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Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

by Erika Dreifus on
11

Yer Out!

The email arrived a few days ago. “Dear Erika Dreifus: Thank you for your application to NYFA’s Fellowship program.  We are sorry that we will not be able to award you a Fellowship this year. We received a record number of applications this year….” You know the rest.

So now it is official: I have applied for fellowships unsuccessfully from the New York Foundation for the Arts in THREE genres: fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Now how many of you can say that?!

three-strikes (more…)

Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

by Erika Dreifus on
11

Watching my grandfather--a refugee from Nazism and a U.S. Army WWII veteran--kindle the Hanukkah candles in 1972.
Watching my grandfather–a refugee from Nazism and a U.S. Army WWII veteran–kindle the Hanukkah candles in 1972.

HANUKKAH

Since Hanukkah began last night, I planned to share something I posted here last year: this photo of my grandfather and me, accompanied by a link to the archived story of mine that was included on National Public Radio’s “Hanukkah Lights” broadcast back in 2011. That story, “Fidelis,” was on my mind again last year when I caught this article in The New York Times Magazine on the anniversary of a World War II battle (Tarawa) that is central to it.

Lo and behold, I returned from a Hanukkah celebration last night (to which I happened to wear, as I often do, a ring that belonged to my grandfather on a silver chain around my neck), to discover that “Fidelis” has been “re-upped” to be part of the 2014 “Hanukkah Lights” broadcast, too. Icing on this cake (or jelly doughnut, as the holiday case may be): NPR is calling the story “a classic” from its “vault.” To which all I can say is: Wow.

‘TIS THE SEASON: FOR LITERARY AWARDS

Last week I had the pleasure of attending two literary-award events. (more…)

Work-in-Progress: Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

by Erika Dreifus on
1

(Still experimenting with a new title/format for these midweek posts. Thanks for bearing with me!)

‘TIS THE SEASON
Well, not exactly. But my extended family has found, these past several years, that it’s often easier for all of us to gather for a holiday on less-than-exact dates that are at least in the general vicinity of the holiday in question.

Thus, last weekend found us pre-celebrating Hanukkah. Below, one of the gifts Auntie Erika bestowed: B.J. Novak’s The Book With No Pictures (the picture doesn’t capture the excitement/joy that the gift evoked as soon as it was unwrapped; this was one of my more inspired/successful choices!).

Novak

WRITING
This week brought the conclusion of the terrific workshop I’ve been part of this fall. It also brought an effort–now stalled, I admit–to work on a new essay. And it brought a poetry acceptance (more about that soon, I trust!).

I knew the workshop was coming to an end. I suspected that the essay might not “work.” And I hoped the poem might find its home.

But I did not, in any way, anticipate this lovely note which arrived via email yesterday, about one of the short stories in Quiet Americans: (more…)

Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Notes from a Practicing Writer

by Erika Dreifus on
2

I’m such a creature of habit. But occasionally, I am prompted to change. This week, I’m thinking about shaking up these Wednesday posts. In part, I’m inspired to do so by the structure and content of this terrific post from C.A. LaRue’s BoneSpark blog. For now, we’ll keep the rubric of “work-in-progress.” But don’t be surprised if these posts get a new title soon. And here’s an early effort to follow the blogging impulses now stirred. (more…)