Month: November 2023

On writing short

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There are pros and cons to writing short. Pro: I write exactly what I need to write without excessive wordiness. Con: Sometimes I don’t write nearly long enough.

I had to skip out on two different calls for submissions this week because there was a requested minimum word count, and the stories I had in mind weren’t even close to that minimum. Adding a few hundred words, that I could’ve managed. Several thousand? I think I’d wreck the story.

It’s disappointing, but editors ask for specific word counts for a reason (whether or not they share that reason with us). I can gripe about missing out on a terrific-sounding call for submissions, or I can go find another market for my work. So far, I’ve had pretty good luck with the latter.

Regarding Israel-Gaza: I waited all week to see if the long-awaited hostage releases were about to begin, and seeing them underway lifts my spirits. I’m hoping very much that they will continue successfully.

Charitable organizations to donate to are below; new additions are at the top and this is not in any order of importance. Stay well, stay safe.

Project HOPE offers training and support to health care workers and health care services around the world; it’s helping coordinate delivery of needed equipment, supplies, and services to people in Israel and Gaza

The Alliance for Middle East Peace is a coalition that works to build trust between Israelis and Palestinians; it’s creating emergency shelters, collecting donations, and offering support in other ways

The UN’s World Food Programme supplies food and vouchers to people in Gaza and the West Bank

IsraAID is the largest humanitarian aid group in Israel, according to its site, and it responds to crises worldwide; it’s helping with humanitarian activities and mental health support for Israeli evacuees

The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund has been sending food, water, and medical supplies into Gaza

Journalist Sonia Weiser has launched a GoFundMe to start a Middle East Conflict Reporters Therapy Relief Fund to help journalists deal with the trauma of covering the Israel-Gaza war

Sulala Animal Rescue is the only animal rescue shelter in Gaza; it’s raising funds through Animals Australia

National Council of Jewish Women is a women- and family-centered social justice group that’s raising funds to provide basic needs, counseling, and advocacy for women and families impacted by the Hamas attack

Women Wage Peace is a women-led, nonpartisan grassroots group that advocates for a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

World Central Kitchen is feeding displaced families in Israel and working with a local partner in Gaza to distribute meals to Palestinians

Soroka Medical Center is handling the emergency medical response in Israel

The JDC helps Jews and others in crisis around the world

Save the Children is trying to get needed supplies into Gaza

American Friends of Magen David Adom is Israel’s first aid/first responder service

United Hatzalah is a volunteer emergency medical services organization that operates across Israel

Americares is trying to assist with people’s medical needs in Gaza

Doctors Without Borders is trying to assist with people’s medical needs in Gaza

The International Committee of the Red Cross is providing medical supplies and household items to people in Gaza and trying to help people in Israel locate missing family members

Letting a story steep

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I finally found my way to a completed draft of that short story this week, and then let it sit a couple days while I played around with another story. Stories definitely need to sit. To steep, like tea. You need to leave them long enough to forget what you wrote, so that when you go back and revise it’s like you’re looking at someone else’s work, and you can be more objective. You’re more likely to see what’s missing—the plotline dots left unconnected, the character you never bothered describing—so that you can deepen and complete the work. (Critique groups help too! They’ll always see things you didn’t.)

Since I’m one of those throwback types who writes longhand first drafts (pretty notebooks are essential, Parker makes the best pens), typing the story into a Word doc also serves as my revision process; what I originally wrote changes as I type it. Your process may vary.

I’m trying to balance doomscrolling the news with staying productive. We’ll see how this week goes.

The weekly roundup, plus a few additional items of note:

Several organizations have teamed up to launch a site where college students, families, or staff members can report antisemitic incidents. And a group of Harvard students are collaborating on a text hotline in which Jews, Muslims, Palestinians, Christians, Israelis, and Americans are answering people’s questions about Israel-Gaza. It’s Harvard-only right now, but I’m including it because they’re hoping to take it nationwide.

Organizations to donate to are below; new additions are at the top and this is not in any order of importance. Stay well, stay safe.

IsraAID is the largest humanitarian aid group in Israel, according to its site, and it responds to crises worldwide; it’s helping with humanitarian activities and mental health support for Israeli evacuees

The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund has been sending food, water, and medical supplies into Gaza

Erika Dreifus runs the terrific The Practicing Writer e-newsletter for poets and authors; she posted a list of organizations to help. Her post is well worth reading.

