is looking for a Web Writer/Assistant Editor for Technology Review, the Indiana University President’s Office seeks a Speech Writer, and Drexel University is accepting applications for a Web Writer/Site Manager.
  • The University of Wisconsin-Marathon County seeks an Assistant Professor of English (tenure-track). “RESPONSIBILITIES: Typical teaching load is twelve-credit hours per semester to include four, three-credit courses in both composition and creative writing. The candidate may teach courses in first year composition, intermediate composition, creative writing (fiction and/or poetry), and the literary magazine course. Our campus is also eager to engage the local community in literacy and creative writing activities and would welcome candidates with innovative community outreach ideas and experience. Teaching two courses of freshman composition (ENG 101 or ENG 102) will be a part of a normal semester workload. Interest in teaching Ethnic Studies and developing Interdisciplinary Studies courses and/or courses with a service learning component are also desirable.”

    • Monday Morning Markets/Jobs/Opportunities

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
    • Big news from Milkweed Editions about a new poetry prize: “The Lindquist & Vennum Prize for Poetry is an annual regional prize, presented in partnership by Milkweed Editions and the Lindquist & Vennum Foundation. Established in 2011 with the aim of supporting outstanding Midwestern poets and bringing their work to a national stage, the prize will award $10,000 as well as a contract for publication to the author of the winning manuscript. The winner will be selected from among five finalists by an independent judge.” NB: “Submissions for this regional prize will be accepted only from poets currently residing in the Upper Midwestern United States, defined as: North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin.” No entry fee indicated. Submissions for the 2012 prize must be received by January 31, 2012. (via Poets & Writers)
    • The latest Ploughshares newsletter contains this reminder: “We are on the hunt for Patricia Hampl’s Fall 2012 all-nonfiction issue. Submit online or via regular mail. The regular reading period ends on January 15th, so please polish and send in those essays soon.” NB: If you submit online and you don’t subscribe to the journal, you must pay a fee. No fee for postal submissions. Ploughshares pays “upon publication: $25/printed page, $50 minimum per title, $250 maximum per author, with two copies of the issue and a one-year subscription.”
    • “The African American National Biography continues to look for writers for entries to appear in regular updates to its online edition. All entries are assigned at 500 or 750 words and are paid at an honorarium of 10 cents a word. The AANB, a joint project of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University and Oxford University Press, was published in an eight-volume print edition of 4081 entries in January 2008, under the editorship of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. It is now published online, with occasional (though infrequent) print spin-offs. We look to include not only great and famous African Americans, but a selection that will be representative of a diverse range of African Americans in all fields, from all periods of North American history, and from all stations of life: activists, writers and journalists, slaves, sharecroppers, domestic workers, musicians, performers, singers, politicians, government workers, judges, lawyers, ministers, preachers and other religious workers, educators, athletes, sports figures, actors, directors, filmmakers, doctors, nurses, artists, photographers, business people, entrepreneurs, military personnel, scientists, philanthropists, dancers, frontiersmen and women, cowboys, legendary figures, inventors, aviators, explorers, astronauts, and more.”
    • Via @GinaFrangello: “Publicists, editors, agents, writers: The Nervous Breakdown Fiction Section is booking Featured authors with books released Jan, Feb, March.” NB: That’s all I know about this opportunity, but I suggest that anyone interested check out The Nervous Breakdown and its guidelines.
    • If you’re a short-story writer AND a citizen of a Commonwealth country, you may want to consider entering the Commonwealth Short Story Prize competition, “awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2000-5000 words). Overall and regional cash prizes. No entry fee indicated. Deadline: November 30, 2011.
    • Attention, undergraduates (enrolled full-time in U.S. and Canadian colleges). The Lyric’s College Poetry Contest will award $500 (first prize), $100 (second prize), and publication for original, unpublished poems, “39 lines or less, written in English in traditional forms, preferable with regular scansion and rhyme.” Submission deadline: December 1, 2011. No entry fee.
    • Emory University (Atlanta) seeks a Staff Writer, the Josephson Institute (Los Angeles) invites applications for an Associate Web Producer/Writer, and Spread the Word (“inspiring London’s writers” in the U.K.) is looking for a Director.

    Lots of teaching jobs follow after the jump. (more…)