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This week’s accomplishment: My First Publication in 2nd Person…sort of
Writing fiction in second person point of view is one of those fancy tricks that many people attempt, but few people pull off. I’ve always wanted to do it, but my first several tries sounded stilted...
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Three in one shot!
Readers of Binah this week will see a lot of me. This week’s Binah Magazine contains three pieces by yours truly: My regular episode of Glixman in a Fix inside Binah BeTween A stand alone for tweens...
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Let’s take a moment to break for poetry
Sorry for the sparse posts in recent weeks. Things have been a little crazy ’round here. I took a trip up to the Bay area to see my sister, came home and got a burn on my dominant hand that was serious...
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Switching from the Pressure Cooker to the Crock-Pot: A (much needed) break
Whew! At this point last week, I had three looming deadlines ahead: a short story each for Binyan and for Binah BeTween, and my next batch of episodes for Glixman in a Fix, the serial currently running...
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Let it out: 5 Steps to Writing when Emotional
Yesterday, which started with the announcement that the bodies of the three kidnapped Israeli teens had been recovered and ended for me with a shiva call, kept me in such a state of horror and...
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Writing conundrum: Leaving behind that outline without creating problems
So, I’m back to cranking out chapters of my serial this week, and this time, I hope to do it a little faster. The quicker I finish the serial, the easier it will be for me to focus on other projects, I...
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Two writing-themed reads: Wired for Story and This is the Story of a Happy...
Neuropsychology might be a writer’s best friend. I recently read two relatively new books about writing that I found very useful, and thought I’d share them with you. Wired for Story My best friend...
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The new Tablet story my editor is afraid I’m going to get hate mail for
My newest piece is up on Tablet. When I submitted the pitch several months ago to the Life and Religion editor, Wayne Hoffman, he cautioned me: do you really want to do this? The topic of the essay is...
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And in other publishing news…
I sent a post to Kveller for their Raising Kvell blog, and they published it this week. It’s totally the opposite end of the spectrum from this week’s Tablet piece: non-controversial topic, short, I...
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When you’re sorta on vacation…and sorta not
So, I’ve got a couple kids home with me this week, and two more will be home starting next week. I’ve been spending a lot of time with them doing all sorts of fun stuff — hiking, museum-hopping, long...
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Liked Wired for Story? 3 articles about brain science and creativity
I already blogged about the delightful Wired for Story. Recently, I read some other articles about what neuropsychology tells us about writing. I thought I’d share the links to 3 of them with my...
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Story out this week in Binyan: “A Vision of the Future”
The saddest day on the Jewish calendar will be next Tuesday. Tisha B’Av arrives on Monday night and observant Jews around the world will fast until sunset on Tuesday to commemorate the loss of both...
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Getting booed at Tablet and my first appearance in The Jewish Press
I had a bad feeling when my editor at Tablet — who I really love — sent me an email telling me that my latest essay there (about how I unintentionally set my hand on fire but believe it was no...
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Stopgap measure: 4 (okay, it’s really 5) totally awesome literary links
Sorry for the recent lack of posts. Camp was out, day school was still out, kids were home, and Mr. K. started his school year the second week of August. As you can imagine, I’ve been a little busy…the...
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Writing ethics: Defining your voice by what you don’t write about as much as...
Okay, so last week I mentioned how much I admired Nina Badzin’s article for TC Jew Folk, “Things I Don’t Write about on the Internet.” I pretty much agreed with her on all points, although I will...
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Visiting elsewhere today for the Orthodox Women Talk roundtable
Rivki Silver from Life in the Married Lane organized a Jewish women’s roundtable, Orthodox Women Talk. Today’s topic is how to deal with long services in synagogue when you may or may not understand...
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Learn to empathize with real people…and fictional ones
So, I was having one of those days when it’s not yet 10 a.m., and I’m already having a pity party for myself. There was something I’d really wanted to get…and I didn’t get it. I was dragging myself...
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As the Year Turns… Looking back at 5774
It’s a week until Rosh Hashanah, which for Jews means this is the last week of the year. What a year. The world has suffered through a lot this year. Looking ahead, I see so much to pray for in the...
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Visiting “Life in the Married Lane” today for Part 2 of the Orthodox Women...
Last week, the Orthodox Women Talk Roundtable debuted at Keshet Starr’s blog, and this week Rivki Silver is hosting. On this week’s roundtable (you can find it here) we discuss preparing for and...
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Making a plan for 5775
Since, in last week’s post, I identified five areas in which I can improve my writing career in the next year, I thought I should also consider the steps to take in order to accomplish those goals. 1)...
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