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Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Five Not-So-Easy Pieces

by Erika Dreifus on
2

Right now I am tracking the publication of five new pieces that should be out in the world this spring. They’re all freelance–by which I mean that I have been or will be paid for all of them–and they’re all nonfiction. And, with the exception of one “quickie,” which seemed to write itself, they were each quite challenging.

Two have already been published. One (the one that seemed to write itself) looks at stories and poems about writing for the ReadLearnWrite website. The second is a review of Aharon Appelfeld’s Suddenly, Love (trans. Jeffrey M. Green) for the Los Angeles-based Jewish Journal.

A third should be showing up in the mail any day. And I can let you in on it because someone else already has:

The final two are the mysteries. I haven’t yet found out exactly when they’ll appear. Suffice to say that I’m quite excited about them (each will mark my first byline with the associated publication). And I look forward to sharing them with you!

Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Spotlight on Elizabeth Nunez

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

This past week I had the privilege of reading Elizabeth Nunez’s latest book, a memoir titled Not for Everyday Use (Akashic Books). I obtained a digital galley with the intention of asking Elizabeth–whom I’ve been lucky to get to know through my “day job” at The City University of New York–if she’d be willing to answer a few questions for The Practicing Writer.

I finished this excellent book quickly, and the ever-gracious Elizabeth agreed to answer my questions (in fact, she has already returned her responses!). I had to tell her, though, that the newsletter interviewees are booked (so to speak), for the next several months. This interview won’t appear until the August issue, which will go out to readers at the very end of July. (In the interest of keeping things somewhat suspenseful, I won’t reveal the identities of every interviewee between now and then, but I’ll tell you that our very next issue will feature Roxane Gay, who will tell us about her soon-to-be-published novel An Untamed State.)

Meantime, I encourage you to watch this video of Elizabeth’s recent appearance at the Center for Fiction (although this latest book is nonfiction, Elizabeth is an acclaimed novelist). You’ll get to hear her read from the memoir, and listen to her conversation with Louise DeSalvo (who offers terrific questions and comments in a discussion that encompasses race, religion, writing and more). An hour well spent.

Wednesday’s WIP: Nonteaching Jobs for MFA Grads

by Erika Dreifus on
2

I can’t speak for Cathy, but I suspect that her interest in my post from last November (on which she commented at the time) may have been revived by some recent posts and discussions within a Facebook group on Creative Writing Pedagogy. These have included comments on Elizabeth Segran’s articles “What Can You Do with a Humanities PhD, Anyway?” and “The Dangers of Victimizing PhDs” (both of which, I argue, apply to some extent to the terminal MFA degree as well). Also noteworthy within the group lately: Stephanie Vanderslice’s link to a review that praises a book I’m reading right now: Now What: The Creative Writer’s Guide to Life After the MFA and Cathy’s own sharing of a survey on “Creative Writing Programs and the Business of Writing,” which includes questions about job preparation.

In any case, as I’ve told Cathy on Twitter, I’m eager to hear how this week’s class goes. In part, that’s because the weeks are ticking down to the session I’ll be moderating at The Muse & The Marketplace on “After the MFA: Constructing and Leading a Writing Life,” and I know that employment options will be part of that discussion. And in part, it’s because every single day I wake up to a reality in which I have both a PhD and an MFA and am NOT leading the faculty life that I anticipated.

Meantime, I’ve dug up this article on nonteaching jobs on college and university campuses to share with Cathy’s students, with my session’s participants, and with anyone else who may be interested. (more…)

Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: While I Was Away

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

So, this past week I spent a few days in glorious, warm Turks & Caicos.

Turks & Caicos

Anyone who travels with young children–especially young children who don’t exactly embrace hotel “kiddie programs” or day camps–knows that these trips aren’t always 100 percent vacations. But we all had a wonderful time. AND I managed to squeeze in a fair amount of reading. Including:

  • The Paris Review‘s spring 2014 issue. I especially enjoyed the interviews with Adam Phillips and Matthew Weiner.
  • Creative Nonfiction‘s spring 2014 issue, with a standout piece by Wendy Rawlings.
  • The forthcoming translation (by Jeffrey M. Green) of Aharon Appelfeld’s Suddenly, Love (Schocken Books). (Actually, this was my second reading of the galley, in preparation for a review that I’m working on this week.)
  • A digital ARC of Nora Gold’s novel Fields of Exile (Dundurn), coming in May. You’ll be hearing more about this novel–which is being described as the first novel “about” anti-Israelism in contemporary academe–in the not-so-distant future, too. (For starters, I’m planning to run a Q&A with Nora at some point on My Machberet.)

    • I hope that you’ve all had a good week, too!