Posts Tagged‘Work-in-Progress’

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Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: The Muse and the Marketplace Conference Recap

by Erika Dreifus on
2

boston_wiki_ahoncSo, as I’ve mentioned, I spent last weekend in Boston at Grub Street’s outstanding annual conference, The Muse & the Marketplace. I’m beginning to sound like a broken record here, but I’m honestly not sure how the team manages to improve this conference each year. Quite simply, they continue to outdo themselves.

I love this conference for lots of reasons: I love seeing so many familiar, friendly faces (and meeting so many new folks, especially those who tell me how much they appreciate this blog and the newsletter); I love being back in Boston; I love the conference’s super-smooth organization (both on site and behind the scenes–it is a delight to be a presenter at this conference); and of course, I love the programming.

On that last point, please consider the following: (more…)

Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: How Harvard Failures Made Me Thick-Skinned, Super-Stubborn, and Ready for a Writing Life

by Erika Dreifus on
14

(As I explained at the beginning of the May issue of The Practicing Writer, where a version of this essay also appears, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my years in the Boston area. The Massachusetts phase of my life began when I arrived in Cambridge as a Harvard freshman more than 25 years ago. Little did I realize then how much – and how unexpectedly – Harvard would help me become a practicing writer. This essay describes some of those hard-won understandings. Thanks for reading.)
Baccalaureate Service 2010
My undergraduate college – Harvard – was a perfect place to prepare for a writing life. But not for the reasons you think.

Not for the dizzying array of creative-writing classes (the college offered few; you had to submit a polished writing sample to compete for a spot in even introductory workshops). Not for benefits conferred by an on-campus MFA program (there wasn’t one). Not even for the vaunted connections (I was a first-generation Ivy Leaguer and only minimally “cooler” at Harvard than I’d been in high school). But even before I started seeing my classmates’ names (and seemingly just as quickly, those of younger alums) on book covers and within the pages of THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, I endured numerous experiences that could have encouraged me to give up. (more…)

Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: A Working Writer’s Vacation

by Erika Dreifus on
3

Starting today at 5 pm, I’ll be using some of my treasured paid vacation days (one of the best benefits of being a #writerwithadayjob) for a VACATION. Much of the time will be a “staycation” along the lines of last year’s break. And once again, I have a lot of plans. For starters, I’ll be spending several days at two conferences.

ASJAFirst up: the annual conference of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), which begins tomorrow here in New York. I’ve only attended this conference once before, about a decade ago. This time, I’m going as a full-fledged ASJA member. I’m hoping to pick up plenty of freelancing tips and inspiration.

And next week, I head up to Boston for one of the most reliably excellent events on my literary calendar: Grub Street’s The Muse and the Marketplace. For obvious reasons, I’m especially grateful for the opportunity to return to Boston now. And I’m looking forward to the panel that I’ll be moderating, “Grubbie Guide to Writing Contests, Conferences & Residencies,” which will feature Sheri Joseph and Doug Trevor. (We’re Session 8K, and a few seats remain, if you’re still in the process of registering.)grub

I’ve got some other fun things planned, too. But don’t worry–I plan to keep blogging throughout! And while I have yet to master the art of live-tweeting, I’ll do my best to keep you posted on site from #ASJA13 and #muse2013. (UPDATE: I think I erred! ASJA hashtag seems to be #ASJA2013)

Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Playwriting 101

by Erika Dreifus on
10

OrphansLast weekend, and thanks to my TDF membership, I had the opportunity to see a performance of Orphans, a new play starring Alec Baldwin that is currently in previews on Broadway. And I was reminded, as I am nearly every time I go to watch a play, that I’d really like to learn how to write a play of my own.

So this post is more a request for resources than anything else. I’d love to receive suggestions regarding:

1) online introductory playwriting courses that you might recommend;
2) “how-to” books on playwriting that you have found to be useful; and/or
3) any other suggestions on how I might incorporate playwriting into my writing practice (for instance, I’m guessing that reading actual play scripts would be helpful, and I actually have a script or two on hand, but I’d be grateful for recommendations of scripts that have worked especially well for you, whether you’ve been teaching or studying playwriting).

Thank you all in advance!

Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Subscriber Success Story

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

ourplaceI can’t overemphasize how much I love hearing good news from newsletter and blog subscribers, especially when that good news stems in some small way from a piece of information that I’ve passed along. So I’m grateful to Atar Hadari for making my Monday this week with the following message:

Dear Erika,

Just a note to thank you for drawing my attention to Wordrunner echapbooks. Their Spring chapbook is my novella “Our Place”, three stories about how a man loses pieces of his life on a religious kibbutz in Israel. They’ve been a joy to work with, and even paid money.

This is the link, in case you’re not on their mailing list.

http://echapbook.com/fiction/hadari/index.html

All best,

Atar Hadari

Truly, it’s messages like this one that make all of the time and effort I put into the newsletter and blog so worthwhile. (It’s a bonus when I can go right ahead and read the work that has been recognized, and, as in the case of Hadari’s fiction, find it to be fresh, provocative, and moving.)

By the way, Wordrunner’s current submission period runs until May 31, and it’s open to poets.