Rebecca Klempner's Blog, page 34
October 4, 2012
Second Annual Write Your Own Megillah Event | Jewish Book Month 2012
Reblogged from The Whole Megillah:
Attention Jewish children’s novel writers!
In honor of Jewish Book Month, The Whole Megillah is hosting its second annual Write Your Own Megillah event. Think of it as the Jewish equivalent of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). From November 7 through December 7, 2012, you’ll have the opportunity to write the novel you’ve always wanted to write.
What: Complete 36,000 words of a YA novel.
A great opportunity for anyone who has al...
September 27, 2012
Flashes and foraging: where story ideas come from
I was reading this interesting little article a while back about the flashes of inspiration that triggered 10 authors to pen their most classic works. The article really focuses on novels that arose out of a spontaneous image or idea that popped into the author’s head. Perhaps the most dramatic was Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s inspiration for 100 Years of Solitude.His sudden insightprompted him to turn his car around and drive his family home to work on his new book instead of continuing towards...
September 23, 2012
What’s harder than writing 1000 words a day?
Well, the kids are all in school, so I no longer have any excuses. I’ve been sitting at my desk daily and attempting to crank out a thousand words. This seems to be a pretty common goal for writers, and I seem to make it most days. Okay, some days. The days I’m not editing the stuff I wrote previously.
I guess he didn’t make it to 1000 words today.
On Friday, I set myself a different goal. I had written a piece a while back that the members of my writing group liked. However, when trying to mar...
September 21, 2012
A seriously creative Jewish mom!
Happy 5773, everybody!
The L.A. Jewish Journal is profiling an acquaintance of mine, Leat Silvera, this week. See the article here. As readers of my blog know, I’m very excited to see anyone use their talents to bring light into the world, and I’ve long admired Leat because, (B”H, bli ayin hara) she is one of those people! First as a teacher, then as a homeschooling advocate, she’s tapped into her out-of-the-box thinking and skills to connect to children.
In her new project, Leat’s using her ta...
September 11, 2012
Can you trust the reviews you read?
I mentioned briefly in last week’s post that authors have been hiring other writers to review their books and sometimes even to bash the competition. (This happens for reviews of all types, in fact, from hotels to toaster ovens.) Media coverage of this issue has been growing lately–see this revealing expose of the practice and this equally eye-opening explanation of how to detect faux reviewsfor details.
Since Judaism has an idea of geneivat hadaat–misleading knowledge as a form of theft–you’d...
September 4, 2012
Silence is golden
Shimon, the son of Rabban Gamliel, said:
“I was brought up all my life among the Sages,
and I have found nothing as good for the body as silence…”
(Pirkei Avot/The Sayings of our Fathers)
Sometimes a punch is less painful than a verbal blow.
Usually, when we hear about the value of silence, we think about what literally comes out of our mouths. According to Jewish law, before speaking, we’re supposed to chose our words carefully, and use them to tea...
