Rebecca Klempner's Blog, page 6

A Happy Tisha B’Av?

Monday night and Tuesday, the Jewish community commemorated the 9th of Av, the date associated with the destruction of both Temples, as well as other traumatic events suffered by the our people. Late Monday night, I made an appearance on Jew In The City, Allison Josephs’s outstanding blog about Judaism in the modern world. My post, “A Tisha B’Av of Joy?” described the way my family “celebrated” the 9th of Av last year. You can find my guest post here, if you haven’t read it already. Comments...

Glixman Sales, Writing While Parenting, and Other Summertime Thoughts

I heard from the CEO of Menucha Publishers last week, and he says that while there are no official numbers yet, the sales of Glixman in a Fix are strong. I’m a bit frustrated because due to the timing (the U.S. release was just before Shavuos, and now my kids are all home from school), I can’t really spend the time and energy on promoting the book that I’d like.

Writing has been hard, too. I’ve tried to write in the early hours while my kids are still either asleep or curled up with a book, b...

Drat! Writers’ Problems

Usually, I pat myself on the back for writing my first drafts in longhand. I fill notebook after notebook. I’m a big fan of cursive and just love the way pen feels as it loops and drags across paper. And my mind operates differently with pen in hand than it does with fingers on my keyboard.

But today, I am cranky because of my longhand habit.

An editor reached out to me about an article. I told her I have the perfect personal essay to suit her needs. All I need to do is find it.

Just in case...

I’d love to get some feedback!

Glixman in a Fix has been available in the U.S. for a while now, and I’d love to get some feedback from readers!

I have had a lot of people tell me they have purchased the book, their schools’ library has ordered it, or that their children are reading it. A few students from my kids’ schools have run up to me after school to tell me they went to bed late the night before because they were up late reading Glixman.

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An actual thank you note! ❤

And I even got a real, snail mail thank you note fro...

Shavuos almost here…

With Shavuos starting tomorrow night, that means school librarians and parents have been reading A Dozen Daisies for Raizy to their younger ones. I keep having kids come up to me, “Mrs. Klempner, did you really write about Raizy?” and “When will Raizy have another adventure?”

It’s very touching, but also frustrating. I’ve tried to sell other stories about Raizy to the publisher – with no success – and the book sold out about a month ago. You can’t buy it for any kind of reasonable price on Am...

At last! Glixman is available in the States!!!

Copies of Glixman in a Fix are in the U.S. now, and they will be available for purchase starting this week at Jewish bookstores nationwide, and on the Menucha Publishers website. The continue to be available at select locations throughout Israel.

Glixman in a Fix is the novelization of my Binah Between serial (which concluded two years ago). Mendel Glixman is a teenager with a secret, a secret which prevents him from making – and keeping – friends. But when trouble comes along, he’ll need som...

The Good News, and the Bad News (No Ugly News, thank G-d)

[image error]The Good News: I’m posting at my regular Wednesday time!

The Bad News: I skipped the last two weeks, even though Passover was over.

The Good News: Glixman in a Fix is officially for sale!

The Bad News: …only in Israel.

The Good News: My publisher says books will be in the U.S. some time next week.

The Bad News: I still haven’t finished my next novel.

The Good News: I have a story up on Hevria for you to read.

Even Better News: Unlike obtaining most of my other fiction, it’s free and it’s flas...

Short story in Hamodia’s story supplement!

While I’m still waiting for Glixman‘s arrival, I’ve got a nice surprise for my readers. The story supplement for Hamodia‘s English edition for Pesach – due out today, I think – contains a short story by me. It’s called “Freedom,” and it’s near-future science fiction. I went for a very old-fashioned sci-fi/fantasy style, the fake travelogue, and I’m please with the way the final draft turned out, although it was quite a struggle to get everything ship-shape.

G-d willing, I’ll have another shor...

Waiting for publication…

The first review is out of Glixman, and now people are contacting me because they want to buy a copy. But it’s not ready yet, at least in the States, and I don’t even have copies yet, myself. I’m trying to remind myself that this is just a temporary issue, that (G-d willing) my book will be in stores and accessible via Amazon, etc., soon.

In the meantime, I’ve got plenty to do. Passover is coming up, and there’s still cleaning, shopping, cooking to do. I’ve got editing to do. And I’ve got mor...

Fun Storytelling Project I Just Started

I kicked off my Pesach cleaning with a little not-strictly-necessary-for-Pesach file purging on Sunday. Once again, I was astonished by how many stories I have lying around unread after their initial publication. I decided to do something about it.

Opening a Soundcloud account, I chose four of my children’s stories, and read them aloud. Now there is downloadable audio of those stories on my Soundcloud account! You can listen to them in the car, at home, even in a waiting room. No story is lon...