Stuart Rojstaczer's Blog, page 8
September 30, 2015
September news fit to print
This month I finished a decent draft of my next novel. It’s still not quite ready to send off for comments, but I’m getting there. It should be ready to show to a few people – an exciting and nervous time for me – in mid-October. I highly value comments from my early readers and agent. I make many changes after I get their feedback. There is no doubt that my work is greatly improved when I listen carefully to what these people have to say and incorporate many of their suggestions. It’s the only way I can turn a decent book into a good one. If there are five rules of writing, one of them has to be, “Find a group of early readers and take their criticisms seriously.” I’m grateful that I have insightful readers who can look at my writing and be completely honest about what works and what doesn’t.
I attended a local authors appreciation event at my town’s public library. In October, I’ll be traveling to Madison, WI to give a talk at UW-Madison. In November, I’ll be giving readings in Seattle, WA and Vancouver, BC as well as doing a few local events at bookstores and with book clubs.
September 3, 2015
August news fit to print
I spent three months pretty much saying no to all requests to public speaking so that I could make headway on my next novel. That turned out to be a great idea. At August’s end I was 95% done with a decent draft. Toward the end of the month, I did make a few local appearances at book clubs. It’s always good to hear what avid readers say about books, especially when they’re not talking about mine! I learn a lot. I did some Skype sessions with out-of-town book clubs as well and planned a few fall trips to talk about both literary fiction and TMS.
TMS is now one year old. It’s been a happy and healthy baby that has given me lots of joy. It was named a finalist for Hadassah Magazine’s Ribalow Prize and because of TMS, I’m on the shortlist for the Anne and Robert Cowan Writer’s Award. Most of my days are spent obsessing about the novel I’m currently working on. I am very happy with how it’s turning out and am crossing my fingers that it will be sold to a publisher in a few months.
August 3, 2015
July news fit to print
I keep working on my next novel, which has the working title Among the Righteous, and am on track to have a version ready for partial viewing (for family and maybe even a friend or two) in October. For me novel writing isn’t an angst-filled thing. It’s serious work that is often emotionally satisfying and it’s something I do at a rate of about 1000 words a day.
I received my comp copies of the commercial audiobook of The Mathematician’s Shiva and it was a pleasant surprise to hear the words being read aloud by trained actors. I hope people enjoy listening to the CD or MP3 on their car trips to wherever. I’ll come out of my (productive) isolation chamber a bit at the end of August, when I’ll be talking to some book groups locally and via FaceTime about TMS. I’ll be at the Palo Alto Library in September and I’ll do some traveling related to TMS in October, November and maybe December. It looks like I’ll be in Wisconsin, Seattle, Vancouver, and New York City and I’ll post dates in a couple of weeks. TMS was named an Indie Next Summer Reading Group pick by the American Booksellers Association, which makes me very happy. It’s also a finalist for an award that, if she were still around, my mom would be crossing her fingers about big time.
June 29, 2015
June news fit to print
This month I’ve been focused on making progress on my next novel, and slowly but surely I’m getting there. I hope to have a version good enough to start showing people in October. I haven’t been a complete hermit, though. Last month, I went to Jerusalem to do some research for this new book (it’s a comedy that takes place in the US, Poland, and Jerusalem and focuses on a community of Righteous Gentiles who lived in Israel in the 1990s). I’ve been doing phone sessions and Skype sessions with book clubs who are reading TMS. I went to the American Library Association’s annual meeting, where I gave a talk (see right) and signed a couple hundred copies of TMS. Thank you, librarians, for laughing at my jokes and giving my wife a round of applause (she deserved it). Our local paper, the Palo Alto Weekly, printed a very sweet article about TMS and me. I’ve been helping the audio book narrators of TMS with pronunciations of all those foreign words and math terms. The commercial audio version will be available through Tantor Media in July. The Library of Congress version for the sight impaired will be available in the fall (I’m guessing). The Mathematician’s Shiva won its final (I think) award this month, an Outstanding Achievement Award (one of 10 books honored) from the Wisconsin Library Association. Comic novels usually don’t get honors of any sort. They are also hard to get published. I feel like I’ve won the book lottery in a lot of ways.
June 24, 2015
Talk and signing at the ALA in SF
I’ll be at the American Library Association annual meeting in SF this Sunday, June 28th. I’ll be giving a talk at the 7:30 AM ALA Literary Tastes Breakfast and will be signing giveaway copies (maybe the newest printing with the new jacket copy and JBC award medal on the cover) at the Penguin booth at 11:30 AM.
May 29, 2015
Audio version of TMS available for pre-order
Those craving for an audio version of The Mathematician’s Shiva (or craving for some shameless self-promotion from me) can now preorder a copy. Perfect for a winter drive along I-80 or the Trans-Canada. Or for a summer drive on I-10 when you’re roasting and dreaming of cool climes.
March 26, 2015
March news fit to print
I had a fun time in NYC. I picked up the National Jewish Book Award for The Mathematician’s Shiva and spent some time being a tourist (two shows and two museums). 
The Mathematician’s Shiva won another prize this month, the Friends of American Writers Literature Award, which I will pick up in Chicago in May. I’ll pick up the American Library Association’s Sophie Brody Medal finalist prize for The Mathematician’s Shiva in June at the ALA annual convention in SF. If you’re a librarian who is attending and want to speak with me, send me an email. The response to this book has exceeded my expectations by far and I am grateful. TMS has gone through four printings and its fifth will have updated blurbs and award mentions. I’ve been working with the Library of Congress, which is putting out an audio version of TMS for the sight impaired. It’s been fun riding the (unexpected) wave. I’m hibernating in April so I can make some solid progress on my next novel. I’ll do a little traveling and speaking in May.
February 17, 2015
February news fit to print
The Mathematician’s Shiva continues to find an audience and is still showing up on bookstores’ bestselling lists (which both surprises me and makes me happy). It was named an American Library Association Sophie Brody Medal finalist and was also named one of the Favorite Physics Books of 2014 by Scientific American. Reviews are still coming in – which also surprises and makes me happy – including reviews from the European Mathematical Society, the Jewish Daily Forward, Cleaver Magazine and Washington Jewish Week. I had a fun time at a Jewish Science Authors program at the Foster City JCC. I’ll be giving a little music show at The Marsh in Berkeley on February 24th and will be appearing at an AAUW girls science camp fundraiser in Mountain View on February 28th.
January 14, 2015
The Mathematician’s Shiva wins a National Jewish Book Award
The Mathematician’s Shiva is the 2014 National Jewish Book Award winner for Outstanding Debut Fiction. I am ecstatic. I was also very lucky to have had so much support while writing this book. It took four years to go from beginning to write TMS to publication and I owe a lot of people a lot of thanks for their help along the way.
List of all winners and finalists is here:
January 8, 2015
A little late, but my annual Christmas tune is here
Every year I take a Christmas tune written by a native Yiddish speaker, translate it back into its “original” Yiddish, and send it to my friends. This year I’m going semi-public. The tune is The Christmas Song by Melvin Torma (aka Mel Torme). It isn’t publicly listed on Youtube, but you can find it below. Enjoy!