Journalist Sonia Weiser has launched a GoFundMe to start a Middle East Conflict Reporters Therapy Relief Fund to help journalists deal with the trauma of covering the Israel-Gaza war (speaking from experience, journalists are frequently underpaid and do not always have great health insurance)

Sulala Animal Rescue is the only animal rescue shelter in Gaza; it’s raising funds through Animals Australia

National Council of Jewish Women is a women- and family-centered social justice group that’s raising funds to provide basic needs, counseling, and advocacy for women and families impacted by the Hamas attack

Women Wage Peace is a women-led, nonpartisan grassroots group that advocates for a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

World Central Kitchen is feeding displaced families in Israel and working with a local partner in Gaza to distribute meals to Palestinians

Soroka Medical Center is handling the emergency medical response in Israel

The JDC helps Jews and others in crisis around the world

Save the Children is trying to get needed supplies into Gaza

American Friends of Magen David Adom is Israel’s first aid/first responder service

United Hatzalah is a volunteer emergency medical services organization that operates across Israel

Americares is trying to assist with people’s medical needs in Gaza

Doctors Without Borders is trying to assist with people’s medical needs in Gaza

The International Committee of the Red Cross is providing medical supplies and household items to people in Gaza and trying to help people in Israel locate missing family members

The Forward has a longer list of organizations that need help, and so does NPR. And CNN has set up a fund that allows you to donate to multiple organizations at once, including several listed above.

On staying creative

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How do you stay creative during awful times?

I’ll be honest: Sometimes, you don’t.

I’ve been perpetually reading the news (and largely *not* reading social media) for weeks, feeling alternately horrified, furious, and despondent about the future. Feeling nervous about wearing a Star of David in public and then stubbornly doing it anyway. Feeling guilty about being able to do something normal like celebrate Halloween, and then stubbornly doing *that* anyway because the people who hate you don’t want you to be happy. And then watching bad horror movies at night to give my brain a rest. Where am I writing in all this? Not much. Writing generally doesn’t look like “work”; it looks like the writer is zoning out in front of a screen or a notebook. But at some point the writer will tap the keyboard, or grab the pen, and create words. I keep getting stuck in the zoning-out phase, too snarled up for words.

Anyway. I’m not a fan of those writing “rules” in the first place: *You need to write every day or you’re not a real writer, you need to write 5,000 words a day or you’re not a real writer.* That’s nonsense. People have jobs, families, they have to do laundry, they have to feed the cat, they have to go vote, they have to get the car fixed. You write what you can, when you can, and you learn what you can from the writing. I’m not working on much right now, and the short story that would normally take me a few days is taking weeks. So be it. The story will wait for me. It will be there when I’m ready to finish it. So will all the other stories.

How do you stay creative during the awful times? Get through the awful times first. Then focus on being creative.

My updated list of organizations to donate to is below; new additions are at the top and this is not in any order of importance. Stay well, stay safe.

Erika Dreifus runs the terrific The Practicing Writer e-newsletter for poets and authors; she posted a list of organizations to help. Her post is well worth reading.

Journalist Sonia Weiser has launched a GoFundMe to start a Middle East Conflict Reporters Therapy Relief Fund to help journalists deal with the trauma of covering the Israel-Gaza war (speaking from experience, journalists are frequently underpaid and do not always have great health insurance)

Sulala Animal Rescue is the only animal rescue shelter in Gaza; it’s raising funds through Animals Australia

National Council of Jewish Women is a women- and family-centered social justice group that’s raising funds to provide basic needs, counseling, and advocacy for women and families impacted by the Hamas attack

Women Wage Peace is a women-led, nonpartisan grassroots group that advocates for a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

World Central Kitchen is feeding displaced families in Israel and working with a local partner in Gaza to distribute meals to Palestinians

Soroka Medical Center is handling the emergency medical response in Israel

The JDC helps Jews and others in crisis around the world

Save the Children is trying to get needed supplies into Gaza

American Friends of Magen David Adom is Israel’s first aid/first responder service

United Hatzalah is a volunteer emergency medical services organization that operates across Israel

Americares is trying to assist with people’s medical needs in Gaza

Doctors Without Borders is trying to assist with people’s medical needs in Gaza

The International Committee of the Red Cross is providing medical supplies and household items to people in Gaza and trying to help people in Israel locate missing family members

The Forward has a longer list of organizations that need help. And CNN has set up a fund that allows you to donate to multiple organizations at once, including several listed above.