Rebecca Klempner's Blog, page 10
November 12, 2015
Writing about women’s leadership and education in my synagogue in today’s Jewish Home L.A.
That article I mentioned in a recent postappears in this week’s edition of The Jewish Home – L.A. If you want to read it, click here for a link to an online version.
I’ve got another interview for another article lined up. I’m a bit nervous because I’ll be interviewing someone who I admire and who is a bit of a celebrity in the English-speaking Orthodox world.
It’s a good thing I’ve got that gig lined up, too. I’m definitely still struggling to write fiction.My brain is deep inthe Fall Fuzzie...
November 5, 2015
Writing lesson: Do your interview and only then decide what kind of article you’re writing
As I mentioned in a post a few days ago, I pitched a short feature to a magazine and had it accepted. It required some interviews. I did three of them this week, and then sat down to write.
When I originally conceived the article, it was to promote aprogram in the “Happenings” section of the local Jewish paper. But as I read over the notes I’d taken, I realized the content of the interviews had a deeper significance than the simple 5 Ws and an H about the event. Two of the interviews strongly...
November 3, 2015
Is it wrong that I’m kinda looking forward to some hate mail?
My latest essay, “Stuck in the Middle” (and, yes, I’m quoting the Stealer’s Wheel song on purpose), appears in Tablet Magazine. To summarize: coming from a family of typical American Jewish Liberals, I moved into a community of Orthodox Republicans. And I refuse to blend in with either herd.
Anyone, I’m kinda hoping that I offend someone. I’m even hoping for a little hate mail. Is that normal?
November 2, 2015
NEED A CHANUKAH GIFT FOR YOUR DAY SCHOOL KID?
SLIDING DOORS and other stories
(11-16 year olds)
While home sick, a teen interrupts a burglary in progress…
A mysterious stranger offers a young man an extra hour, for one-time use…
Slipping into an alternate universe, a girl discovers a few surprises…
A teenager lacking social skills adjusts to his new yeshiva…
Sliding Doors and other Stories features 17 of myfinest stories for tweens and teens and one essay in a single volume sure to please old fans and new ones.
(8...
What does it take to get you writing? 5 things that get my tuchas in the chair when I don’t want to write
It didn’t even wait until Fall Back: I’ve been in the dragging, low-creativity state that usually hits me at this time of year for weeks already. It’s not really full-blown SAD, thank G-d, but it’s more a fog in which I feel low-energy and short on ideas. My mood’s okay, just kinda blah. I don’t feel like doing much except curl up with a book and eat chocolate and hang out with Mr. Klempner.
When this feeling first hit, the week after Sukkos, I had so many appointments (long delayed check-ups...
October 18, 2015
10 ways to use your writing to add more lovingkindness to the world
First, pardon me for the super-Jewy intro. I promise this post will get to writing by the end. Over Shabbos, I was reading this:
The book AHAVAS CHESED – The title means “Lovers of Lovingkindness.”
It’s one of the many booksauthored by Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan, known as the Chofetz Chaim (which is the title of his first and possibly most celebrated work).
Ahavas Chesedis about not only how to do acts of lovingkindness, but also how to LOVE to do them.The book has an interesting structure. It...
October 11, 2015
They loved it, they hated it: Feedback on my story from Binah’s Sukkos Supplement, “From the Furthest Reaches of the Heavens”
I have emerged from the semi-hibernation of Sukkos (if you can call a holidaythat involved cooking 10 fancymeals – many with with guests – hibernation) and am looking forward to a week chock full of work. I’ve got a personal essay to write for one of the sites I frequent, another to revise for a literary journal, and spent most of today editing. That’s on top of some work I want to do on one of my ongoing projects. And did I mention I still have to market the two books I recently self-publish...
September 26, 2015
Have you picked up the Sukkos edition of Binah Magazine yet?
Even if you aren’t usually a Binah reader, you might want to take a look-see at the special, expanded Sukkos 5776 issue. The “Vistas” story supplement features a story by yours truly. It’s my first adult fiction appearance with Binah, so I’m very excited.
“From the Furthest Reaches of Heaven” originated as part of a sci-fi novel I’ve been working on for many years. (It gets mentioned every now and again on this blog.) Eventually, I decided that this particular part of that story had more powe...
September 20, 2015
Signs you might want to buy one of my new books
BOTH MY NEW BOOKS ARE UP AND RUNNING ON AMAZON! WAHOO!
(Do I sound excited?)
Mazal’s Luck Runs Out is for ages 8-11.
My life is being taken over by marketing (What? Did you say there’s a Jewish holiday coming? More than one? You meanI have to cook, too? ARGH!). Also, I’m working on no budget here, but at least people can actually buy both Mazal’s Luck Runs Out and Sliding Doors and other storiesonline now.
With no further ado…
Sliding Doors and other stories is for readers 11-16.
10 SIGNSYOU...
September 17, 2015
Exciting news! One book ready for orders, the other nearly ready!
When my husband checked the mail after Rosh Hashanah had ended, he found a couple packages for me in our mailbox from Createspace. In one, we found the proof of the anthology that I’ve been working on,Sliding Doors and other stories, and the other package contained the proof ofMazal’s Luck Runs Out.
I’ve been spending the last couple days proofreading those books. In Sliding Doors, the font size suggested by the template was so small, I was afraid no one would be able to read it. I went back...
