Rebecca Klempner's Blog, page 3

Appearing This Week on Table for Five

Readers of The Jewish Journal and followers of the Accidental Talmudist will find me this week in their “Table for Five” feature. This week’s topic is the first mishnah in Masechet Rosh Hashanah, where we are told that there’s not just one Rosh Hashanah, but four!

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It’s always tricky to participate in this kind of event, since you don’t know the approach other participants are going to take to the topic (and I for sure don’t want to repeat what someone else ...

How to Look Forward to Rosh Hashanah When Everything Seems to Be Going to Hell in a Handbasket

I really did end up writing barely a word during the summer, but the moment that my kids resumed school, I got hit up for some pieces by editors who know me. The first one to run went up on Jew in the City last night. Click here for the link.

Have a happy new year!!!

Summer Update

I’ll hopefully post again soon (maybe with haiku!) but first a confession: I have barely written a word since my kids started summer vacation.

If I start to talk about my feelings on this topic, there will likely be tears involved, and I’m not in the mood. Perhaps I’ll post about it later.

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However, I did write something right before school was out, and it ran in Tablet Magazine last week. “Game Over” is a personal essay–a nice, short read–about playing board...

The Ups and Downs of Writing Life

I was feeling a little cranky earlier today. Okay–more than a little. I’ve hit the point in a particular revision which I’m working on when I have to start writing new material, not just tidying up what was previously written. And I found out this morning that a program which wants to reprint one of my books will be doing so *at least* another year in the future (I was informed I’d made their list a year ago). The program comes with a stipend for authors, and I would love to receive my cash soon...

My Coronavirus Diary, Part 2

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I got several positive comments on the first part of my quarantine diary, so here are some more glimpses of life in the Klempner household while under Safer at Home orders here in L.A. Again, Im using my Twitter account to document things as we go along.

Apr 27 a #haiku for #homeschooling #nachat: Neighbor moved out, left small shelf. Kid & hubs repaired it. New work station! Apr 27

Theres nothing that says I love you like me...

Cheer Up a Friend (and Yourself) with Snail Mail

Want to know how to surprise a friend, whether they are in quarantine across the country or one of your far away/so close neighbors who you saw daily in pre-quarantine days? Want to cheer up someone totally alone in their home due to COVID-19?

SEND THEM SNAIL MAIL.

Last week, I had done some coloring of color yourself postcards my daughter had, and then sent off little haikus on them to some people who thought would appreciate them. I got texts and emails and phone calls from people thanking...

My Quarantine Diary, Part 1

Like the rest of you (I hope), Ive been staying at home for the last seven weeks or so.

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Im not getting much work done, but Ive been tweeting a lot, and I realized today that many of these tweetsparticularly the poems I writeread like diary entries. Looking back at the last several weeks of tweets, I can see the story of my quarantine. Maybe some of these episodes will remind you of yours?

Id love it if you commented with a poem about your own quarantine, thus...

Writing Goals for 5780

It’s almost Rosh Hashanah, which means a new Jewish year is ahead. It’s a good time for me to do some “accounting” for my professional life, looking back at this past year and also planning for the next one.

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Returning from a Series of Misadventures

I decided to post today and realized that I hadn’t posted in months! I’m still researching the book I reported researching in my last post, but in between then and now:

I attended a great conference hosted by the Association of Jewish Libraries. While there I got super exciting, top-secret news and then was told not to share it. (G-d-willing, I’ll be able to in a few months.) I figured out I couldn’t do the necessary research on that YA novel because my kids were home for the summer. I decid...

Researching my next book!

While I’m deep in the querying process for my first adult novel and my first secular picture book, I’ve started to research my next book. I began with digging out some old interviews I did for an article I published about the Jewish experience of the Cold War, and have acquired some reading material which should help.

And now I’m doing interviews!

Since my university background is in anthropology, I spent quite a bit of time learning how to do interviews for research purposes. It’s a little d...