Posts Tagged‘Work-in-Progress’

Home » Work-in-Progress » Page 75

Wednesday’s WiP

by Erika Dreifus on
6

I’ll be honest: I haven’t spent much time on my own writing practice this week. Yes, I’ve jotted down some notes for a new essay, and I’ve received yet additional rejections for submitted work, and I’ve continued attending the excellent fiction workshop I’ve been mentioning here. But things have been very busy at my “day job” with Fig Tree Books, and that’s where most of my attention is focused.

One of the projects that reached completion this past week was FTB’s hosting of the November Jewish Book Carnival. I am very happy to have connected FTB with this terrific project of the Association of Jewish Libraries (please click over to the post for a full explanation). I’m especially glad that FTB is hosting at this time, because now that we are in the month before Hanukkah, we are celebrating Jewish Book Month. And as the days tick down to the holiday, I’ve thought of eight easy ways–one for each of the days/nights of the Hanukkah observance–by which any of you who appreciate the resources of this blog, the website, and The Practicing Writer newsletter can provide me with meaningful “gifts” at this season. If you are so inclined!

1. Follow Fig Tree Books on Twitter (@FigTreeBks). I’m pretty laissez-faire when it comes to attracting new followers to my own account, but my boss is really eager for us to build up a following for FTB, and our team is working hard to make that happen.

2. Sign up to receive the FTB e-newsletter. (November issue coming soon!)

3. “Like” FTB on Facebook.

4. Tell at least five friends/family members that you’ve done any of the above, and suggest that they do the same. (Or to keep things simple: share this very blog post! Widgets below!)

5. Enter the very first Goodreads giveaway for an FTB book: Alan Cheuse’s Prayers for the Living. (NB: Giveaway closes December 17!)

6. Pre-order any of FTB’s first four books: Cheuse’s Prayers for the Living, Meyer Levin’s Compulsion, Jonathan Papernick’s The Book of Stone, and Jessamyn Hope’s Safekeeping.

7. Ask your favorite local library or bookstore to order/stock the titles in #6.

8. And, last but not least, please remember my own story collection, Quiet Americans, as you consider your holiday book-buys. One dollar from every sale goes to support The Blue Card.

Thank you all!

Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Midrash on Happiness

by Erika Dreifus on
7

MidrashTriptych
So, last week I asked which of three topics you’d all like to hear more about. This week, I respond to (some of the) popular demand. Several of you commented that you’d like to hear more about the fiction workshop I’ve enrolled in. And that’s the real focus of the piece.

But we’ll also tiptoe into discussing “writing for free” here. And that’s because when you click on the image to try to read the text within it (the image does become legible when I click on it), you’ll see a piece that I’ve basically “written for free.”

Allow me to backtrack.

A few days after an in-workshop exercise generated the first draft of the text that you see in the image’s center column, a new idea came to me. (more…)

Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress

by Erika Dreifus on
9

DeathtoStock_Creative Community3I couldn’t decide which of three possible topics to address in this week’s “work-in-progress” post. So I’ve taken what is definitely the easy way out: I am giving you brief summaries of each. (Hey, maybe I should ask which of the three you’d all prefer to hear more about in a subsequent post. What do you think about that?) (more…)

Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress

by Erika Dreifus on
4

Some writerly-readerly highlights from the past week:

  • Met Gary Shteyngart! At a conversation between Sasha Senderovich and him that took place at Baruch College of The City University of New York.
  • Received  Missouri Review contributor copies including my most recent review-essay.
  • Spent a quality weekend morning drinking coffee & talking writing with a friend.
  • Received another rejection for my aforementioned humor piece.
  • Continued to submit my aforementioned humor piece.
  • Received an invitation to give a talk to writers on the subject of writing contests.
  • Finished reading a remarkable novel.
  • Put some finishing touches on the November issue of The Practicing Writer.

    • Not a whole lot of actual writing there, alas. (I could enumerate some of my “day job” activities, including “writing a new blog post,” but I’ve opted not to go into detail re: that work.)

    How about you and your week?