Rebecca Klempner's Blog, page 30
January 6, 2013
Snip and cut: Picture book writing vs writing short stories
So the folktale projectturned out to be an eye-opening experience for me.
Am I a writer, or a barber?
When I first started writing for kids, I didn’t really understand the difference between short stories and picture books. I’d submit short stories to book publishers, and picture books to magazines who published short stories. Selling Raizy and being guided through revisionsby Devorah Leah Rosenfeld, the editor at Hachai, schooled me in the differences between the two media. Eventually, I under...
January 3, 2013
New story out! “Long Lost” in this week’s Binyan
Have you ever met someone who shared your last name, and wondered whether you were long-lost relatives? That’s the set up for my new story for teens in this week’s Binyan (inside the Parshas Shemos issue of Hamodia), “Long Lost.” Check it out if you get the chance.
I used a remarkable incident from my own family history to add interest to the story. Have you ever adapted incidents from your family’s past into a fictional story? Please share your comments below.
January 2, 2013
Announcing the 2013 The Whole Megillah Picture Book Manuscript Contest
Reblogged from The Whole Megillah:
The 2013 The Whole Megillah Jewish Children’s Picture Book Manuscript Contest
It’s back! The Whole Megillah’s contest for Jewish-themed picture book manuscripts! Kar-Ben publisher Joni Sussman will be judging. And the first place prize? A Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader!
Submission Guidelines:
Send the entire manuscript of your Jewish-themed picture book to The Whole Megillah at barbaradkrasner (at) gmail (dot) com.
Another great opportuni...
December 30, 2012
Good things can cause anxiety, too–the beginning of a new project
I hope I say something original, for once.
I’m close to wrapping a piece for a magazine, and I’m waiting on the opinions of some of the beta readers of one of my WIPs, so Friday morning, I started rummaging though my old journals for some new-old project ideas. Among my scribbling, I found notes about a folktale that really appealed to me. A little research has indicated that there is only one picture book retelling of this story. Which is why, for the first time, I’m attempting a folktale ret...
December 27, 2012
Library Love – Bibliophiles and the places they frequent
Hey, kiddo! Do you really need this one, to? Good thing I don’t have to pay for all of these.
When I was a teenager, I lived across the street from the library. I did homework there, typed most of my college applications on their noisy electric typewriter (10 cents for each 15 minutes, I think), and perused the shelves for hours on end. I’d already developed a taste for books by that age, but there’s no doubt in my mind that my family’s proximity to the library solidified my attachment to book...
December 17, 2012
Abandoned but not forgotten: My startling discovery about the websites of my past
“No, really?”
This past weekend, I visited a couple of websites/blogs that I designed in the past but that I had stopped maintaining because they simply zapped too much of my time. One is about running “mommy camp” for your family over the summer, the other is about finding cheap, “kosher” fun around Southern California for families and date nights. I was curious to know how they are doing, because ever since the local day schools went on Chanukah vacation last week, I’d been receiving emails...
December 16, 2012
Why I think speculative fiction is just SO Jewish (& you should, too)
One of the things I most like to write (and find it hard to sell) is Jewish speculative fiction.Speculative fiction is a wide-ranging label that includes genres like fantasy, science-fiction, and horror.Basically, in speculative fiction, the author suggests a scenario that proposes the question: “What if_______?”
What if…
…you found out that you weren’t a friendless orphan but a powerful wizard with many supporters? (Harry Potter)
…you discovered the back of the wardrobe led into a magical realm...
December 12, 2012
Other people like modern-day moshalim, too! Check out Aish’s latest Chanukah video.
My family loves Aish.com videos, and this new one is both totally hilarious and example of what I previously have described as a modern-day moshel.
Click below to watch “Samurai Jew.”
December 11, 2012
But what about my Voice!?! What a writer should do when the editor asks you to make “a few changes.”
Hey, buddy! What about my voice?
Last week, I got an email from an editor (she’ll be the heroine of this story, but will remain nameless nonetheless). She asked me to make one change–one very small change–to the story that I had submitted.
Because I trust this editor–she’s very good at what she does and has built a friendly relationship with me–I said I’d make the teeny-tiny change she’d requested.
And then I panicked.
In the past, I have often made changes for editors. Usually, these have involv...
December 6, 2012
A Writer Goes into Hibernation–the effects of long winter nights on work habits
In the last couple weeks, my productivity level has dropped dramatically. At first, I couldn’t tell what was going on with me. Was it because I was fighting a cold? The outcome of my flu shot? Too many days with a kid home sick or Thanksgiving vacation?
an experiment to demonstrate the change of seasons
Then I realized that this happens to me every December–the winter doldrums. Like many others, the lack of daylight in the winter months drops my energy level drastically. I feel like a bear who...
