Rebecca Klempner's Blog, page 15

Stopgap measure: 4 (okay, it’s really 5) totally awesome literary links

Sorry for the recent lack of posts. Camp was out, day school was still out, kids were home, and Mr. K. started his school year the second week of August. As you can imagine, I’ve been a little busy…the only significant writing I’ve done in the last several week has been a few episodes of my serial.

I’ve got kids home from school for one moreday, but recently I’ve been seen somereally interesting stuff out there on the web which I believe will be of interest to followers of this blog. So I’m po...

Getting booed at Tablet and my first appearance in The Jewish Press

I had a bad feeling when my editor at Tablet — who I really love — sent me an email telling me that my latest essay there(about how I unintentionally set my hand on fire but believe it was no accident) would run on Tisha B’Av.

Being an Orthodox Jew, I pretty much regard that as the worst day of the year, so I was immediately filled with a sense of foreboding. And it now seems I was right to be, as the “ratings” (based on “likes,” “shares,” and “comments”) have been pretty poor thus far, especi...

Story out this week in Binyan: “A Vision of the Future”

The saddest day on the Jewish calendar will be next Tuesday.

Tisha B’Av arrives on Monday night and observant Jews around the world will fast until sunset on Tuesday to commemorate the loss of both Temples in Jerusalem. Many other tragic events have befallen the Jewish people at this time of year, throughout history.

Today, we see war in Israel, and an upsurge of anti-Semitism has popped up across the globe.

A story to help your tween or teen through this tough time

Now, more than ever, we need t...

Liked Wired for Story? 3 articles about brain science and creativity

I already blogged about the delightful Wired for Story. Recently, I read some other articles about what neuropsychology tells us about writing. I thought I’d share the links to 3 of them with my audience members today.

1)Why do writers while away hours in acafe?

From Psychology Today: We’ve all heard the jokes about writers hanging out in cafes. (For the comic representation of this trope, seeBo’s Cafe Life.) Does lingering in coffee shops really promote creativity? Yes, it does. Here’s why.

2)...

When you’re sorta on vacation…and sorta not

So, I’ve got a couple kids home with me this week, and two more will be home starting next week.I’ve been spending a lot of time with them doing all sorts of fun stuff — hiking, museum-hopping, long walks — and it’s nice to be doing things other than gazing into my computer screen.

Just when I’d cut back on my writing, the war in Israel started, and my brain’s been feeling a little overloaded by all the bad news. I kept feeling horrified by all the reports, and yet unable to pull myself away f...

And in other publishing news…

I sent a post to Kveller for their Raising Kvell blog, and they published it this week. It’s totally the opposite end of the spectrum from this week’s Tablet piece:

non-controversial topic,
short,
I wrote it and it was published in a week, without the several months of editing required by the other piece.

It’s light and fun, but also meaningful.Check it out. You know, if you wanna…

The new Tablet story my editor is afraid I’m going to get hate mail for

My newest piece is up on Tablet. When I submitted the pitch several months ago to the Life and Religion editor, Wayne Hoffman, he cautioned me: do you really want to do this?

The topic of the essay is a controversial one in the Jewish community — women wearing Tefillin — and he was afraid I’d get a lot of trolls. And probably some genuine hate mail, to boot.

My original proposal was a much wider topic — the denigration of traditional feminine roles by many “feminists” in the Jewish community. I...

Two writing-themed reads: Wired for Story and This is the Story of a Happy Marriage

Neuropsychology might be a writer’s best friend.

I recently read two relatively new books about writing that I found very useful, and thought I’d share them with you.

Wired for Story

My best friend since college is, like me, a professional writer, although she specializes in a totally difference field. When she raved about the book Wired for Story, I immediately added it to my Goodreads list. It just took me a while to actually buckle down and read it. I’m glad I finally did.

Wired for Story cont...

Writing conundrum: Leaving behind that outline without creating problems

So, I’m back to cranking out chapters of my serial this week, and this time, I hope to do it a little faster. The quicker I finish the serial, the easier it will be for me to focus on other projects, I think. Anyway, something is happening as I write that I think is worth mentioning, because I sincerely doubt that I’m the only writer to experience it.

In the beginning, there was an outline…

In order to secure my gig to write my current serial for Binah BeTween (“Glixman in a Fix”), I had to pre...

Let it out: 5 Steps to Writing when Emotional

Yesterday, which started with the announcement that the bodies of the three kidnapped Israeli teens had been recovered and ended for me with a shiva call, kept me in such a state of horror and confusion, I didn’t get much writing done. After several failed attempts at work, I finally gave up and decided to develop a community action project I’d dreamed up instead.

While everyone else was asleep…

Late at night, I awoke, exhausted but still reeling from the emotional turmoil of my day. So many wo...