A number of things to share today. Let's begin, as is habit, with the latest writerly finds on the Practicing Writing blog—including a free online #memoir summit, #bookpromo advice, and an intro to "On the Seawall," @ronslate's revamped literary site. https://wp.me/p4x0h8-bYD 

Where else can you eavesdrop on @stuffism's convo with @shteyngart, tell the @JewishBook Council all about your favorite Jewish #bookstore, AND discover a FREE retreat (they're even giving out travel stipends!) for those who write #Jewish #kidlit? https://wp.me/p4x0h8-bYC 

Some #FridayReads/ #WeekendReads. Special congrats to my pal @Karen_E_Bender on the release of her latest book (and many thanks for the gift copy!).

I'll return w/more to say about this later, but for now: here's something else—a #shortstory that's in my collection—that connects w/both #VeteransDay & the 80th anniversary of the #Kristallnacht. (Thanks to @IlanotReview for the opportunity to share it.) http://www.ilanotreview.com/translation-and-transformation/lebensraum/

That should have been @Ilanot_Review. Apologies.

Okay. Here we go w/some more about the "Lebensraum" story that's in my collection (& linked above).

The story is based on the real-life history of my paternal grandparents, who were young adults when they left Germany in the late 1930s. (They met and married here in the US.) +

The story's #VeteransDay connection pretty obvious. But let me tell you a bit more about the way that the #Kristallnacht is woven in. +

First, though: a reminder about what is being commemorated this #Kristallnacht80 weekend. (This is from a page from THE HOLOCAUST ENCYCLOPEDIA by #WalterLaqueur, who died on September 30 of this year.) +

My grandparents hadn't yet met, though, when the #Kristallnacht happened. My grandmother had been in this country for six months; her parents were still back in Germany. +

In my fiction, I've combined elements of the family history. In "Lebensraum," for instance, there's a reference to Nelly's father, who "died of Dachau" in the aftermath of the Kristallnacht. In truth, it was my grandmother's favorite uncle who was killed there at that time. +

My grandmother's uncle's name was Michael. Here he is in two photos—one on his wedding day, and the other (also with his wife) in 1921, when my grandmother was a young child. +

To return to the "Lebensraum" story: In that story, a baby boy is born in circumstances quite similar to those that surrounded my father's birth. Including a disagreement between the parents about the baby's name. +

My grandmother told me often about how she'd wished to name my dad after Uncle Michael. But that didn't happen. +

So when, on what turned out to be her final Hanukkah, I sent her an early version of that story—which I'd drafted during the first semester of my MFA program—she had two main responses. +

"You've been listening to me!" she told me.

And then, "And you named the baby for Uncle Michael!"

She was so happy. I feel as though that story was the best gift I ever gave her.

And that's what I wanted to share with all of you today. Thanks for reading.

Well, it's been a busy day, with a lot to think about/remember. Now, it's time to go offline. #ShabbatShalom