Rebecca Klempner's Blog, page 21

Take 2 Books and Call Me in the Morning: British docs prescribe books for patients

Therapeutic reading?

Imagine popping a couple chapters of a book instead of two of these.

Newspapers are reporting that doctors in the United Kingdom will be prescribing self-help and health books as reading material for those suffering from a variety of mild-to-moderate mental ailments, such as mild depression, anxiety and panic attacks. The CEO of the British charity the Reading Agency,Miranda McKearney, explained in an article in The Guardian, “There is a growing evidence base that shows tha...

Movies vs Books: in theaters 2013

Living in Los Angeles, I’m pretty much surrounded by billboards. About half of these advertise television shows or movies. These billboards are usually lost on me because I neither own a TV nor go to the movies.

And then, there was the trifecta of Fall 2013.

You see, film adaptations of three books I very much enjoyed–the second part of The Hobbit, Ender’s Game (technically, I like the second volume of the trilogy more), and Catching Fire–have all made it to the big screen at the same time. And...

Conducting interviews to bring realism to your fiction

You’ll find my story “Duck and Cover” in this week’s Binyan. While I lived through the tail-end of the Cold War, I’m not old enough to have survived the Cuban Missile Crisis, the setting for my story. In order to get details about how teens reacted to the situation, I conducted brief email interviews of a number of subjects who were old enough to remember the events.

The responses I received were fascinating, and I used many of the anecdotes my interviewees shared as I depicted how different c...

How you should read a personal essay

The subtitle to this essay should read:the post in which I vent about people being mean to writers other than myself

I don’t just frequent Tablet as a writer, I frequent it as a reader. So, when an article went up today by someone I’d heard about earlier this week (thank you Pop Chassid for your link to Altar online), I decided to read it.

It was an essay by Tova Ross about why and how she stopped covering her hair. Now, anyone who has bothered to look at my photo to the right of this post will...

My latest obsession: comparing the numbers of comments to the numbers of “likes”

Okay, I’ll admit it: there are better ways to spend my time. But for some reason, I have recently become obsessed with the following question:

Why do some articles get many “likes,” but few comments, and some articles get many comments, but few “likes?”

Until recently, I never paid attention to the social network shares on my articles. I paid attention to the comments so I could monitor and respond to them, but I didn’t watch how many people “liked” my article, tweeted about it, or whatever. I...

10 Great 2014 Anniversaries to Write About in the Months Ahead

Following up on a suggestion (I wish I could remember who passed along this hint!), I was scoping out historically significant anniversaries occurring in 2014 as potential topics for my writing.

St. Louis, Missouri – 250 years and counting!

In theory, choosing a topic that’s–well, topical–can be a marketing advantage. Unfortunately, none of the anniversaries I’ve found has inspired me so far, but I thought they would be worth sharing because maybe one of them will inspire you.

10 historically si...

The 3 Comments I Hate to Find on my Articles

Last week, a personal essay of mine appeared on Tablet Magazine online. As it hit the front page, I braced myself. A couple of my previous contributions to Tablet received a lot of comments…including a bunch of nasty ones. I figured this latest essay–about being Jewish during the holiday season–might ruffle the feathers of readers.

A couple days after the story was published, much to my surprise, there were just a few comments on my article (four, to be exact, and my responses to each). On Tue...

Thank the folks who've rejected you--a radical suggestion for writers this Thanksgiving

Reblogged from Rebecca Klempner:

Thanksgiving is upon us here in the U.S., and this is a wonderful opportunity to reflect upon gratitude, whether you celebrate the holiday or not. I'm a big fan ofRabbi Zelig Pliskinand also ofRabbi Shalom Arush, and I'm going to combine their approaches for this writing exercise appropriate to the Thanksgiving season and year-round. This exercise is useful whether you're Jewish or not--please don't get turned off to it just because it was inspired by a couple...

When it rains, it pours!

I’m having a crazy week, and not just because of the upcoming Thanksgivukkah extravaganza we’re experiencing here in the U.S.My latest essay on Tablet popped up on their front page at 12 am EST. No trolls yet, but no comments either…

I have a Chanukah story for kids in this week in Binah BeTween, also, and Naomi Elbinger’s My Parnassa blog is featuring a guest post by yours truly about writing for Jewish magazines and making sure you get paid.

Here’s hoping you all have a crazy week, to0–in all...

How Jewish do you sound? Learning the lingo as you learn the ropes

I promised a full-length review ofBecoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn the Language and Culture of Orthodox Judaism by Sarah Bunin Benor (Rutger’s University Press 2012)a while back, but I (embarrassing to admit!) lost the book before I completed it! (Yes, I feel guilty.)

Becoming Frum, recent winner of the Rohr Prize

Thank G-d, the book re-emerged from the piles on my desk recently, and I finally completed it over the weekend, allowing me to at long-last fulfill my promise to review this book, w...